A layman will say that the introduction of rifles has destroyed grand-army tactics of the past. That is how it looks at face value. Where before, battles would have tens or hundreds of thousands of men, now a single man is able to mow down a dozen in a second. By logical deduction, battles should be smaller. Engagements should not exceed a few hundred men, a single battalion can now cover entire landscapes with careful planning. Through sheer pragmatism and protection of life, armies should now be far smaller than they were in the past.
In reality, the opposite has happened.
Great War Grand-Army doctrine has been replaced by frontlines. Take the ancient supply line as example, farmers would produce food, fletchers would produce arrows, logisticians would organise transport, the supply line was an addition to society, it was not part of it. There was no use for battle-smitheries, no need for enormous mining expeditions, no want for exhaustive deforestations and farmings during times of ceasefire. Yet now, factories can easily be retooled from cars to tanks. The only difference between a peace-time aircraft manufactory and a war-time one is whether the plane has a bombing bay or a cannon attached.
War has not shrunk, in reality, the opposite has happened. My thesis of Scalable War has reached its natural conclusion. Every aspect of society, from resource extraction to manufacturing to transport to media to the men in battles themselves can now be militarized. The Military no longer exists to serve the interests of a State, the State now exists to serve the interests of the Military.
- Excerpt from ‘The Modern War’, written by Goddess Kassandora.
Helenna sat and smiled as she twirled a pen through her fingers. It danced around them, spinning, launching into the air, only to land on another finger to spin again. The fact Neneria, in her uniform, was trying to hide herself sneaking impressed glances at the trick of dexterity was extremely satisfying. Far more than if she just flat out said she was impressed by the trick.
So Helenna reclined as her hand kept playing with the pen. She had ended up on Arascus’ War Council, a far grander position than she ever had in the White Pantheon. Even during the Great War, she would only submit handwritten reports to Fortia and Allasaria and receive a cold reply of thanks and a new target to investigate. Now, Arascus had invited her. This was the sort of respect a Goddess of Love should receive. She smiled and sipped some wine. The fact he took no issue with drinking during the meetings was even better.
She sat in the middle of the table. Fer to her right, lying down and watching the pen spin in her hands. A golden mass of hair, with two vulpine golden eyes watching Helenna. Neneria sat opposite Helenna, Kavaa opposite Fer. Iniri had not wanted to attend, and Anassa was busy keeping watch over Elassa, but the rest of the Divines were here. Olephia close next to Kavaa, sketching something in her little notebook. For the first time since she met them, both Arascus and Kassandora were late. It was almost odd how easy they took it. Even Iliyal had been allowed to attend the War Council meeting, that had been unheard of in the White Pantheon. The Divines made decisions, and then each one relayed them individually to their orders. The elf sat next to Olephia, obviously annoyed Helenna was playing with her pen, but he said nothing. His arms were crossed, two elongated ears popped out of his blonde hair covered by a tall cap and he looked down at the papers before him.
They were in Nanbasa, in what had been the National Assembly, now the Imperial Palace. Through the window, Helenna could see the blue sky, the ringed city. Iniri was in that central animal reserve, growing trees and flowers for the animals safeguarded there. The black-white-red flags of Arascus hung off every skyscraper and gently breezed in the wind. The population had taken far better to the coup than Helenna could have even predicted.
Although they would, when the papers from Mwai Ruku’s office were revealed, they had spat on the man’s corpse. To think he was talking with Fortia about selling Kassandora out? All to make Kirinyaa into a monarchy ruled by him! What a traitor! Downright horrible. The fact Helenna had written those letters had not crossed anyone’s mind. Besides, Kassandora had a Jungle to burn. Already, the mines recovered from the Jungle were bringing employment and cheap goods to the country. The ash left lands fertile and people were already clamouring for houses to be built in the nation’s west. Land was plentiful, land was cheap. Apparently a man could work for only a year and already afford an entire estate.
So whereas UNN moralists would clutch their hands at the terrible of a Divine Junta, and the Pantheon denounced Kirinyaa every other day, there was little argument to make against Arascus’ leadership. Why risk rebellion when the only argument for it was one of abstract morality? Helenna smiled as she thought about the situation. It had been such a devilish plan it even made Helenna blush. What a lovely and romantic tragedy!
The door slammed open suddenly. Arascus held it open for Kassandora and she stormed in, both in dark suits, but Kassandora’s wasn’t as pristine as usual. Her red hair trailed behind her as she shot a look at Helenna and Kavaa. Helenna caught her pen and put it back down on the redwood table as Kassandora angrily stomped to take her seat by Helenna. Arascus took the head seat. He barely sat down before Kassandora took a deep breath to calm herself, then look to Helenna, to Kavaa, back to Helenna, then back to Kavaa. “We have something to discuss.” She said flatly.
