Envoy Baaruus Kisma

Praise to He Who is as Thunder!

The early rains have cleared and we are on our way to Zahamo to meet with the court of King Tensha. Tensha is a mighty figure, as is known even in lands as far from Nlamo as our own country. Yet in my time here and in discussion with the inhabitants of this land, I have learned much more about Tensha and his history than is commonly known outside his realms.

It is clear that his genius manifests in three spheres – the political, the strategic, and the tactical. The history of his conquest of Nlamo, so often called a unification by that large body of eNlami loyal to him, has never yet been collected together by a single chronicler. Nonetheless enough is known for me to describe the man. After our embassy is received at his capital I will recount them more of the personal details of his life, but for this report I will focus instead on those aspects of his rule most relevant to our own aims.

His first genius, the political, is seen in his ability to achieve peaceful resolutions to conflicts, build strong alliances, and maintain peaceful relations with tribes and nations under his dominion. War is only one of a number of political tools wielded by Tensha. His religious and cultural tolerance is notable, as conquered (or unified) people are granted a large degree of autonomy once they accept his rule, pay his taxes, and support his armies. For this reason, we should not be hopeful to find many allies to our invasion among his subjects. A fuller account of his political success is not important at this time.

His second genius, the strategic, lies in his mastery of the logistics and organisation of battle. Tensha is an expert at choosing when to engage and when to retreat, and always managed to take to battle on his own terms. Further, he introduced a regimented system of organising and training his forces, and created a body of soldiers who engaged in warfare as their primary pursuit, supplanted with volunteers and auxilary forces; many of his opponents fielded volunteer armies and part-time troops. Children taken into the army were given battlefield roles from their seventh year. The youngest carry messages and orders. As they age they are asked to carry supplies, help collect wounded soldiers from the field of battle, and given roles in the reserve or skirmisher units, until graduating to full soldiers at age fourteen.

His third genius, the tactical, requires the most explanation.

Traditionally, warfare in Nlamo consisted mainly of small-scale raiding and skirmishes. Large engagements were much rarer, and typically took the form of mass ranks of spear-and-shield men clashing on open plains. The tightly massed ranks would typically approach to within the throwing-distance of a javelin or spear, discharge their missiles, and then close to engage their enemies with longer spears and pikes. Some peoples employed archers and other types of missile weapons in addition to spearmen. The practice of settling smaller disputes by combat between individual champions of each side was commonly practiced, particularly in the southern regions of Nlamo.

As well as leveraging his political and strategic prowess to field large armies to easily overpower the typically smaller forces of his opponents, Tensha was responsible for a number of tactical innovations as well as embracing novel ideas developed by other leaders.

When faced with the lines of spears used by his enemies, Tensha instead organised his troops into a thick column to concentrate a large amount of killing power at a small section of the enemy line. Dedicated javelin-throwers and archers would harry a particular spot in the enemy formation (sometimes using poisoned or flaming missiles) before dispersing and allowing the column to smash through the weakened troops. Once the line was sundered in this manner, the enemy troops lost cohesion and morale, and were rendered unable to fight effectively, often fleeing and being slaughtered in the rout.

This tactic is one not yet faced by Imperial armies. I recommend this report be passed to all officers in the expeditionary force for immediate analysis.