21.3 Comprehensive training for legions.

There are a wide variety of specialist skills, some broadly shared across profession and citizenship, others unique to this or that profression; all have a bearing on the complex web of tactics both in war-preparation and on the battlefield. Below is a summary of the specialist skills with a brief descripion. More detailed information remains closely guarded and cannot be revealed here. See HELP LEGIONS for command-set relating to warfare, legions and the acquisition of these abilities. You can train a legion in a number of skills at the same time but to do so will retard progress in all.

Very large legions learn more slowly than those of optimum middling size (regiment and brigade is most effective, the former if solely automated, the latter if any player teach is involved on occasion). The division and battalion are markedly slower to train yet remain relatively adept, but when your size drops down 'company' and 'party' size, or gets so large it passes 'corps' and 'army' numbers - then is training retarded greatly; the former by lack of numbers to practice and coordinate and enthuse and spawn competition, the latter by weight of numbers overwhelming the trainers unable to reach sufficient numbers to advance matters as quickly as possible. Nonetheless, all legions big and small WILL advance under training and many say, regardless, there is no substitute for real battle experience.

The list of specialist skills below is a complete run-down of all areas of development open to legions, the extent of said development determined by the guild or city from which the legion hails. "The Core Skills" should be deemed priority for all legions, and form the basis from which all other endeavour and specialist development should begin. Without competent core skills the legion will be extremely vulnerable on the battlefield, be it fieldworker or fighter. Where you develop beyond (or in addition to) the core skills is entirely up to you, and in most cases depends on the vision of the city/guild and its proximate needs. It is recommended that a spread of specialists together with a vanguard of core par-excellence is the initial goal, as one becomes more familiar with the subtleties and nuances of warfare, fieldwork and its myriad potential.

You will find you are able to type HELP followed by a specialist-skill to gain some information, in many cases, or for the less publicly known skills, LEGION PROGRESS <legion> <skill> when your legion is training in the skill to gain further details.

THE CORE SKILLS

"Meleefight"       Combat hand to hand, in melee, when no weapons available.
"Alacrity"         Determines the pace of order response/execution.
"Deployment"       Speed of deployment on orders, movement, actions.
"Meleeweapons"     Combat at close-quarters, in melee, using weapons.
"Familiarity"      Closeness to fellows and leader; rewards constancy.
"Armourforms"      Using armour worn and in conjunction with formation.
"Formations"       Adopting designated battle formations in real-time.
"Highground"       Taking advantage of higher ground over opposition.
"Lowground"        Experienced use of lower-ground on the battlefield.
"Cavalry"          Skill and experience in the mounted arts.
"Hawkeyes"         Accuracy for actions performed at distance/long-range.

"Marchendure"      Marching faster, longer distances, greater endurance.
"Levitation"       Employing magical arts to levitate, controlling height.
"Rivermastery"     Handling boats, transports, routes via the rivers.
"Circumventions"   Passing obstacles via best trained/expedient method.
"Leaping"          Leaping obstacles, dodging inbound, into depths/water.
"Swimming"         Traversing bodies of water, diving in/out quickly.
"Livingwalls"      Tighteing about an exit or locale to block movement.
"Climbing"         Clambering up or down natural or man-made height obstacles.
"Gathering"        Gathering up legions, snowballing momentum/size.

"Trenches"         Digging and fortifying trenches in suitable environs.
"Scorchedearth"    Long term devastation of farming, fields, etc.
"Levelground"      Filling in trenches and pits, downing obstacles.
"Tunnelling"       Making tunnels underground between adjacent locations.
"Lumberjacking"    Felling trees, cutting bush/hedge, scything wildland paths.

"Fieldequipment"   Using/maneuvering field equipment (eg catapults etc).
"Buildforts"       Building fortifications in locations or for tactical gain.
"Minefields"       Laying detonating mines in appropriate surrounds.
"Forts"            Potency within forts, barbicans, field holeouts.
"Equipmentfix"     Mechanic skills required to mend/improve field equipment.
"Sabotage"         Covert destruction (oft timed) against field equipment.
"Oilcauldrons"     Cauldrons of boiling oil/water high to lowground.
"Minehunting"      Finding and/or avoiding minefields, uncovering/diffusing.

"Archers"          Employing the longbow and/or crossbow in battle.
"Projectiles"      Thrown, catapulted or speared items in battle.
"Bodyguarding"     Guarding the person or small group from incoming damage.
"Protectionism"    Preventing melee between points adjacent but duly bisected.
"Razing"           Burning/destroying undefended enemy constructions.
"Plundering"       Plundering treasure/items from unfortified locale.
"Besieging"        Organised, slowsteady attack against fortified targets.
"Rearguarding"     Notice weakness on battlefield, move to plug it.
"Desperation"      If defeat inevitable, resort to desperate, doomed heroism.
"Leadership"       Leading offensive or defensive lines/formations.

"Orderscripts"     Preparing scripts with complex distributed orders.
"Battletactics"    Taking on and executing writing tactics/orders.
"Conveyencing"     Conveying skills between legions efficiently.
"Scouting"         Covert, speedy information from enemy territory.
"Messengering"     Passing messages (orders and more) all over Avalon.
"Distantrelay"     Info and scenes from distant events; no end of covert uses.
"Covertcitizen"    Incognito travel on foreign soil, gather info/theft.
"Windwords"        Mimicry and falsewords bandied about to derail plans/info.
"Pathways"         Working through best routes about the dangerous land.

"Girdling"         Rituals used to thwart enemy movement and activity.
"Attackmagic"      Magic attacks to augment offence against targets/enemies.
"Weathermods"      Modifying localised weather as per orders and tactics.

"Fireworking"      Blasting and burning environs with magical flame.

"Enemytheft"       Stealing equipment from enemies (individuals/legions).
"Fatalism"         Inspire depression and demoralise enemies over time.
"Mysticalfear"     Voodoo-esque irrational fear strikes weakest present.
"Spiritualist"     Rejection of money/salary in favour of spiritual succour.
"Ghostrider"       Ethereal leadership; following orders from the dead.
"Foraging"         Foraging about for herbs/poisons/concealed items.
"Animalcare"       Training/caring for animals (eg steeds or carrier pigeons).
"Rustling"         Disrupting, chasing off and disabling enemy animals/steeds.
"Forestgrowth"     Enchanted growth/musclework to shift natural obstacles.
"Forestcleanse"    Restoring forest nature-state, removing invaders.
"Selfhealing"      Calm affliction diagnosis and selfhelp on the fly.
"Healinghands"     Spotting afflictions and healing them on-the-fly.
"Elementcalming"   Rebalancing elemental dangers; fires out, winds down etc.
"Forestfood"       Bringing forth rations and/or food from the wilderness.

Back to section index