In Heaven live the Greatest Generals History has ever known... Or at least
the ones who've accomplished their Destinies. One might assume that they
spend their afterlives resting or otherwise move up Jacob's Ladder, but
usually, after they learn of The War, well... once a soldier, always a
soldier.
Usually, the Blessed Souls of those Generals flock to the word that best
examplifies how they spent their lives. This is usually War, as expected,
but not always. Leonidas, King of the Spartans, was more attracted by the
philosophy of Stone, for exemple.
But a lot of things changed when Laurence became Commander of the Host.
...Or, to be specific, after Laurence recieved his first few defeats in the
corporeal realm. Laurence realized that for all his hightened intelligence
and divine inspiration, yes, he did lack some experience. But he wasn't
going to pester advice from Michael or David on a continual basis... The
other two Archangels had their own vital duties to perform, after all, and
there had to be an other way... Someone else to turn to.
...Thank God (or Yves) for coincidences, as Laurence was just pondering this
situation as he was visiting the Groves, when he came upon a Blessed Soul
who asked him what was wrong. At the moment, Laurence was considering
ordering a group of angels to attack a fortified Tether of Infernal Fire,
and had been criticized by Janus for his hesitation to attack quickly.
Laurence, sensing this soul was that of an honorable general in life, simply
shrugged and told him the matter. The Soul considered the problem, then
said "What the Archangel Janus sees as Hesitation, Honored One, I see as
careful planning. It is in the planning stages that a battle can be won or
lost long before it is ever fought. Only when one has predicted victory by
properly analysing the factors of a given battle should a leader send his
troops out to fight. Otherwise, he is gambling with their lives.."
Laurence listened to the soul, and nodded slowly, his lips curling into a
smile. He had considered listening to Janus and ordering his troops out to
destroy the Tether as soon as possible, but this soul was right: He would be
gambling with the lives of his Angels and Soldiers, and that was
unacceptable. He thanked the soul for his advice, and asked for his name.
"I am honored that I could help, Honored One. In life, I was called Sun
Tzu, general to King He Lu of the Kingdom of Wu."
Laurence blinked once... Realizing he'd just gotten advice from one of
Humanity's wisest and most skilled generals, a man whose life's work
included unifying much of China under one military rule, had given him
advice. Laurence had to ask... "Have you been giving Michael this kind of
advice, Blessed One?"
Sun Tzu shook his head. "The Archangel of War keeps his own counsel on his
strategies. And he does not need my guidance, as the Art of War comes
naturally to him. I mostly teach strategic and tactical planning to the
Servitors of War, as per my instructions."
Laurence shook his head. While he could understand that Michael seldom
needed advice on tactics, he felt that Sun Tzu's talents were underutilised.
And so he made his decision... "From now on, Blessed One, you shall be
called upon by The Sword for another task... I shall come to you next time
I seek advice in my pursuit of The War. Until then, I bid you a good day."
And with a bow, he left the blessed soul to his tasks.
As he returned to his cathedral, Laurence gave praise to God for his meeting
with Sun Tzu and the advice the soul had given him; another reminder of the
importance of mankind in this eternal conflict. It was then that he
realized that Sun Tzu was far from being the only soul in heaven who had
been a leader of soldiers in life. What if others had valuable military
advice as well? Surely, Heaven's War Efforts, and thus all of Humanity,
would benefit if they participated in an advisery capacity...
At this point, Laurence had decided that he would organise these souls into
a war council, and called upon Yves for a list of the blessed souls who
would be fit to sit upon such an advisory council... When first organized,
not even a dozen such souls stood in Laurence's war room: Sun Tzu, King
Leonidas, Julius Caesar, Vercingetorix the Gaul, Hannibal of Carthage, and
William the Conqueror. Most others had moved up the ladder already, had met
their fates, or had simply yet failed to achieve their destinies.
Nevertheless, Laurence would not let his new council go to waste, and began
to present them with the military status of Heaven, the current goals of
Heaven's armed forces, and then asked them, "What would you do, in my
place?"
Needless to say, the first war council was hardly a calm, simple affair.
Everyone had a different Idea on how to wage war: Caesar and Sun tzu wanted
to organise Heaven's forces into Legions, while Vercingetorix and William
preferred a looser, feudal model. And they never agreed on how to attack
or defend Tethers... And yet, through all this chaos, Laurence sat back and
listened, and gathered his own ideas... He gained a useful insight from
Caesar, a different one from Leonidas, and yet another one from Hannibal.
When he finally dismissed the council, he thanked the souls for their
advice, and that they had helped him gain the insight to properly manage
Heaven War's efforts for another year. The souls thanked him in return for
the chance to "get back in the game", as it were, and wondered when next
they would be called. As it turned out, they would be called again the next
year, and the next... and the next, until today.
By now, Laurence's "War Council of Souls" has grown to about two dozen
Souls, and includes such illustrious commanders as Generals Wellington,
Lafayette, Bradley and Patton, along with some other figures, such as
William Wallace and Cardinal Richelieu. They are now all familiar with
modern warfare tactics, from the use of modern weapons to special operation
tactics. Nevertheless, they all have varied opinions on how to wage
Heaven's war on Hell, and every Council Reunion becomes the sight of one or
more arguments on the proper deployment of Soldiers, the use of Relics or
the organisation of Servitors.
And throughout every council session, Laurence smiles as he watches the
gathered souls argue on how to fight... While their advice is still useful,
the council's true purpose goes much further: They show Laurence a veritable
microcosm of Heaven's politics, reflected upon a sample of Humanity's
History throughout the ages. Through this council, he understands Humanity
a little better, and how Heaven's efforts affects it.
Although he now has a near millenium of experience under his belt, Laurence
would never disband the War Council. Not just for the above reason: their
advise still comes in handy, and besides, it gives those souls something
they like to do for their afterlives. Laurence just loves hearing Julius
Caesar lecture Patton on how he would've used tank battalions to take
Berlin...
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