"The Art of War Lecture in Udos Dro'Xun"

by Nives Zar'Rocc

I. Laying plans:

The priestess who loses a battle makes but few calculations beforehand. Thus do many calculations lead to victory, and few calculations to defeat. It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin. Hence it is a subject of inquiry which can on no account be neglected. The art of war, then, is governed by five constant factors, to be taken into account in one's deliberations, when seeking to determine the conditions obtaining in the field. These are: (1) Lloth; (2) Cave; (3) Earth; (4) The Commander; (5) Method and discipline. LLOTH causes the Drow to be in complete accord with their clergy, so that they will follow her regardless of their lives, undismayed by any danger. CAVE signifies darkness and light, cold and heat, times and seasons. EARTH comprises distances, great and small; danger and security; open ground and narrow passes; the chances of life and death.The COMMANDER stands for the virtues of wisdom, sincerity, benevolence, courage and strictness. By METHOD AND DISCIPLINE are to be understood the marshaling of the army in its proper subdivisions, the graduations of rank among the officers. These five heads should be familiar to every priestess: She who knows them will be victorious; She who knows them not will fail. Therefore, in your deliberations, when seeking to determine the military conditions, let them be made the basis of a comparison, in this wise: Which of the two priestesses is most favored by Lloth? The goddess set certain guild-lines that is to be followed. One most offer all triumphs to the goddess before an attack happen. One most show their respect of Lloth in public or in art. Witch of the two priestesses got most experience and ability? With whom lie the advantages derived from cave and Earth? Do archers work well in complex maze-line dark caves, i think not. On which side is discipline enforced best? when you lay down a law, see that it is not disobeyed; if it is disobeyed the offender must be put to death. Which army is stronger? On which side are officers and minions more highly trained? In which army is there the greater constancy both in reward and punishment? All warfare is based on deception. when the enemy think we are far away, then we are close, if the enemy think we are close then we are far away. one most even lie to your own minions if it's favorable in the end. (3) She will win whose army is animated by the same spirit throughout all its ranks.

       Hour 1, Day 7, Month 8, Year 147
       Nives Zar'Rocc 
       Archpreistess of Udos Dro'Xun 
       copy of lecture notes from class 1

II. Attack by Stratagem:

Fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting. Thus the highest form of Rulership is to balk the enemy's plans. The next best is to prevent the junction of the enemy's forces. The next in order is to attack the enemy's army in the field and the worst policy of all is to besiege walled cities. The rule is, not to besiege walled cities if it can possibly be avoided. Therefore the skillful leader subdues the enemy's troops without any fighting; She captures their cities without laying siege to them; She overthrows their cities without lengthy operations in the field. With her forces intact She will dispute the mastery of the Empire, and thus, without losing a soldier, her triumph will be complete. This is the method of attacking by stratagem: It is the rule in war, if our forces are ten to the enemy's one, to surround Her; if five to one, to attack Her.if twice as numerous, to divide our army into two. if slightly inferior in numbers, we can avoid the enemy. Drows can leave some minions behind though deception, to secure their own escape. There are three ways in which a Matron mother can bring misfortune upon her house: (1) By commanding the army to advance or to retreat, being ignorant of the fact that it cannot obey. This is called hobbling the army. (2) By attempting to govern an army in the same way as she administers a house, being ignorant of the conditions which obtain in an army. This causes restlessness in the soldier's minds. (3) By employing the officers of her army without discrimination, That is, she is not careful to use the right woman in the right place. Thus we may know that there are five essentials for victory: (1) She will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight. (2) She will win who knows how to handle both superior and inferior forces. (4) She will win who, prepared herself, waits to take the enemy unprepared. (5) she will win who has military capacity and is not interfered with by the temple of Lloth. If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat.If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.