Well. A tone like that sounded like trouble. Helenna didn’t know what she had done wrong, but she had not seen Kassandora since Fer and Iliyal and Kavaa had returned from their training of the National Goddesses. Kavaa must have not either, she angled her eyebrows at Kassandora. “Do we?” She asked.
“Why is Tartarus on Arda?” Kassandora asked and Helenna felt her hands tighten into fists. She rarely let her surprise show, but this was akin to being told that Allasaria was coming to turn the entire city into glass. It was hard to maintain a straight a face. Helenna looked to Kavaa and the woman maintained her cold gaze at Kassandora. Fer sniffed the table, sighed and shook her head.
“Surprise.” She said.
“Oh.” Kassandora’s posture changed entirely. She relaxed, the arms crossed over her chest dropped, she leaned forwards and she even smiled. Helenna sat there in pure confusion. “I see. So you really didn’t know?”
“Me?” Helenna asked, stunned. “What? Tartarus is on Arda? No…” Fer loudly sniffed again.
“Shock. Disbelief.” She said.
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“Alright. Thanks Fer.” Kassandora replied. “You can stop now.” The Goddess of War turned to Helenna and Kavaa. “Apologies to the both of you.” Helenna already knew that Kassandora was only being polite, there wasn’t a hint of regret in her voice. “But shocking you was the fastest method to achieve certainty.”
Fer sniffed again. “Satisfaction.”
“Fer.” Kassandora said, colder this time.
Fer sniffed again, her tone rather smug. “Annoyance.” Kassandora sighed, looked to Neneria, to Arascus and leaned back into her chair as Fer purred a low chuckle, the two tall ears on her head bouncing.
“I expected you not to know, if Kavaa did not either.” Arascus said as he looked to Helenna. “But we just had to make sure.”
Helenna could only whisper a reply, she saw the ends of her hairs go white. “I really didn’t.”
Fer sniffed again. Helenna had once heard the woman could smell emotions, but she had never believed it until today. “I believe you.” Fer said from the side.
“That’s enough for us.” Arascus replied. “But it does change the situation.” He finished and looked around the table. No one said anything, so Iliyal took the stage.
“It lends credence to the possibility Irinika and Malam are in the Dwarven Underkingdoms.” The elf said. “And in that regard, it explains why the dwarves have not been seen for a millennia. The fact they were obviously in a state of war suggests that the dwarves are still alive.”
The elf finished and Kassandora jumped in. “Well we know where the tunnels are.” She said simply. “How hard would it be to dig?”
“There’s none in Arika.” Arascus said. “Unless they’ve expanded here.”
“It could be worth checking.” Kassandora said and Helenna saw her chance to be useful.
“I could procure an underground radar from Rilia.” That country had a lot and Aimone was generally helpful. Kassandora and Arascus both nodded.
“Then we continue as we have.” Arascus said. “We don’t reference them once, if the Pantheon knows we know, then they may call them in.”
“I don’t think the Pantheon knows.” Helenna said.
“Who was in charge of securing the Holds then?” Arascus asked.
Kavaa answered this time. “Fortia, Maisara and Allasaria. It only took them about decade after the Great War to force the dwarves back.”
Helenna saw the mistake the Goddess of Health had made. “The Dwarves largely retreated themselves after the World Core was sealed.” Kassandora suddenly leaned forwards.
“Then we don’t need a scanner, we can dig to the core.” Arascus shook his head.
“A scanner would be needed for excavation in the first place. And it would help with the Jungle too, to see whether we are actually clearing it away or just scratching the surface. There’s regions it regrows in that need constant bombardment.” Kassandora nodded.
“Then Helenna, this is your job.”
“With pleasure.” Helenna said. “It will be here by the end of the week.” Helenna would steel it herself if she had to.
“Very well.” Arascus said happily. “Now, unless there’s anything else to mention, we should discuss how to handle the Epan Coalition.”
Helenna sat there for a moment. She supposed this was as important as anything else. Discussing the Coalition would give them all jobs, but this… No. This did take precedence. “I have one thing to mention.” Helenna said, her hair turned orange and red with pride as she leaned down to retrieve the folder by her chair. “I still have contacts on Olympiada. Not many, but enough.”
