Deaths equal power - Champion City Siege

Is it ever acceptable to throw away soldiers' lives in return for power? Could it be justifiable, given that the exchange might be used for the greater good and ultimately save more lives in the long run? This is a question that has split philosophers and theologists for milenia. It essentially boils down to “Do the ends always justify the means?”

Why, you may be asking, are you being presented with the fundamentals of normative ethics on your weekend off? Well, it is this very question that had been disturbing Eyaka’s sleep for the last week or so. He had a problem. One, counterintuitively, that had arisen from not losing many troops recently and which had been compounded by the recent deathless KvK: His usually healthy stock of bravery tokens were pretty much completely spent.

Bravery tokens were essential. They, along with Battle tokens (which thankfully Eyaka had plenty of), were the only currency with which war badges could be bought and these were a commodity most people needed in eye watering numbers, especially given their price. You see, bravery tokens could only be earned by losing soldiers in certain events; a state of affairs that while meant as a blessing on bad fortunes had actually manifested as placing a tangible value on death.

So! Eyaka’s dilemma is surely now understandable: he needed bravery tokens to progress but that progression had stalled. He needed his soldiers to die to continue to grow. As someone who had previously believed consequentialism was merely a tool used only to justify horrific acts and not something he himself really held to be true, it would surely be unethical to use it to justify the deaths of his soldiers?

It had just gone midday on Saturday when a raven flew directly into Eyaka’s study with a message that changed everything. After another restless night juggling with the ethical implications of joining the upcoming Champion City Siege with the sole intention of sending troops on suicidal marches, Eyaka had been no closer to a decision. However, when he read the message a solution, of sorts, became clear.

Now, instead of sending soldiers to their deaths for his own gain, he could send soldiers in defence of the Champion City, many would still surely die but their deaths might actually mean something? Maybe? 

Ok, it was the very tiniest of distinctions and it was still essentially for Eyaka’s betterment rather than to actually make a difference in the battle but it was enough… he would join the fight.

Shivar and Scott had decided to accept Candy’s invitation as well, no doubt for much the same reason as Eyaka but perhaps the prospect of some battle diamonds (a reward that was out of reach for them playing solo) also swayed them. Together they made their way to the encampment outside the great citadel’s walls and made their final preparations. Eyaka was glad of the company from his own alliance though spotted quite a number of friends amongst the gathered ranks. There were even some old adversaries here. How quickly past grievances are forgotten… not that he ever held a grudge himself.

The battle began and, after an admittedly messy start, Candy managed to take the Champion City. Eyaka immediately reinforced. Of course they would want bloody infantry, everybody and their mother seemed to be infantry nowadays. Never mind, he had prepared for this eventuality and trained a number of light infantry to fill out his meagre contingent of royal infantry. 

“Why couldn’t they be spears, or even cavalry?” Scott lamented. All three of the Misfits were spear players, which of course meant they had ample numbers of spears and cavalry but very few infantry.

Within moments the first assault from the formidable Ytu landed. To his dismay, Eyaka’s soldiers had not been in the fight, instead relegated to the reserves. Scott and Shivar on the other hand had lost many of their troops AND managed to make their reward points in that one hit!

There were just too many T1 in his march. If he wanted to be promoted to the front lines he would have to swap out this march for one with more T4.

At last, with some tactical reallocation of troops they had made it to the front lines and the deaths were mounting up. Eyaka checked the reports from Ytu’s advance… “Love of the Gods, no one survived the assault?” Ytu had utterly crushed the defenders. Luckily the city was heavily reinforced and could not be taken so easily.

A quick check of the rankings made for unfortunate reading. Despite the heavy losses he had not actually maxed his reward points. Under any other circumstances this would have been a disaster, but with the real goal being to lose troops, this actually suited him very well.

Another march would be sent out. Another march would be annihilated.

The time came for the rally leader to be swapped “Perhaps we’ll get a bit of luck and have a cavalry or spear lead!” Shivar had found Eyaka on the battlements, he was covered almost head to toe in mud and effluence of every kind. “I take it from your appearance that you have decided to go all out today?” Eyaka was laughing but it was covering a jealousy, he wanted to get involved more too but his infantry was all but wiped out already!

The rally lead was swapped… worse luck, the call went out for infantry once again. The battle would be over soon and while he’d finally reached max rewards he’d only lost maybe forty million troop power, this was a pathetic amount. The original plan had been to lose four or five times as much as that at least. The problem was, with his allies holding the city, there was nowhere else to lose troops.

Finally, another swap and this time both spears and cavalry were welcome. At last Eyaka could contribute troops that would certainly make the front lines. He timed his reinforcements to perfection, always arriving just as others made room. Ytu sent rally after rally but the opponent didn’t seem to care about taking the city, they were not sending multiple rallies. Evidently they were here for the kills (and deaths) alone. Victory was assured.

The battle finally came to an end, the ragtag alliance Candy had assembled were victorious and the three Misfits travelled home. Eyaka had lost just shy of two million troops. It wasn’t quite as many as he’d hoped to lose in all honesty but it was enough. He would have the bravery tokens to last at least until KvK in a fortnight’s time. There he would fight for his kingdom and destroy their enemies and, with any luck, lose a lot more troops in the process.