Through his random connections in Crocus, Noel has been invited to give a lecture about war strategies and battle tactics in the Artisans building. It wasn't something he was used to do doing, and through his connection he'd been given ample of time to think off a lecture that would inspire the new recruits of tomorrow.

Truth of the manner was, the person who was supposed to give the lecture had called in his early retirement. Noel was meant to be his replacement for a single session, and if it went successfully he'd expect to be invited again.

What he didn't know was the type of audience he'd be hosting, which was full of (old) generals, majors of governments and the like. This lecture was going to be the 'sample', and if approved, these generals and majors would give a similar kind of lecture to their own if it was received successfully. Noel had two weeks to prepare for it, leaving ample of time to philosophize about the contents lecture.

Noel followed through a two-day cursus about teaching, namely the body language of an effective teacher. This trained his ability to converse his thoughts in a more nuanced manner.

So the upcoming days preparing for the lecture, he'd spend his time at the library. He'd engage with some people, who he'd seen browsing at the philosophy section a lot. Since he didn't want to tell a one-sided story, and needed people to spar with in terms of what he'd explain. Some passages that were unclear to him, he'd talk about those too. Noel made a first draft of his presentation, and managed to pull together four random citizens that were down to listen to him and give him feedback--given that Noel supplied them with lunch. Which was possible, Noel arranged for this to happen and presented his first draft of the presentation.

Noels first draft of his presentation wasn't well received, it was unclear--sources were lacking; one of the audience members seemed to hold a scientific position. Which was strange in a land of magic, to find someone who'd seem like a witch in a world with no magic. This witches domain was science, having stemmed from a scientific background, things like sources and proper citation was of upmost paramount. She'd give Noel tips on the way he uses language, that he shouldn't use colloquial speech but rather be formal in his approach.

They seemed to be invested in the presentation, as the amount of feedback was more than he assumed he'd receive--these audiences tend to be quiet if the topic isn't that interesting to them, but Noel made it interesting. So he'd receive positive feedback as well, along with tips about what stories they found most interesting. Noel thanked the participants for listening and giving him feedback, and he'd sent them home. He'd save the contact details of the scientific lady who sat in the audience as well, he'd like to receive her feedback again at a later time.

Noel returned to his tavern to rewrite the entire lecture, changing the flow of his story and rereading some bits of text he'd find in history books that were particularly interesting to him. At this time, Noel was under the assumption that his audience would be filled with college-like people. Namely, interesting characters and military leaders from history he'd like to involve in the lecture. He'd use post it tags to highlight interesting chapters across his collection of twenty different history books. For his final revision, he'd like to include three in his lecture. Three military figures. One that succeeded in his plan, one that failed, and one who did both. Noel handpicked the most interesting figures, and decide to center the story around them.

Noel contacted the scientific lady who was present during his first draft. He'd learn her name, "Fio". Fio was invited to Noels tavern, where he went over the changes of his first draft. She was interested, and started to listen to the presentation. According to her words, it was more organized and much more clear what point Noel was trying to make--without making it too implicit, so the audience could read it with an open interpretation. He'd indicate that he was a fan of doing an open dialogue at the end of the lecture, in case people had any questions. This made his lecture much more interactive than it initially was.

Fio approved of Noels presentation. He had two more days until the lecture had to be given. His old-work friend who invited Noel to give the lecture explained that he'd have to give the lecture twice--which wasn't a bother to Noel, who knew that he'd get more cash from doing it twice. He'd read more and more history, trying to figure out who the greats were that his students could be interested in. A few stories of specific people were added to the lecture due to his constant revisions and iterative approach.

The day of the lecture came up, and Noel was tasked to go to the Artisans Building, it offered seating for more then forty people. This made Noel a bit more nervous than he should have been, but nonetheless on the day of the lecture he'd wear something not very impressive. He wanted to seem down-to-earth, so he wore his regular clothes.

Before Noel could enter the auditorium, the amount of security detail was a good indicator about who was going to be in his public. He wasn't worried about it. All this work had to be delivered today, and he didn't feel the pressure as much as he did the days leading up to this.

The auditorium was pretty wide, capable of housing more than eighty people. His audience was filled with people who looked like they were already aware of the historical figures that Noel was going to talk about this evening. Speaking of time, this lecture was going to last about an hour of time. From 7PM to 8PM. So Noel planned out forty minutes of him talking about interesting stories from the past, and twenty minutes for questions & answers. The audience was packed by military leaders from across the globe, some retired, others still active in duty. Witches, wizards, this wasn't their show--the people behind directing these witches and wizards, they were the ones who were here. Noel begun talking as soon as he entered the room.

"My name is Noel, everyone be seated I'm starting the lecture in three minutes tops."

