fandomhigh | Macro-Tactics, Monday

"In this time period, most people would tell you that the siege is something of a relic, at best," Kerrigan began. They were back in the simulated class room again, all metal and seats up front, the large table with the various view screens at the back. "That it's something out of the Dark Ages. Which it is-- actually, it goes back longer than that. As long, in fact, as we've had armies holding one particular location, we've had other armies trying to break them out. A siege."

"Now I'm going to break your poor delusions, and tell you this: no matter how many airplanes you invent, no matter how many bombs you figure out how to drop, there's always going to be someone figuring out a way to keep you from doing it. Some feat of architecture or engineering that's going to make your big doomsday device bankrupt. It's a pain in the ass." She smirked. "Even right now, sieges are still happening. They're just taking a century off before the big stuff starts back in."

"Now, the essence of a siege is real simple. You have a home base--" She drew a large circle with her finger on the projection screen behind her. "...Built to withstand. You have an army--" She drew another circle around it, "--Trying to get in. You've got five strategies to deal with it if you're the one besieging the town. Well," and the class got another smirk, "And a bonus door number six..."

She reached over and wrote on the board with her finger.

1. Blockade
2. Escalade
3. Breach
4. Mining
5. Retreat
6. Being a Clever Jackass

"Number one. Blockade. Attrition's the strategy we usually associate with this kind of siege. You sit around and wait until your opponent runs out of food and water and dies. Tricky; you have to be sure they don't have a whole lot sitting behind their walls, or you're going to wind up with a supplies problem of your own."

"Number two brings us to the classic Middle Ages. Escalade: back in the day, it meant to climb over the walls. These days, I'd say avoiding their air defenses and trying to drop some troops on their asses would do it. Your guys can let the rest of the crew in - if they win. You have to win a lot of ground pretty quickly if you want this to work. And try to avoid getting your ass shot down?"

"Number three: breach. You just keep hitting their defenses from the outside until it gives way; then you keep pouring on the men. Slightly less dangerous than the previous option, but you'll probably lose a lot of people just going at those defenses, unless you've got a couple of nukes - large bombs - at your disposal."

"Number four, the sneaky way... I like it. In the old days, it meant digging a tunnel under the walls. You kept going until you wound up underneath your opponent's base, then you loaded it with explosives and blew it up. The only problem you had those days was running into your opponent under ground, if they were on to you. These days, there's a lot of sensor equipment to deal with. You'd have to go very deep... but it'd be worth it."

She turned back towards the class. "Or you can run like a little girl, and try it another day," she said. "Nothing to be ashamed of... for the most part. I personally prefer the sixth option. But there's no manual for that, though I'm sure one or two of our teachers is either teaching a course on it, or can be relied on to do so in the future. Talk your way in, and you might get on out with minimal casualties."

She crossed her arms. "Strategies change from era to era, but the basics remain in place. I want you all to find a classmate from another time or place and discuss which methods would work best where you're from. How you'd do it. And tell me how you think you can counter these methods.

"You can use the simulator to generate some terrain if you want to show off what."

Kerrigan would be listening, children. There might be useful intel here...

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Telepathic abilities?" Faramir asked. Obviously someone had not explained that part of Fandom to him yet.

"We can project our thoughts into the minds of others."

//Like this.//

Faramir sat up straighter as the voice was unexpected, but he would have looked more surprised if he had no met Jonothon before.

"There is another student here who speaks like this as well," he said, studying her curiously. Jonothon was unable to speak in any other way, but her case was obviously different. "Are there other things you can do with these telepathic abilities?"

"Jonothon? I've met him." Cally smiled, then shook her head, though it was a tentative movement, not a full negation. "It varies; some have more sensitivity to energy, or to emotions. A few -- it's very rare -- have the ability to move objects with their minds. Most of us simply have the power to speak this way."

Faramir nodded in confirmation at her question.

"Even so, the power to speak in silence is useful," he agreed. "Though I am unsure if it would persuade me to clone myself for it? I mean no offence."

"I don't take any; if our ways were everyone's, we wouldn't be one of the only two worlds to perfect the technology." Cally tapped her fingers lightly on the desk. "Telepathy is something that was supposedly promised to our people long ago by the gods; most don't believe such things anymore, but the desire for it remained part of the culture."

"You speak wise words," Faramir appraised with a smile. "So it is an ability that is regarded highly in your world, and thus every family would strive for their children to master it. I can understand that."

"Exactly." Cally nodded, then tilted her head thoughtfully. "What about your city - is it merely a likely target should an enemy declare themselves? Or is there someone specific you need to defend against?"

"Sauron," Faramir spoke quietly. "He is the enemy of all that's fair and good in my world. He has been a great evil for many Ages, and he is gathering strength once more. My father believes that ere the end of his reign, Minas Tirith will be under siege by his forces."

"Ages as in generations? A very long-lived enemy." And familiar, in a way, if you spread the idea out to a corrupt philosophy instead of a single entity.

"Ages as in thousands of years," Faramir clarified as even generations seemed too little a word to fully grasp the enemy. "I do not know his whole tale or how he came to be, but he appears to be as timeless as the Elves. He has been defeated before, but never has he been truly vanquished."

Macro-Tactics, Monday

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