[Glorantha] Lunar Colleges of Magic

[Orlanth Umathi]

Donald R. Oddy wrote:

Mikko Rintasaari
>> The Comet Seers are one of those writeups that left me very frustrated and
>> asking "but what is it that these people actually do on the battlefield??"
> 

Donald R. Oddy
I can understand that feeling.

> I'm beginning to think describing the Lunar Field Colleges as military
> units is a bit misleading. They don't appear to be units of magicans
> who are organised to all do specific things like reconiasance, artillery 
> support or whatever. What they are is a group of specialists who are
> trained to work together, thus providing a more powerful effect than
> they would individually. 

Allow we to provide a different take. The history of real world warfare 
teaches us that new technology applied to war does not necessarily 
effect the overall strategic or even tactical situation in a 
revolutionary way. Instead it introduces a new option that conforms to 
the standard techniques of warfare.

So, when deciding on what a unit brings to the table, it is best to try 
and categorise it in terms of its strategic significance and its 
tactical use.

For instance aeroplanes introduced new possibilities into war, but 
strategically their usage is based on their function. For instance, they 
offer manoeuvrability beyond the enemy line, (utilised as reconnaissance 
instead of cavalry; or raiding troops to disrupt supplies, communication 
or disrupting infrastructure by bombing like cavalry or sea raiders).
I could go on, or analyse tactics also, but aircraft are not the issue.

So we have a new innovation on the battlefield, a Lunar Field College. 
What does it offer? Well the book provides some answers, they assist the 
  army in battle, they rarely confront the enemy, they are vulnerable to 
a charge,  consequently they are protected by archers (who are also 
vulnerable to a charge especially when assigned static roles), they use 
all forms of magic for flexibility, they tend to stay in large 
formations, they act together to perform large scale magic. 
(Interestingly they are well articulated by a chain of command right 
down to squad size, but this does not appear to be utilised [yet].)

They are also bookish and good at organising things.

So they play to their strengths, and mainly act as "assistance". What 
does that mean? My suggestions:

1: They aid with logistics.
The Lunar Army is organised, but I doubt that they have a 20th century 
style staff to organise its needs, so magic would serve as an aid for 
combat readiness. With invigoration, marching and morale magics, repair 
and construction spells. Also, the college probably provides the 
logistic staff available to the army.

2: They aid with defensive tactics
Dealing with the battlefield's magical entities, (landscape spirits 
etc.) providing defensive spells against missiles, maintaining 
effectiveness through mass healing and logistic spells (see 1). 
Maintaining a watch over the magical forces at play on the battlefield 
and readying appropriate defences for themselves and the army. (If in 
doubt reflection is always an option.) Oh, and they might provide a lot 
of offensive and defensive magic for their supporting archers through 
sheer pragmatism.

3: They aid with offensive raiding strategies
Acting in concert with the infantry, by dealing with, dominating or 
destroying enemy landscape entities. Disrupting enemy worship of such 
entities and identifying and deactivating enemy places or worship or 
sites of power. Helping to identify routes and defending against ambush 
and the counter offensive with defensive tactics (see 2).

4: They aid with persisting offensive strategies
Aiding provincial overseers or commanders by using their logistical (see 
1) and persuasive abilities and magics to maintain order and peace in 
occupied territories.

5: They aid in offensive turning strategies
Providing movement and surveillance magics and identifying safe routes 
to the enemy rear or flank. Identifying weakness in the enemy lines. 
Once the manoeuvre is complete they will probably go back to providing 
defensive support to these newly positioned troops.

6: They reluctantly engage in offensive tactics
Sure they don't want to expose themselves to the enemy by either 
manoeuvring close or casting offensive magics that could backfire. But 
try convincing the field commander that he shouldn't use their offensive 
options. Its a big temptation, and in the real world many commanders 
have misused their available units so why should Glorantha be any 
different. So when commanded they no doubt act as artillery (or even 
more risky, light infantry) bombarding the enemy with destructive or 
disruptive magics. Due to the danger they probably seek magical 
weaknesses first and when possible negotiate over their targets.
Worse still, they may be asked to take the offensive against magical units!

7: They aid in defensive withdrawal
With the aid of the infantry they disrupt transport routes, destroying 
infrastructure and leaving behind magical opposition in the form of 
entities or traps (and we think land-mines are bad).


Another thing to note, the use of new innovation changes once effective 
defences are taken against them. Aircraft can strafe and low level bomb 
enemy lines, acting as light cavalry, but ground-to-air missiles are a 
very effective defence against such expensive hardware so they are not 
used in this way lightly.

We know that the Orlanthi organise magical units of their own, which 
makes offensive use of magicians even more risky, and evens up the 
battlefield defensively. But, earlier on, I can imagine the Orlanthi 
devising variously effective defences against many of the above 
strategies and tactics, making warfare in Dragon Pass a very interesting 
prospect indeed.


Jamie
Orlanth-Umathi