He entered the room with a big brown bag tucked in his armpit. A big mug of coffee in his other hand had the pleasure of being sipped at while Noels eyes panned across the room, making eye contact with the participants of the lecture. Behind him was a big blackboard. Of course, Noel got some crayons as well--so he could draw on this blackboard. After everyone was seated, a silence fell across the room as the participants attention went to Noel and his story.

He'd scrape his neck and start talking.

"Some of you may have heard about Hannibal of Magnolia."

Noel drew a dot on the blackboard behind him, and a badly drawn line vertically left to the dot.

"In ye olde days, front-lines were much longer than they are now. Most die on the front-lines, retreating from it--or trying to hold it against a stronger army. Battles on the front-lines can take years to be resolved, especially if both sides are unwavering."

Noel turned back to his audience who now were listening to what Noel said.

"Hannibal of Magnolia however, had a plan that would change all of this drastically."

"So his plan was pretty simple,"

Noel drew two fictional borders that countries could have fight a front-line on.

"In the year X230 a war was waged between Magnolia and a country that no longer exists. A large front-line was spanned against Magnolia, one they knew they couldn't contain for a long time. The enemies had entrenched themselves beyond what Magnolia could deal with."

Noel begun recalling the passages that he practiced, some audience members begun nodding to the end of Noels sentences, they'd have heard the story already and were confirming that Noel told it accurately. Noel explained more of the context of the war, before proceeding to the actual juicy bits.

"In the early mornings of a December day in X232, Hannibal ordered his troops to retreat from their front-line. This controversial order changed the way we look at modern warfare."

Noel explained, using his hands to visualize the retreat of the troops in Magnolia.

"What he did was simple, due to his army retreating, and the enemy thinking they were breaking through--Hannibals army retreated to a second point where they also had troops entrenched, ready to fire back at the incoming enemies. And the enemies of Magnolia followed the retreating army, thinking they were going to be victorious--only for them to have broken their entrenchment and defeated once they left their safe trenches."

Noel explained, Magnolia won the conflict due to Hanibals strategies.

"So how is this story relevant today? Since this conflict happened over 500 years ago?"

Noel glanced across the room, maybe someone had an answer--when he initially prepared this lecture, he'd expect students from a college to attend. These generals were succumbing in group pressure, not asking any questions or making comments because nobody was. Noel had a strong grip on the room.

"The concept of this tactic is, 'retreating' making your enemy follow you, making him reckless--since victory is in his sight. Your enemy will fall under any traps you place, as long as you give them the feeling of urgency in their movement."

What this boiled down to was that their feeling of urgency, "We have to defeat them NOW" makes the enemy more vulnerable for mistakes.

Noel begun firing off more stories--using the blackboard behind him to illustrate his thoughts into visual images that could be understood without having to speak the language. He begun listing off examples that other military leaders such as but not least, Atilla, Otto von Bismarck, Charlemagne and Alexander the Great. Noel also went into deeper course manner, where he talked about different military strategies such as encircling, reconnaissance and defense probing. Offensive plans such as peaceful penetration, blitzkrieging, and last but not least Hammer and Anvil.

"Hammer and Anvil is a powerful offensive tactic. This tactic involves having two infantry 'units' engage in a frontal assault, while simultaneously a 'cavalry' force maneuvers around the enemy and attacks from behind. Effectively sandwiching the enemy."

Noel gave exampled of the subjects he mentioned, going in depth about them as well.

"Do this once to your enemies and they will become paranoid, so the next time you face them, you make your cavalry perform hit and run attacks. The men, fearing the same demise as the previous will start to break. Your frontal assault should step up and abuse their breaking."

Noel continued listing off examples until his time came to an end. He'd leave a fair few minutes for questions and answers. The male sat on top of the desk in front of the blackboard, pointing to people who had raised their hand to ask a question. The person asking a question would stand up, and ask their question loudly enough for everyone to be able to hear.  

"You mentioned a strategy called Inverted Wedge, can you list an example of this strategy being used?"

Noel scratched his chin and then nodded.

"The figure I mentioned before, Hannibal, has a notable example of this strategy being used. He'd once again be involved in a conflict, where the opposing force outnumbered his own. He used an inverted 'V-wedge', to encircle the opposing force. In an inverted wedge, two units advance opposite of each other, and a third unit follows behind and between the two in reserve. The leading units envelop the objective to the right and left, while the remaining unit is free to search, attack, or support one or both of the leading units."

Instead of having your forces rely on one front-line, this strategic general created two front-lines that expanded the size of the enemy front-line. The supporting army was of paramount importance for this plan to succeed.

After answering some more of the questions, Noel was done giving the lecture. After the clapping was done, the audience begun to head out. Noels job was well done, he'd think.

2110/2000
~exit.