The Kathiawari Mare

by AShadowOfCygnus

KM-12199010-85

Exam Form KM-12199010-85
Results

Examinee: [Redacted], alias ‘Harp’
School (Year): Royal Equestrian Military Academy, Special Intelligence Division (Year 7 – graduating)
Exam Date: 24 Midharvest 995
Examiners Presiding: C. Cruller, T. Shrike, Withershins

Reason for Testing: Selected for academic achievement and magical prowess.

Scenario:
Variant of the traditional Kathiawari Mare scenario—one airship with reduced complement (candidate commanding) escorting High-Value Personnel (HVP) against a single enemy seafaring vessel and repeating coastal artillery. Enemy vessel in possession of 12+ prisoners. Era-appropriate gear and magics supplied.

Scenario unfolded in and around a volcanic island of unknown origin, floating in a trackless sea under a smoky sky. Exam vessel resolved as a Fleuve-class light escort (eighteen guns, four-score maximum complement), HMS Crwth; enemy vessel resolved as an Atrox-class Griffonian war barge (fifty guns, ten-score maximum complement).

Account:
Candidate entered the simulacrum in the immediate aftermath of a warning shot by Atrox-class vessel. Candidate appeared slightly shaken, having been thrown into the scenario with significantly less prep time than indicated by exam staff, but recovered quickly enough and requested a situation report from the executive officer. Officer reported no damage to either the vessel or the dignitary, who was still in his cabin. Candidate adapted quickly to this new information, ordering a pair of guards to the dignitary’s cabin for the duration of the engagement, and subsequently ordering all remaining hooves to battle-stations, and the ship raised to bombardment elevation.

Even as the ship began its ascent, Unicorns on deck—candidate included—experienced significant telepathic feedback as a captured Relay was forced to broadcast Griffonian demands: surrender the dignitary, or risk an escalation of hostilities, both in the current engagement and on the broader scale. Prisoners were announced, having been taken from a coastal cutter a few days prior. On further questioning, Griffonian captain indicated that dignitary had insulted the honour of a close relation at a summit hosted by the Minotaurs, and that justice demanded a blood-price. Candidate acknowledged receipt of demand and requested the customary thirty minutes to reach an appropriate determination; the Griffonian captain permitted fifteen.

Recruit [Redacted] then sought counsel of senior staff. Executive and second officers expressed mistrust of Griffons’ intentions, and recommended that the Crwth engage the enemy ship from altitude, disabling it and making efforts to rescue prisoners. Chief engineer and navigation both disagreed, indicating their belief that the Crwth—despite its inherent advantage as an airship—was tremendously outgunned, and that the prisoners might be bartered for at a later date. Candidate also summoned the dignitary for further questioning; the latter indicated that he had no memory of the incident to which the Griffon captain referred, or indeed of engaging a Griffon of any stripe at the diplomatic function in question.

Candidate then asked if much was known about the captain himself, or the clan to which he belonged. Information was scarce; even the dignitary—by his own admission, a lower-ranking functionary to the Equestrian mission in Zebrica—was able to provide only scattered details. The clan in question was known for its mercantile ventures and its fixation on currency-as-prestige, with interests ranging from Ald Pegasi to the Westlands, and it was concluded that the dignitary’s involvement in some recent trade deal that potentially undercut Griffonian interests might have been the inciting factor. Parley would likely prove ineffectual, as both sides fully recognised the crew’s inability to set policy or speak for the Crown in such matters; any attempt at retreat would cost the lives of the hostages below, and potentially those of the airship crew, should the barge be prepared to pursue.

Candidate was seen to sigh, and ruefully ask the dignitary whether they might be willing to give up their life ‘just this once’ to maintain the peace. This had perhaps the intended effect, for it got the assembled officership—dignitary included—laughing long enough that the candidate was able to teleport to the barge herself without interference.

Even as the startled crew ordered the ship about, candidate appeared at the war-barge’s tiller, pulled a pauldron from her armour, and threw it at the enemy captain’s feet, claiming Right of Arbitration, a traditional Griffon honour-challenge generally invoked—as affirmed by the candidate in the post-exam interview and independent research of the cultural archives at a later date—to bypass legal proceedings in favour of binding trial-by-combat. While antiquated by modern standards, candidate correctly assessed that the practise would be in vogue throughout the historical period selected for the simulacrum; and, indeed, the enemy captain threw his pauldron down in kind.

Candidate sent a quick message to the Unicorn Relay aboard the Crwth, ordering the ship to maintain position until called for, and was only slightly startled by the Griffon captain’s barked demand that she clarify the stakes. The agreed terms were fairly straightforward: duel to the death, no seconds, fate and disposition of both crews, prisoners, and dignitary to be determined by the winner; the only special condition for the duel was that it be a ‘battle of blades’—use of magic beyond that required to wield a weapon (as stipulated by the Griffon captain) or wing (at the candidate’s insistence, over repeated objection) would constitute a forfeit. Beyond that, any form or method was to be considered reasonable, with choice of weapon to be left to the combatants’ discretion. The Griffon captain opted for a halberd and tower shield; candidate, for a peculiar thick-bladed thrusting sword she selected from the Griffon armoury. The Equine prisoners were brought on deck, and the Griffon crew formed a loose ring around the two captains, roughly amidships.

