3 Questions That Puzzle Me Something Fierce!

[Tyzack]

BTW the closest reference to a dreamspike pre-TofM is in the quote below. My guess is that Brandon developed the specifics himself.

 

INTERVIEW: Jul 19th, 2005

TOR Questions of the Week Part III

WEEK 14 QUESTION

Military strategy in the War of Power must have been odd, indeed. How do the concepts of capturing and holding territory even make sense in a world where forces can Travel?

 

ROBERT JORDAN

Good question, though not all of the forces involved could use gateways. (Rafo! Rafo!) Think of the ability to Travel in terms of moving troops via aircraft, and you will begin to get the picture. Even with the largest possible circles, there are limits to the size of gateways and thus limits to the front along which you can move troops out through it, the numbers you can commit simultaneously. Of course, you can use multiple gateways, but each is still only so large and can admit only so many soldiers at a time.

 

So-called front lines were very fluid, but you couldn't fling your forces in anywhere without regard to what would be surrounding them or how you were going to re-supply, reinforce or withdraw them. Although no one has shown it so far in the books, there are ways to interfere with the making of a gateway—and ways to defend against interference—so the battle would take place on many levels. Yes, any area you hold can be attacked by your enemy, and you can attack any area that he holds. (Part of the result was great destruction and a great fall-off in the ability to produce high tech items. By the time the Bore was sealed, soldiers were already much, much more likely to ride horses and carry swords than to ride armored vehicles or aircraft and carry shocklances, which had all become very rare.) But holding an area is not impossible so long as you can successfully disrupt your opponent's attempts to make gateways into it. Even if he manages to get those first soldiers in, if you can disrupt his ability to reinforce, re-supply or withdraw, it becomes another Dien Bien Phu for him. Of course, if you fail, then it becomes Gettysburg or Waterloo, a bloody fight that will be decisive for somebody. At least until the next "decisive" battle is fought. Remember, that designation is always given after the fact, by historians.

 

If this isn't the proper thread/forum for this reply, pls direct me to the right place...

 

However,

Part of the result was great destruction and a great fall-off in the ability to produce high tech items. By the time the Bore was sealed, soldiers were already much, much more likely to ride horses and carry swords than to ride armored vehicles or aircraft and carry shocklances, which had all become very rare.

 

Seems extremely odd - so in ten years a society went from 21st century or better to something around the 15th? That seems a little too fast, or maybe my understanding of "the colapse" is wrong, was the war of power more along the lines, in terms of effect on the populous, of a nuclear war rather than classical 15th, 20th or 21st century warfare?

[Majsju]

 

 

Seems extremely odd - so in ten years a society went from 21st century or better to something around the 15th? That seems a little too fast, or maybe my understanding of "the colapse" is wrong, was the war of power more along the lines, in terms of effect on the populous, of a nuclear war rather than classical 15th, 20th or 21st century warfare?

 

Aside from starting with more advanced weaponry than we have today, you had thousands of channelers running around. I think it is safe to say the potential for massive destruction was quite serious. For example, the use of balefire destroyed entire cities.

[Pinzarn]

 

 

Seems extremely odd - so in ten years a society went from 21st century or better to something around the 15th? That seems a little too fast, or maybe my understanding of "the colapse" is wrong, was the war of power more along the lines, in terms of effect on the populous, of a nuclear war rather than classical 15th, 20th or 21st century warfare?

 

Aside from starting with more advanced weaponry than we have today, you had thousands of channelers running around. I think it is safe to say the potential for massive destruction was quite serious. For example, the use of balefire destroyed entire cities.

 

Much like in today's world...

 

If there were a bunch of channelers running around, how long until oil fields, oil refineries, and a couple huge power plants/dams are destroyed catapulting us back a few centuries. Heck, a few days of a blackout in the NE-USA starts to panic people, just think of what a few years of that would do.

[Tyzack]

 

 

Seems extremely odd - so in ten years a society went from 21st century or better to something around the 15th? That seems a little too fast, or maybe my understanding of "the colapse" is wrong, was the war of power more along the lines, in terms of effect on the populous, of a nuclear war rather than classical 15th, 20th or 21st century warfare?

 

Aside from starting with more advanced weaponry than we have today, you had thousands of channelers running around. I think it is safe to say the potential for massive destruction was quite serious. For example, the use of balefire destroyed entire cities.

 

Much like in today's world...

 

If there were a bunch of channelers running around, how long until oil fields, oil refineries, and a couple huge power plants/dams are destroyed catapulting us back a few centuries. Heck, a few days of a blackout in the NE-USA starts to panic people, just think of what a few years of that would do.

 

Having been on NE-USA for both the outages (3 days) in august and 4 days in october/novemeber...in the first case i got my camping gear out and set-up camp in my back yard, and in the second, i "pretended" to be 19th and sat around a fire reading, luckily the Y had showers otherwise my coworker might not have enjoyed it as much.

 

Also, i fear the more than oil refineries, power plants/damns, if distilleries, vineyards and breweries went under, well, then, i don't know if i could have survived!

[master]

Also, i fear the more than oil refineries, power plants/damns, if distilleries, vineyards and breweries went under, well, then, i don't know if i could have survived!

 

its not that hard to make moonshine. The problem is without the refinaries you wouldnt be able to transport the ingredients.

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

local moonshine relies on local products. easy enough to grow or gather fermenatables. first thing noah did after the flood and it didnt take that long.

[Kahsm]

Rodel knowing Deathgates never felt wrong to me. The guy is super-thorough, and you know that he drilled the Asha'man on EXACTLY what they were capable of down to every detail...the way a great captain would.

 

This. He would obviously want and need to know what tools he had to work with. He probably even knows their relative difficulties, and how exhausting they are, and how much time they need to recover after channeling something for so long. Just as he would know how far his infantry can march and how fast.

[Sharaman]

Rodel's a methodical guy - once he had Ashaman under his command, he would have asked them what they could do in order to integrate them into his tactics.

You can assume he'd also have signals in battle to ask them "Gimme 100 metres width of Blossoms of fire" or "I need an array of deathgates now".

So the usage of the names is not that much of a presumption.

Rand does figure she's a DF only after he's killed the lot and notices the dead Gray man.

What's the AS attitude to Graymen - was Moiraine prepared to kill it on sight (Sheriam doesn't count)? If so, they're certified shadowsspawn.

[Rose]

Actually, Rand does not realize it's a Gray Man at all. I don't have the quote, but I remember him thinking that the others were Darkfriends, and he was just an unlucky guy who happened to be travelling with the wrong people, and he feel sorry for him.