Perspective of the Sereg'wethrin, Volume 3

Perspective of the Sereg'Wethrin, Vol 3 By Earar Di'Mana

3. Exile

As the Super-conditioning of the Sereg'Wethrin took hold, there were drastic changes in their conduct, and military operations. Prior to the alterations, the Sereg'Wethrin were a deadly military force against all other enemy military units and targets, regardless of race or nationality. Their regular conditioning was not specific to humans, and they had operated using this conditioning for thousands of years. What drove them to pursue enhanced conditioning cannot be exactly known, and it most likely wasn't just for one reason. It could have been that as effective as they were, they found they felt they couldn't win, and so sought out additional ways to defend T'Nanshi. It could also have been just a raw a thirst for power of their leadership, causing them to cross a line in their techniques of conditioning. What is absolutely clear to me is that since the Sereg'Wethrin of the time were all once just regular citizens of T'Nanshi, the vast majority were not aware of, or in desire of what would take place. You see, the Sereg'Wethrin members came from the population with a strong desire to defend T'Nanshi, their homes, and their people. After a multiple millennia history of the operations of the Sereg'Wethin, there was a certain "sanctioning" of their methods, a trust by the people that joined that what they were doing was acceptable in defense of the nation. This trust, combined with the chaotic minds resulting from the regular conditioning, additionally combine with a strict adherence to orders lead to a disastrous situation. Whatever the reasoning behind the desire to perform super conditioning, only a handful of the top leaders of the Sereg'Wethrin would have ordered their members to undergo the process. With the trust that was present and the overwhelming desire to follow orders, these T'Nanshi volunteers lined up, not knowing the consequences. By the time the process was completed, it was too late, too late for the sons of T'Nanshi to do anything but follow the Sereg'Wethrin leadership on a course that was unacceptable to the T'Nanshi people.

Soon into the process, the effects of the Super conditioning were clear. Using a brainwashed hatred of humans, the Sereg'Wethrin became an even more deadly fighting force, but only against M'Chek and humans. This divergence of using hatred caused them to view all humans as the problem, whether military or not. Instead of just attacking military forces and infrastructure, the Sereg'Wethrin started attacking all M'Chek humans, civilians and children as well. Their focus changed from defending T'Nanshi to killing humans. Now, as a military elf myself I've learned, studied and experienced first hand how ineffective attacking civilians is as a tactic. It causes more of the enemy to rise up in defense, and diverts your attention from the enemy's military to the point that they are freer to conduct their own operations. So, this new path was not only against the traditions of how T'Nanshi would wish to conduct itself, but also less effective in defending T'Nanshi.

One other aspect of this significant event in the history of the Sereg'Wethrin that I would like to mention and consider is a look at the Leadership, the high command of the Sereg'Wethrin. These few leaders, as well as whoever they were supposed to be reporting to are truly to blame for the tragedy that occurred, and truthfully every tragedy and atrocity that has followed in the years since. When I mention the ones they were supposed to be reporting to, I do indeed mean non-Sereg'Wethrin, leaders of T'Nanshi itself. The one detail of this that bothers me the most is that the leadership of the Sereg'Wethrin, to be able to defy orders would not have put themselves under the same conditioning that the rest of the Sereg'Wethrin members were subjected to. They either underwent less conditioning, or a more refined conditioning, maybe more difficult, but less damaging to their minds, or something along those lines. Whichever is the case, the leaders of the Sereg'Wethrin were not subjected to the same overwhelming need to follow orders that other members were. And lastly on this point, had the leadership of T'Nanshi, those that were supposed to be in control of the Sereg'Wethrin, conducted more testing before allowing the Super-conditioning, or put in place better controls, they could have avoided what occurred next.

At some point it became clear to the Council of Nine that the Sereg'Wethrin were no longer in their control, and were no longer conducting their actions in keeping with what could be remotely acceptable. The steps they took in an attempt to regain control did nothing but make matters worse. Instead of working with the Sereg'Wethrin leadership, they alienated them. It is not exactly clear whether the council outright banished the Sereg'Wethrin from the Spiritland, ordered them to be taken, or if in fear of what would happen to them, the Sereg'Wethrin went into self exile, most likely a little of each. Whichever of those is true, these sons of T'Nanshi, most of who originally joined just to defend their nation, were betrayed. Mentally incapable of disobeying orders, they were ordered by the Sereg'Wethrin leadership into the Underdark, and they followed. The saddest truth of this is that we now know that the only thing that really needed to occur is for the practice of the super-conditioning to be stopped, for the effects wear off in time. Had the Sereg'Wethrin leadership had the courage to just suspend it for just a few months, everything that followed could have been prevented. This fact leads me to believe that the power that was obtained through the super-conditioning corrupted the leadership, and they were not willing to give that up.

No matter what the exact reasons were, this chapter ends with both T'Nanshi and the Sereg'Wethrin losing a great deal by these events. T'Nanshi lost some of their bravest and most honorable people. They also lost a very powerful defensive force, which had been protecting them from M'Chek and other enemies for a very long time. These events no doubt prolonged the war, shaped how the war would eventually end, and limited T'Nanshi's ability to defend the Spiritland verse M'Chek and other invaders in the centuries to follow, even today. The Sereg'Wethrin members lost their homes, families, and a sense of themselves. Their brains now clouded with super-conditioning, the nation they loved seemed like a distant dream, and the only option to them was to follow orders. Exiled into the dark, they lost the forests that they were once a part of, and worse, in being super-conditioned, they lost a guiding sense of military morality and code of conduct, which prevented their acceptance in everyday societies. In the following chapter we'll see just how this super-conditioning caused the Sereg'Wethrin, no longer a military unit of T'Nanshi, but a new race on Avlis, to take terrible steps in the centuries to follow to ensure their survival.