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CAPTAIN.ORG
BY: Mark Wallace
FOR: Andrew Leker
ABSTRACT: Intro for crugar campaign. 
                                                                   
The mission our squad had been assigned this time looked really rough. I had
only been on the West Face a few weeks. I had never even talked to anybody
who had been this deep into Temauntro. We would get a few hours sleep
tonight, but everyone was really nervous about what we would be up against in
the morning.
I began to think about the Captain's lecture on crugar. It had gone straight
over my head at the time, but I could see now that what he had been saying
was really important...

The Captain's lecture on crugar:

"Before we start, I want to make it clear that the content of this briefing
is confidential information. You are not to discuss this information in
public, you are not to discuss it with civilians. This is a summary of the
essential information that the Burdothian Army has collected about crugar:
their physiology, their habits and temperament, and their social structure.
While parts of this summary may seem to be common knowledge, our coherent
view of the crugar should be kept confidential.
"Most of you have been here on the West Face for over a week. By now, all of
you have seen crugar, some of you may have spoken to crugar, but probably
none of you have seen crugar in combat. A crugar in a tavern and a crugar in
combat are completely different animals. Your average crugar is just as
rational as most people -- don't underestimate them, they're clever, sly, and
they make good decisions. In a fight, though, a crugar can become more
enraged than the most temperamental of men. They become obsessed with a
single-minded drive towards victory. They are often willing to risk anything,
their lives or the lives of their comrades, to win a fight once it has begun.
"Don't get the impression, though, that crugar lack all prudence. First of
all, they rarely pick a fight unless they're sure they can win. Also, if at
some point they become convinced they will lose despite their best efforts,
they will bolt without hesitation. They don't fear death, but defeat. Rather
than lose the fight, they'll run, on the chance that they may get another
shot at you when the odds are better.
"At this point I've drawn a fairly frightening image of crugar in combat.
Keep in mind, though, that our strategist think that man for crugar, a
Burdothian military unit is superior to any equally armed crugar force of the
same numerical strength. There are very good reasons for this, and I want to
go over them one by one.
"First, let's compare your average crugar infantryman to his Burdothian
counterpart. On balance, the crugar is probably your physical equal, but he
is vastly different, with different strengths and weaknesses. The crugar is
probably quicker than you are: he can move faster, sprint faster. He's a few
inches shorter than you, maybe a little lighter, but no less strong.
"You have the upper hand in stamina and physical constitution. A crugar may
be able to sprint away from you, but stay on his trail for a few hours and
you can wear him out. If you've been wondering why we've been putting all of
you through this high altitude endurance training, that's what it's all
about.
"Crugar don't hold up to injury or loss of blood very well. If one of you
takes an arrow in the side, we expect to carry you off the field alive. A
crugar's chances aren't as good of surviving a major injury. Even minor
wounds will slow down a crugar unit considerably. They are aware of this, and
often leave their wounded behind. Don't be surprised if you see this in the
field -- the crugar do expect to come back and get their wounded. Usually
they will apply a field dressing and leave their wounded with plenty of chri
root to chew on. Chri is a pain killer that can keep even a badly wounded
crugar happy for a few days. It has the additional benefit that it causes any
crugar that falls into our hands to talk nonsense for several days.
"It is in the area of sensory perception that you and the crugar will differ
the most. The crugar are used to living in the woods and fields, so they will
be more alert that most people. For instance, while a crugar's hearing isn't
any more
acute than yours, he's probably better at listening. If you pay attention to
noises and think about what you're doing, you can hear just as well as a
crugar.
"The crugar has a very good sense of smell. His nose is better than yours, so
don't give him a chance to use it. If there are crugar nearby, you must be
very careful about smoky fires or hot food that may give away your position.
Don't move upwind of crugar, they may smell you.
"Your eyes are better than the crugars'. Their color vision is weak, and they
apparently see with lower resolution than humans. They have weak depth
perception, and are not good at tracking several objects at once. They are,
however, very good at detecting isolated motion. What does this mean to you?
One: as long as they don't smell you, there's a good chance you'll see crugar
before they see you. Two: it is possible to camouflage yourself very
effectively from crugar. If you stay perfectly still and blend in with your
environment, they may not notice you even at close range. Some of you
probably remember from basic training haw difficult it was for you to see
through camouflage --it's even more difficult for crugar. Three: the crugar
aren't very good with range weapons such as bows or spears. Part of this is
due to their physical structure, but it is mostly due toerior depth
perception. Because of his speed and agility, a crugar will be better than
most of you in hand-to-hand combat, but your ability with bows, crossbows, of
any thrown weapon will be superior to those of the crugar. Keep this in mind
-- don't let a crugar close on you if you can get him at a distance."

"Well, aside from the fur and all the other obvious differences, we've
discussed most of the important physical differences between you and the
crugar. You should keep these differences in mind: I'm sure your combat
instructors will discuss them in more detail. Don't exaggerate these
differences in your mind, though, and remember that there are always
exceptions: some crugar may have better vision than most humans, and some
humans can sprint faster than even a crugar on all fours.
"The differences between crugar and humans that are most important to our
tacticians aren't physical, but behavioral. Crugar are apparently less social
than humans, and they don't cooperate nearly as well in small or large
groups. All of you who are good soldiers understand the importance of
following orders. Most crugar don't -- a crugar may do what is generally
expected of him, but often with small variations that can foul up their plans
and leave weaknesses we can exploit. A crugar commander is a good bit more
likely to try something stupid than your sergeant is. The crugar leadership
recognizes this problem, which is why they usually opt for a direct assault
with few complex tactics. You can take maximum advantage of this crugar
weakness by always following orders precisely."

"The traditional crugar social unit is the clan. A crugar's loyalty is to his
clan, often above his personal interests or even his immediate family. There
are, of course, independents. We've all seen the crugar in the villages. But
keep in mind that even they may sometimes have clan loyalties that are not
immediately obvious. A crugar clan may be made up of anywhere from a few
dozen to a few thousand crugar, Often the clans are nomadic, having seasonal
camps that may move through a large area over a period of several years. They
consider their hunting grounds to belong to the clan: they will always return
to these grounds, and are vigilant in their defense even if they have been
away for years. If hailed by crugar in crugar territory, you should make it
clear that you intend to pass through without hunting or trapping. There are
a few human trappers out here near the border, but they have agreements with
the local crugar clans.
"It is only when several clans cooperate that the crugar mount any major
military action. Recently, several clans from eastern Temauntro have mounted
a joint action in an attempt to drive our settlements from the west face.
That's why you're here now.
"The only crugar in recent history to overcome this clan loyalty and unite
almost all of the crugar was Chain Docha
-- he almost took all of Burdoth. We hope that doesn't happen again, so we
try not to alienate all the clans at once."

"That's all for today. I want you all to report to your lieutenants and
regroup with your squads. Prepare for a high altitude training run at fifteen
hundred hours."