Not many was a few hundred, although with Helenna gone, most of the mortals she relied on had slowly given up on her. It wasn’t that they no longer loved her, but rather that love for a Divine rarely held up against fear of a Divine. Now with Fortia and Maisara stalking the mountain’s roads, there was plenty to remind people what they were risking for the Goddess of Love. “It’s important.”
“Go ahead.” Arascus said. He really sounded like he meant it. Helenna calmed her heart from the incredible feeling of simply being listened to. Since Allasaria had been voted in as the sole ruler of the White Pantheon all those centuries ago, she had missed it.
“I…” Helenna didn’t know how to say. There wasn’t really anything to say. She simply opened her black folder and pulled out an image. Allasaria in the air, snapped from behind a window, the image was blurry but there was no mistaking the Goddess of Light. Only one person had golden hair that trailed like, only one person emitted that pleasant glow. “She’s back.”
Kassandora and Fer both leaned in to inspect the image. Kavaa’s cheeks paled. Neneria and Olephia gave no reaction, they merely glanced at it and then looked at Arascus. Olephia didn’t even look scared, not even shocked. “And there’s more.” Helenna said. One thing that did help her spies was Neneria’s assault on the mountain. Helenna had told the people she needed to stay off Olympiada for that day. The Goddess of Love pulled out another image. This image from closer, although all that was really needed to identify the figure was the bronze trident and the red coral crown: Tasaidien.
Kassandora looked at the picture and spoke immediately. “So the Coalition has lost then.” She said flatly. “Alanktyda will blockade Allia and raid the Doschian and Rancais coasts. They won’t be able to hold a front in the South if they have to fight a war against the oceans.”
“That does change plans.” Arascus said.
“We can support them more actively.” Kassandora said.
Helenna spoke before they descended into conversation. She brought an image of a man with wings like an eagle, but all the feathers red.
“Who is that?” Kassandora asked.
“And here I thought you’d know sister.” Fer said smugly from one side.
“It’s Itni.” Neneria interjected before Kassandora came back with a reply. “He is strong. Around…” She sighed. “I don’t know, stronger than Kassie. I think Fer can beat him, I don’t know really.”
“I’d say he matches Maisara.” Helenna said.
“Then I can beat him.” Fer said.
“He stands as the God of Pichqasuyu. We can assume they will come in.” Helenna said.
And Kassandora interjected again. “Then if the Pantheon is pulling in other nations, the UNN and Guguo will also go.” She sighed. “Guguo can be brought to rebellion from within but the UNN has a comparable manufacturing output to all Epa.” She looked at Helenna and nodded. “Good that you showed these. We can prepare.”
“I’m not done.” Helenna said as she pulled out the final image. One that she knew they’d know, because this Divine had been with the Pantheon during the Great War: Mur. A man that had each of his limbs stretched out. Kassandora looked at it. And she looked at Arascus. And at Kavaa. Everyone knew what it meant. Mur led Uriamel. Uriamel controlled practically the entire ocean Kirinyaa sat on.
The silence held for a few moments. Helenna had not thought that was possible. Frankly, she would rather Kassandora say that they had lost immediately. The fact that Kassandora was at a lack for words… Helenna felt her throat tighten. Arascus broke the silence. “So the war will be defensive.” He said. “The Epa plan should be adapted, we need them to win now.” He looked to Kassandora.
The Goddess of War nodded grimly. “I will prepare a coastal defence strategy first then.”
Before anyone could say anything, there was a knock on the door. Iliyal looked at everyone in the room, then tilted his head to the door. Arascus nodded. The elf stood up and marched to it. Silence. The elf asked nothing, there was only a guard there, a guard with his phone. He passed it to Iliyal.
And Iliyal brought it back to the table. He set it at the foot, so everyone could see.
Allasaria was giving a speech live. Not to any news station in specific, but everyone was covering it. And in that moment, Helenna felt as if she had chosen the wrong side. She liked it here. She really did. But was it worth dying for? Her hair turned pale white as she listened to Allasaria speak. “Thus, the Pantheon Peace Doctrine is rescinded for the imminent future. Arascus, Kassandora, Fer, Anassa, Neneria, Olephia, Helenna, Iniri and Kavaa and the nation of Kirinyaa are declared as existential threats under my authority, as leader of the White Pantheon.” Helenna felt her heart drop. Allasaria had mentioned her by name. There had been no anger in that tone, no rage. It was simply a statement, as if Allasaria was reporting the weather.
The Goddess of Light continued. “And my message to Arascus and his cohort: We have defeated you once. We will defeat you again. That is all.”