At the firing of a small gun from the war-barge’s aft-port quarter, the duel began. The Griffon opted for a low-slung defensive style, becoming of his chosen armament; candidate with a quick, acrobatic form reminiscent of the Saddle-Arabesque dervish, with an emphasis on quick, repeated thrusts transitioning into odd-angle low and overhoof slices. The battle was long and hard-fought, and several times the Griffon seemed poised to gain the upper hoof with a single careful jab or swing of the halberd that candidate would only narrowly avoid. However, it soon became clear that the hail of blows upon his shield was wearing him down, and his gait grew steadily clumsier as the fight wore on—his jabs slower to recover, his shield swinging a little wider with each impact. Ultimately, candidate drew the first blood, punishing a wild swing of the halberd, and half a minute later it was over.

Even as the Griffon captain slumped dead against his heavy shield, however, the first of the challenges arose—some argued candidate had used magic to assist her leaps and dodges, else poisoned her blade when no-one was looking. A dozen calls for rematch resounded across the deck, and it became clear to the candidate and the prisoners alike that the Griffons had no intention of keeping their end of the agreement. Candidate evidently made a snap decision, ordering the Crwth low over the deck even as she challenged the nearest and loudest member of the Griffon crew to make good on his various threats of bodily disfigurement.

Weapons were drawn, and candidate made a fine show of keeping enemy soldiers from both the nearer guns and the prisoners; badly outnumbered as she was, she was able to fend off the nearly sixty mares on deck—even killing a few—until the Crwth was able to extend a boarding ladder, which she was able to tie to the prisoners’ conjoined shackles without difficulty. Over the objections of her officers, she then ordered the Crwth to evacuate the prisoners and delegate to safety at best possible speed.

The simulacrum ended in a pitched battle, as Recruit [Redacted] fought a hopeless battle against the remaining crew. The airship and all crew aboard escaped unharmed.

The simulacrum predicted continued strain between the unnamed merchant clan and Equestrian interests in coming years, but no greater threat to the peace. Of note, however, was the apparent popularity of the tale within the annals of future military history—projections showed that the use of this and similar Griffonian customs would become something of a recurring trick Equine field commanders and diplomats both would use to extricate themselves from costly engagements or force resolution of disputes manufactured by the Griffonian side. Indeed, the practise became so widespread that within a century the Griffon king was obliged to proclaim Griffonian law and custom did not apply to ‘the inferior Equine races’ and that future attempts to turn their laws against them should be dealt with ‘in the harshest manner’.

Results:
After some discussion, the examiners have elected to award Recruit [Redacted] a score of 8 for her ingenious solution to a difficult situation: namely, an effective use of stalling tactics, diplomatic and cultural understandings, and a considered—if costly—sacrifice to ensure that the majority of allied forces were able to retreat from the battlefield. Candidate is obviously well-versed in several major duelling schools (the first and fifth Bownetti forms in particular were a joy to observe outside a practise-hall), and we can find no fault with her carriage in the heat of combat, either as a frontline fighter or an officer in command.

Of some greater debate was the invocation of the archaic rights-of-combat the candidate used to work around the opening stalemate. However, while an effective means of levelling the playing field to the candidate’s benefit in this particular instance, it must be made clear that the leveraging of a mare’s culture against her is just as likely to incite the opposition as cow them: many groups, Griffons especially, chafe at what they see as mockery of their customs, and may react with violence. While the simulacrum recognised this as an effective course of action, the arcana involved are based on historical records of the Griffonian honour code as it is understood by Equestrian observers and sociologists; accounting for individual interpretation among opposition forces is nigh-impossible, and should be undertaken only where officers have the utmost confidence in their appraisal of the enemy commander’s convictions. We would strongly caution Recruit [Redacted] from overextending herself on this front in future.

One further observation for Recruit [Redacted]’s consideration is that, while obviously quite gifted in her ability to parallel-process and effectively manage multiple field assets in tandem, she is occasionally somewhat more lax in communicating her plans to friendly units on the field, even in situations where this might help the operation to run more smoothly overall. We understand this to be a recognised and highly-valued asset among intelligence agents, especially with regard to [Redacted]; however, we would recommend that Recruit [Redacted] exercise this evident skill with care in joint operations with the military in future. Irrespective of operational effectiveness, the common soldiery tends to rankle at what they see as the withholding of information that might save lives.

Comments

[Cerulean Blue]

Nice one :)

[ponygrad]

9 for outcome, but 7 for risk, considering she had no idea if she'd win or not and no backup plan.

[Neighrator Pony]

Lyra's a BAMF