       Hour 4, Day 7, Month 8, Year 147
       Nives Zar'Rocc
       Archpreistess of Udos Dro'Xun 
       copy of lecture notes from class 2

III. Variation in Tactics:

Reduce the hostile priestesses by inflicting damage on them; and make trouble for them, and keep them constantly engaged; hold out specious allurements, and make them rush to any given point. This teaches us to rely not on the likelihood of the enemy's not coming, but on our own readiness to receive her; not on the chance of her not attacking, but rather on the fact that we have made our position unassailable. There are five dangerous faults which may affect a Matron mother: (1) Recklessness, which leads to destruction; (2) Cowardice, which leads to capture; (3) A hasty temper, which can be provoked by insults; (4) A delicacy of honor which is sensitive to shame; (5) Over-solicitude for her minions, which exposes her to worry and trouble. These are the five besetting sins of a Ruler, ruinous to the conduct of war. When an army is overthrown and its leader slain, the cause will surely be found among these five dangerous faults. Let them be a subject of Study.

       Hour 20, Day 10, Month 8, Year 147
       Nives Zar'Rocc
       Archpreistess of Udos Dro'Xun 
       copy of lecture notes from class 3

IV. Terrain:

Now an army is exposed to six several calamities from faults for which the Ruler is responsible. These are: (1) Flight; (2) insubordination; (3) collapse; (4) ruin; (5) disorganization; (6) rout. Other conditions being equal, if one force is hurled against another ten times its size, the result will be the FLIGHT of the former. When the common soldiers are too strong and their officers too weak, the result is INSUBORDINATION. When the officers are too strong and the common soldiers too weak, the result is COLLAPSE. When the higher officers are angry and insubordinate, and on meeting the enemy give battle on their own account from a feeling of resentment, before the commander-in-chief can tell whether or no she is in a position to fight, the result is RUIN. When the ruler is weak and without authority; when her orders are not clear and distinct; when there are no fixes duties assigned to officers and minions, and the ranks are formed in a slovenly haphazard manner, the result is utter DISORGANIZATION.

       Hour 21, Day 10, Month 8, Year 147
       Nives Zar'Rocc
       Archpreistess of Udos Dro'Xun 
       copy of lecture notes from class 4

V. The Use of Spies:

What makes a Ruler good and let her achieve things beyond the reach of ordinary women, is FOREKNOWLEDGE. Now this foreknowledge cannot be elicited from spirits; it cannot be obtained inductively from experience, nor by any deductive calculation. Knowledge of the enemy's dispositions can only be obtained from others. Hence the use of spies, of whom there are five classes: (1) Local spies; (2) inward spies; (3) converted spies; (4) doomed spies; (5) surviving spies. When these five kinds of spy are all at work, none can discover the secret system. This is called "divine manipulation of the threads." It is the sovereign's most precious faculty. Having LOCAL SPIES means employing the services of the inhabitants of a district. In the enemy's country, win people over by kind treatment, and use them as spies. Having INWARD SPIES, making use of officials of the enemy. Worthy women who have been degraded from office, criminals who have undergone punishment; also, favorite pleasure slaves who are greedy for gold. Having CONVERTED SPIES, getting hold of the enemy's spies and using them for our own purposes. By means of heavy bribes and liberal promises detaching them from the enemy's service, and inducing them to carry back false information as well as to spy in turn on their own faction. Having DOOMED SPIES, doing certain things openly for purposes of deception, and allowing our spies to know of them and report them to the enemy. SURVIVING SPIES, finally, are those who bring back news from the enemy's camp. Your surviving spy must be a person of keen intellect, though in outward appearance a fool; of shabby exterior, but with a will of iron. Hence it is that which none in the whole army are more intimate relations to be maintained than with spies. None should be more liberally rewarded. In no other business should greater secrecy be preserved. The enemy's spies who have come to spy on us must be sought out, tempted with bribes, led away and comfortably housed. Thus they will become converted spies and available for our service. It is through the information brought by the converted spy that we are able to acquire and employ local and inward spies. It is owing to her information, again, that we can cause the doomed spy to carry false tidings to the enemy. Lastly, it is by his information that the surviving spy can be used on appointed occasions. The end and aim of spying in all its five varieties is knowledge of the enemy; and this knowledge can only be derived, in the first instance, from the converted spy. Hence it is essential that the converted spy be treated with the utmost liberality.

       Hour 21, Day 10, Month 8, Year 147
       Nives Zar'Rocc
       Archpreistess of Udos Dro'Xun 
       copy of lecture notes from class 5