fandomhigh | Self Confidence the Ares Way, [Thursday, Period 2]

"So," Ares said, after the class had arrived at the main campfire. "Last week, you all decided that the best thing to do after being banished from your village was to raise an army to create a kind of bufferzone to prevent your village being attacked again." Which they hadn't, exactly, but Ares wasn't going to let that stop him.

"Now, after you've got the hang of this whole leading an army thing, you find you're quite successful at it, and in short order are building up a decent reputation. One day, while doing your thing, your men capture a prisoner, a minor general of a smallish empire, who says you can fetch a handsome ransom for him. What do you do? Do you get him go? Do you ransom him, kill him?"

"Now, assuming you decide to ransom him, which being the intrepid young warriors you are, I am, you obviously don't treat him shabbily, after all, there's a meal ticket riding on it, and hey, this guy is rather charming, so you two get along...well, given our classroom setting, let's just leave it as getting along rather well. Now, before you let him go, your hostage proposes you meet up in a couple of days and start a new alliance. Again what do you do? Why?"

"However, once you meet up with your new 'ally' again, it turns out that it all was a bit of a trap and you get crucified. Whoops. Luckily for you, you get freed from the cross by a 'good friend', and taken to a healer to do something about that whole shattered lower legs thing you've got going for you, but not before your friend gets skewered by a couple of arrows and dies."

"Discuss the most self-empowering way you can think of to deal with this betrayal, and your loss of both your friend and the use of your legs for the foreseeable future."

[ooc: OCD threads ~~coming~~ up!

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Well? You he?

Karal wasn't as sure on this point. An alliance theoretically sounded like a good idea. "I'm not sure we should be forging an alliance with this person without knowing more about him and his country and principles."

"Again, I agree," Cedric said. "And who's to say that there would not be ulterior motives when we met for the alliance meeting? Taking someone hostage wouldn't be the easiest thing to forgive and perhaps they are just setting us up?"

"I think that is the most likely explanation," he agreed, watching Altra's tail flick back and forth. "I do not understand why they would want an alliance with us. They are an empire, we are a village with a successful army. Empires become empires by swallowing other territories, and I do not believe you become general of an empire by forgiving those who capture you."

"Exactly," Cedric agreed. "Unless they've had an unusual and very unlikely change of heart, this alliance is nothing more than something they can use to lull us into dropping our guard before pillaging and plundering our village and taking our things for themselves."

"I think this alliance will wind up with our village ceasing to be, and possibly all of us as well." And didn't that sound familiar. "Their offer needs to be declined, as diplomatically as possible, and we need to prepare for their eventual attack."

"Agreed," Cedric said. "If anything, this attempt at an alliance should be an indicator that even the smallest of villages cannot be ignored when one wants to establish an empire."

"Which means the correct response is to seek out all the other villages and form an alliance with them, so when the empire arrives, they can be resisted." It might have just sounded like Karal was speaking from experience. "No matter that they were once our enemies."

Nodding, Cedric said, "Being proactive instead of inactive can do no more harm than damage."

Karal nodded emphatically. "I agree completely."

"He did say," Naminé interjected, "that we were getting along rather well. Perhaps he has forgiven us. Perhaps there was a ... a misunderstanding, of sorts. Perhaps we want the same things, and have discovered a common enemy. In that case, a change of heart isn't really so unreasonable, is it?"

"I have to vote no on the alliance," Z argued. "We just captured this guy and held him for ransom, what reason does he have to work with us?"

Self Confidence the Ares Way, [Thursday, Period 2]

I Can Has Alliance? - Self-Con [Class Four]

Re: I Can Has Alliance? - Self-Con [Class Four]

Re: I Can Has Alliance? - Self-Con [Class Four]

Re: I Can Has Alliance? - Self-Con [Class Four]

Re: I Can Has Alliance? - Self-Con [Class Four]

Re: I Can Has Alliance? - Self-Con [Class Four]

Re: I Can Has Alliance? - Self-Con [Class Four]

Re: I Can Has Alliance? - Self-Con [Class Four]

Re: I Can Has Alliance? - Self-Con [Class Four]

Re: I Can Has Alliance? - Self-Con [Class Four]

Re: I Can Has Alliance? - Self-Con [Class Four]

Re: I Can Has Alliance? - Self-Con [Class Four]