Post by james p on May 23, 2022 21:59:34 GMT
[DTA 20/05/22] S10F IP - Places - Taxing - History 12
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Amble - Know your Enemy
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"Gargling : The Art of Oesphagal and Oral Hygiene ... Nearly there
Genuflexion : The History and Philosophy of Politely Bobbing ... Nearly there
Ghosts and Other Phantasms... A bit further
Glades and Copses : A Beginner's Guide to Woodland Clearings and their Inverses ... To far.
Ah... Gith... Yes, a few of these titles might be interesting.
Let me just cross reference this subject code with the index of books by theme ..."
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A good hour into his search, Amble is making slow progress. It seems that with relatively little contact with the Gith in recent years, not many of the libraries in the Dawnlands are as well stocked on relevant treatises as he might have hoped. Moreover, many of those books that do cover the subject are sorted by whatever one of the assistant under-librarians thought might be of greatest interest to readers at the time - including a surprising number under the travel fiction section.
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A day later, he still doesn't have too much to show for his efforts. It would seem that a good many of the peoples who the Gith chose to attack were broken on the first meaningful strike, and rapidly enslaved and reduced to dwindling feudal cultural backwaters. There were also a few (rare) instances of overzealous Gith generals biting of more than they could chew, including one attack on a Storm Giant settlement, which was rapidly snuffed out.
Of course, Illithids had a relatively good track record of defense. However, their tactics seemed reliant on a few characteristics less suitable for the community here to emulate: mind-control powers, ability to levitate through intricate multi-level cave systems, having face-sucking tentacles, and ... subservience to an Elder Brain hive mind.
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By three days in, though, Amble's perseverance has started to deliver a few inferences applicable to the layout of defensive structures.
Primarily, this seems to constitute careful planning of defensive layers and elevations to funnel and direct any assailants in foot, but subtly modified to reduce the additional maneuverability from their psionic powers: limiting the space available to attackers attempting to gain height suddenly with Jump or Misty Step, or leaving sharp drops behind battlements where coalescing Fourth can be shoved off before they have time to react.
Additionally, consideration needs to be given as usual to maintain good military practice for defending against aerial assaults, or attackers known to use fire-based siege engines ... or, indeed, dragons...
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Feeling hopeful that his efforts might lead to some benefits for the imminent defense of the Dawnlands, Amble hands in three copies of his completed dossier: one to the defence council, one directly to the military for attention of Commander Jadefist, and a finally copy to the library of Daring Academy for reference by the arcane planning teams (and, with luck, for posterity also!).