» Fri Apr 09, 2010 9:04 am Oh, and I had to change the names because of the italics that came up, sorry.
Anaraire on The Banners over Tamriel
Explained and Edited by One-Who-Reads, Andre, and Voltaire
[OWR] ‘The Banners over Tamriel’ is a book written by an Altmer, Anaraire. The Altmer explains his views on war, and the basic and advanced details of Magical Warfare, along with Subject-Specific areas. Ilden and This One will explain what Anaraire says in ‘The Banners over Tamriel’.
Chapter 1: The Racial Warfare of Tamriel
“Every person wages a different war on the face of Tamriel. Each battle is specific to the skills acquired over the years. To win a war, you must identify the skills of your enemy and adapt to fight against it. It is of utmost importance to do this, and is the basis of all war in Tamriel.” -Rather Falas (Military History of Skyrim; 2E 563)
1. Altmer -- The Altmer are my own people. We are a very hardy yet delicate race. The Altmer were the first in Tamriel, and have trained in warfare the longest. Although we have a weakness to magicks, we are still strong in our Warfare.
[A]We think that this a biased and proud opinion on the part of Anaraire. Although his words are paradoxical, they are still unfair. The Altmer are an all around race, good at all three types of fighting, but they are very pretentious. They can march off to battle thinking that they can win, just because they are superior. We cannot help but think that Anaraire was acting just like his race.
[OWR] This One alludes to the Battle of Hegathe, where the Altmer Captain led his troops into peril by believing that the gods would not let them die because of their divine heritage. The Altmer were slaughtered by the Redguards, who was lead by a much more realistic person.
2. Argonian -- The Argonians are quite scary. On my journeys to the Black Marsh, the many tribes from within waged nonstop warfare, as well as defended their borders from other invaders. They use hit-and-run tactics, and use poison and other kinds of chemical warfare. However, they are uncivilized, and do not posess the regiments and discipline that other Races have.
[OWR] This One is quite offended, for Argonians are not ‘uncivilized’. As they do operate in tribes, they fiercely defend their shamanistic and cultural ways. Although some parts of the Argonian life are quite barbaric, they are also quite civilized and intelligent beings.
[A] We have seen that Argonians are masters at guerilla warfare during the Arnesian War. Although the Argonians were ultimately defeated by the Dunmer, they were still able to hold their ground.
“…and we thought the Argonians as unregimented and barbaric, unable to defend themselves. However, we were distraught to find our men being slain by an Argonian Troop. When we sent reinforcements, the Argonians had already taken the lives and left….causing many leaders to become paranoid…” -Daratyth Thalas (Diary of Darayth Thalas; 3E 396)
3. Bosmer -- The Bosmer Elves are barbaric, unlike many beliefs. During my travels in Valenwood, they Wood Elves were mainly carnivorous and attuned with the trees and wildlife of their land. From what history tells us, the Bosmer are not an aggressive people, but rather defensive. This is known because of the Five Year War with Elsweyr and Summerset Isles.
“The Khajiit began the fight in an unusual way by sending tree-cutting teams of Cathay-raht and the fearsome Senche-raht or "Battlecats" into the outskirts of Valenwood's forests…. The Bosmer were thus goaded into splitting their forces into smaller groups….The Bosmer bent the remaining trees with their magics into small fortifications from which to fire their bows.” -Codus Callonus (Mixed Unit Tactics)
4. Breton -- The half-elves of High Rock live under the Feudal System, and are disciplined and regimented soldiers. Even so, their position has put them against the Nords of Skyrim many times, which they cannot seem to beat. Even though the Bretons are not the best model-soldiers, their regimented and civilized manner of war is rare in Tamriel.
[A] The Bretons of High Rock are armor-clad, pike-wearing, walk-in-a-straight-line kind of warriors, the kind that you don’t see every day. As they are much more civilized in their warfare then many other races, they are not the “model-soldiers”, just like Anaraire said. Even so, they are disciplined and are able to fight as well as any other soldier.
[OWR] This One does not know much of the Bretons, but they have a natural grasp of the magical arts. Through this, their battle mages are unprecedented.
[Voltaire]Having stumbled upon this work accidentally in my search through the archives of Wayrest, I have since been wondering about some parts of it (mostly regarding the Bretic race with whose tradition and history I am most familiar) and felt the need to express my views on some comments made. I am forced to disagree with both the original author and Andre on this matter. To claim that Bretons are 'disciplined and regimented soldiers' is, in my humblest oppinion, not a correct statement, or at least only a partially correct one.
While the knight represents Bretic warfare on the stage of Tamriel, he is a deceptive representative - those very same knights that supposedly fight with much discipline can sometimes be expected to act with as much arrogancy as the Altmer warriors - I would not put suicidal charges above the average Bretic knight and their perception of infantry as 'lesser troops' can bring about the doom of many a Bretic army. And alongside the Bretic knight are commonly found the citizen and the peasant; one of them fights roughly like Andre words it, while the other is a strange, unreliable but potentially useful tool for a general.
Both Andre and Anaraire seem to be thinking of the Imperial Legion rather than the Bretons, for even though Bretons indeed find strength in unity when their personal skill fails them (and they could be said to be more capable in this regard than some other races) and the mercenary companies sometimes found in this troubled province may somewhat match the description given, I would not associate the armies of High Rock with tidy lines and formations. The geography of High Rock and feudalism with the associated military traditions found in it dictate that the warriors vary from arrogant knights of Wayrest mounted on fine steeds to seemingly shabby peasants of Dwynnen who can easily bring about the doom of many a noble from the safety of their swamps and forests. Unlike the Imperials, Argonians or (to some extent) Bosmeri and Nords, the Bretons can not be said to have a generalized style of warfare. In this regard they are rather similar to the Dunmeri.
5. Dunmer -- The Dunmer are quite artistic in their warfare. During my travels through Morrowind and Vvardenfall, I was looked upon as an “outlander”, and cast away. So, I found the Dunmer as distrustful, and quite haughty. However, as we saw during many of the wars, the Dunmer are skilled in the Blade, the Bow, and the Art of Destruction. Because of this, many Dunmer had amazing soldiers, who could fight against any enemy with basically any weapon. However, they are untrustworthy and quite vengeful, making them blind in their rage against their rival enemies.
[OWR] This One agrees with the Altmer, for he is correct. As we saw in the Four-Score War, the Dunmer were beaten back by the Reman Dynasty, but the Morag Tong were able to assassinate their leader after he sacked the Black Gates.
“…may the blade you wield be part of your body, and extension upon yourself….as if your ancestors were part of your blade….and it will fight for you, and for the Dunmer way of life…” -Unknown (Swordfighting: A Way of Life; 1E 2760)
Note: I'll promise to add more later, but I wanted to get this posted before I made an entire book only to find out nobody likes it.
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