Education as a Weapon

                In many of our campaigns and game worlds, not much has changed over the past 1,000 years.  Not that borders haven’t shifted, but the nature of war is likely similar in the current game year to how it was centuries ago.  Compare that to our world where in the past 300 years we’ve gone from muskets to stealth bombers.

               Does it matter?  Absolutely!  On Earth, our recent history is filled with innovative generals utilizing new technologies in ways that they haven’t been used before.  Napoleon, Patton and others have gained their fame primarily because they understood the new face of war.

               After the defeat of Napoleon, the Prussian education system was established.  (Please don’t get picky on this.  I know it started a while before, but it wasn’t fully rolled out until ~1830.)  Why?  Well, at least the story says that the Prussian military commanders felt the kids they were drafting were unsuited for war as they were then fighting it.  They needed recruits who could read and write, understand maps, and do some math (mainly to better aim the bigger guns).  Oh, yeah, and were indoctrinated into patriotism.  If any of that feels like the act of an evil empire, training their children to be better soldiers in case they needed to be drafted, be aware that the USA’s public education system is a complete copy of the Prussian system.  What, you never wondered why it was called “kindergarten”?

               But how does this translate into our FRPGs?  If warfare hasn’t changed in 1,000 years or more, what’s the point to thinking about these innovative generals?  Well, I’m actually trying to make the reverse argument.  Just as the Prussians developed a system of public schools that would educate their civilian children so that they could later be better draftees, I think we need to consider how schooling in our fantasy worlds would attempt to do the same.

               Are mages the only ones in your world who attend schools?  That may not work.  A military officer who cannot read orders delivered to him by messengers is useless.  (Few officers trust the messengers to know what the orders say, so they cannot simply tell them.)  Similarly, if he cannot read a map, he’s probably useless.  But there is so much more to it!

               It seems most appropriate for each culture to train their children differently, based on the needs of the “kingdom”.  For example:  In the city of Helatia, a major seaport, every college / university teaches navigation as part of the standard curriculum.  They cannot afford to have the top officers of the ship incapacitated and have the lower officers unable to get the ship back to port, so everybody learns.

               The exact opposite would be needed in deserts west of Dalavar.  There the young men are enrolled in riding academies.  They learn how to care for their horses, as well as ride and shoot from the saddle.  Meanwhile in the Green Lands, every able-bodied man (and boy) is expected to practice with his long bow for five hours a week.  This is not only a civic duty, but the priests emphasize it as well.

               There are other aspects here that can be used.  Maybe you don’t want your rank and file soldiers to have an education, and that seems fine.  But what do they do as youths that prepares them for war?  In Brinston, track and field events are the main sport.  This continues in that the various Civilian Authorities (policing units) compete against each other in track meets.  For the kids in Brinston with any aspirations of being a soldier, cop or any other heroic occupation, they would spend their afternoons racing each other through the streets, throwing javelins (or pretend javelins), and seeing who can jump the farthest.  Now take a pick pocket in Brinston and have him try to run away from the police - not likely!

               Granted, these ideas work best for point-based or skill-based character systems.  Ironically, class-based systems make schooling harder to work in.  With classes, abilities grow no matter what, but with a point-based system, you can still have a priest who ran track as a kid and can run faster and jump farther than some of the warrior types.

               This is most importantly seen if the culture uses a lot of magic in their warfare, or their enemies do.  It seems entirely likely that a military academy might want to teach their cadets how to block a spell while teaching them how to strike with a saber.  This is where your rules might get in the way of your world building.  Handle with care, but no matter what your rules say, long established cultures will find a way to prepare their children and citizens for the hardships ahead.

 

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               This post was written as part of The Secrets of Siege Magic aka All About Battle Magic for Castles & Sieges, the latest in our Small Bites editions.  Each Small Bites book looks deeply at one subject, a character archetype, a race/monster, a style of questing, or some other role-playing/world building subject.  This one is showcasing magic used in attacking or defending castles, and then naturally by extension walled cities and other fortresses.

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