No Back Stabbing

The first individual- err individuals(?) that answered his summons happened to be a creature unlike any he had ever seen before in his life. Was this a dream? Was he drunk? It was a struggle to collect himself upon the two-headed wolf’s approach, but he managed to do so. Together, they offered a request to join the lesson. In which he hesitantly nodded his confirmation. He recognized the name Yarra. It made sense for them to be here … but he remaiend quiet more or less for the purposes of not fumbling words or gawking. The rest were all faces he recognized from the gathering. Elysia, Ezekiel, Rhazien, Absinth, and even Sephiran. He offered them each a nod in greeting and acknowledgement, allowing his attention to linger on Absinth a little longer. His expression remained blank, but he was certainly on her same wavelength.

After a couple more minutes of no one else joining them, he prepared to speak. “Of course, I won’t speak for all of us. But I get the impression that a lot of us haven’t ever fought in a group setting. Not like it will be in the future: our numbers against another group- perhaps larger than us.” The clearing remained still, the tension gradually settling among them. Aresenn knew that preparing for battle was not just about physical prowess, but also about mental fortitude and unity. That was the point of this gathering today. An introduction. To each other. And to expectation. “There are foundational skills that we need to hone as individuals before we start stringing everything together. But there are concepts to keep in the back of your mind to be working toward as we each train individually.” He paused, looking for recognition among those gathered before him.

After clearing his throat, he continued. “The way we orient ourselves as an attack or defending body can be crucial ... For example, ground can be covered far more quickly and throughly in a fanned out wedge shape than in a straight line. And when it comes to defending an attack, fighting back to back or even in an outward facing circle is far more flexible and easier to defend than spread out to be picked off one by one.” These were all basic concepts, but still things worth being said. He had no idea what everyone's backgrounds were. And a big part of success was going to be making sure everyone was on the same page. He didn't want any information being missed based on assumption. “Another key component of group tactics are flanking maneuvers. Luring a small party into thinking you are on your own with hidden or spaced out flankers is a great way to disorient adversaries and create vulnerabilities- think of it as a battlefield ambush. This is also an aspect of ‘Target Allocation’, which is the prioritizing of targets based on threat level, versus the resources we have available to neutralize that threat.” It was a lot of information to have thrown at them at once. But again, this was the introduction. He would go back and detail whatever he needed to as it became necessary.

"Aresenn Praetor"