The Future of the Military World, by Xinke Auel Han Magnus
Throughout the years, the military community has experienced difficulties. There was the War of Paranoia, which shook up the very foundation of the militaries and threatened the destruction of Imperia, the first real military. There was the great gap when all of the military world moved to Era, following Xinke on his adventures in Era. There were the times before Imperia, when militaries had less than 7 active members and a basically nonexistent influence. Yet, there has never been a time in history when the militaries did not want to exist. In every era, there was a leader, heading forward to create something new, sometimes taking the form of a brotherhood, an empire, or an organization.
That is, until now.
Following the crash of the last State with Auel, the military world has slowly been dying out. Let's look at some factors of this slow death.
- The disappearance of Auel.
- The separation of individuals following Morzan's rebellion in the State.
- Inactivity due to a new school year.
- The inexperience of junior officers.
Now, this seems like a list of reasonable factors for the death of the military world. After all, how can militaries exist without leaders, and most of all, the Father of all Militaries?
If you thought this, you are part of the problem.
See, the truth is, none of the four factors that were named should have any effect on the activity of the military world. Let's look at them one by one.
The first factor is the disappearance of Auel. The first problem with this is that there used to be a time when Auel was not the main figure leading militaries. Insignia and Roanoke/Rufus Shinra were both figures who led militaries back in the 2009-2010 years of Graal. There have also been important leaders that appeared after Auel, leaders that led large guilds with 5 full allies. As such, the cause of the military world dying out cannot be Auel.
Next, the separation of camps between Morzan supporters and State loyalists. Truth is, even if the State had been completely divided at that time, it would not explain inactivity. First off, you can recruit new members. Secondly, Morzan has been inactive for a long time. Last off, people can forget grudges. Its not like Morzan's rebellion with the military police was the first rebellion in State history that was excused. As such, this is not really a factor in the military world dying out.
The next point is inactivity due to a new school year. The only people who have this excuse are people at the college level. Unless you do everything last minute, you should have time to do at least one or two hours of Graal. Concerning college level military figures, there aren't enough of them to make a large difference in the functioning of the military world.
The last point is the inexperience of junior officers, which would stop them from being effective leader and thus creating new militaries. Again, the sad truth is that leading requires experience, and the only way to get experience is to get experience. As such, even if junior officers cannot lead at all currently, over time, by experimenting, they should be able to learn and make a reasonable military. Thus, this is not a factor in the dying of the military world.
At this point, you must be wondering what IS causing the military community's downfall. Well, let me put it in clear words.
The truth is that the military community is going down because it is destined to die out in its current form.
Now this may sound very fatalistic, but let me explain.
Militaries were originally created to unite like-minded Graalians who wished for something; Eden, a player-run government, whatever, but also to have fun. Really, militaries were really more about fun, hence why Imperia was always more war-like than the State; fights were deemed the ultimate entertainment, even though they served no purpose. However, with time, militaries slowly became more about the goal, whether it be Ragnarok or to cause mass chaos. As such, they became very serious, very stiff, very rule-oriented and very organized. If you compare the Second Era of Imperia, where there were only 3 uniform ranks and every guild leader could choose their own ranking system, to the most recent State with Auel, where there were documents prepared for every single rank and position and there was a jurisdiction drama, you can see how the State seems so much more like a rigid military than a fun thing to do to pass time. This seriousness affected how the State worked. Corruption became more rampant in positions of power, since individuals were forced to often exploit subordinates to get some free time and have fun with their equally corrupt friends. High officers were often in a sore mood since they could never do what they wanted, and were in many ways more restricted than privates in their actions.
The State had and has become unsustainable, and its model has in many ways gone its time.
That is, the model of favoring a purpose and a structure over the fun, the chaos and the freedom of the old militaries has led to a downward spiral leading to the current situation, the last few breaths of the militaries.
As such, I propose to you, what is left of five long years of work, historic heritage and wars, two options.
The first option is that you abandon the idea of remaking a military and hope that one day, a new Auel will appear and resurrect them. That way, if this new Auel is anything like the old one, he will favour fun and the sense of brotherhood over the rigidity of purpose and rules.
The second option is that you all learn to relax, actually care for each other, and make a military based on the old model. You'll need to work hard to learn how to lead properly, how to think properly, and how to maintain a brotherhood and not a dictatorship, but militaries will spring back to life within three months.
Basically, I'm asking you whether you'll choose to let the cycle end and restart someday, which might be in years for all we know, or if you'll continue the cycle from the beginning, basically ignoring progress in the community since the early days of 2011 and just sticking to how they went.
Think fast, the clock is ticking, and with every passing day, more people will think of quitting, more people will quit, more people will leave Graal behind and go forward with their lives. It remains your choice, after all, but no one ever said it would be an easy choice to make.
