Scholars: Martial Magicians

From PlayOnline.com:


Wings of the Goddess, the upcoming expansion for FINAL FANTASY XI, will give players the opportunity to discover a new job and an old favorite: the scholar.

During the time of the Crystal War, scholars earned the respect of all ranks of the allied forces with their ability to lead troops to victory using a combination of shrewd planning and resourceful strategies in their positions as tacticians and military officers.

Read on to learn more about the origins of the "grimoire"--the source of a scholar's martial knowledge.

Martial Magicians

War is an act in which force is used to attain an objective. If you lose sight of that objective, the force you have mustered will waver.

First, decide your objective. All of your strategies will develop from there.

[From the preface to Theories of War by Gunther Schultz]

There was once a group of academics that earned the respect of all ranks of the allied forces with their ability to lead troops to victory using a combination of shrewd planning and resourceful strategies in their positions as tacticians and military officers. These academics were known as military scholars.

Their characteristic gowns and hats became symbols of their brilliance as they drove the forces of Altana to victory with strategies evolved in the shade of field tents.
The mysteries of the grimoire--the source of a scholar's knowledge--will now be revealed.

The Birth of the Scholar

The ferocious inferno of knowledge that we know as "magic" will soon fall into the hands of both Elvaan and Yagudo alike. On that day, a war that encompasses both man and woman, young and old, will descend upon as all.

I write this tome in the hope that it will aid in the defense of my beloved Windurst. I pray it never falls into the hands of our enemies...

[From the afterword of the grimoire, by Lungo-Nango]

Martial theory is a field of study that is researched through the historical and practical application of battlefield tactics. Though uncommon these days, there was an age when martial theory was so highly regarded that any scholar was automatically considered to be a "military scholar." That age was the Crystal War.

It was plain to even a child's eyes that the early defeats suffered by the allied forces were due to the overwhelming numbers of the beastmen. However, the leaders of the allied nations were also taken aback by the unexpected sophistication of the beastmen's strategies--an entirely new approach was needed.

Military scholars were suddenly thrust onto the center stage of the war, with offers to become tacticians and operations staff flowing in from every allied army. Of particular note were the advocates of the Gunther Schultz School of Martial Theory, who led Bastok's forces to victory in the Second Battle of Konschtat. Their philosophy that action and knowledge were one and the same prepared them with the capability to respond immediately to any situation with which they were presented.

An irreplaceable resource of the proponents of the Schultz School of Martial Theory, the military text known as the "grimoire" is a unique work. The original manuscript was penned on papyrus by the Windurstian Warlock Warlord Lungo-Nango. He professed unfamiliarity with magic, but after researching its strengths and weaknesses, he put forth a series of unconventional strategies that combined frontal magical assaults by heavy Caster Companies with flanking attacks by highly mobile beast units(*). He was a celebrated warlord with victories on many battlefields. However, after his death, the mages of Windurst narrowed their research to the study of pure magic, and Lungo-Nango's brilliant magical, martial tactics were all but forgotten.

Three hundred years later, the scattered pages of Lungo-Nango's works were collected and added to by Gunther Schultz, and thus a revised addition of the grimoire was born. The practice of copying and improving the tome eventually became an unbroken tradition among the pupils of the Schultz School of Martial Theory.

Perfection of the Grimoire

If your enemy is strong, weaken him with dark magic.
If your enemy is weak, attack him with elemental magic.
If your allies are strong, support them with enhancement magic.

If your allies claim victory, prepare them for the next battle with healing magic.

[From the chapter "Military Expeditions," an addition by Adelheid Sturm]

With the musings and records of a hundred years of scholars crammed between its covers, the grimoire had exceeded its original definition as a tactician's manual, and developed into an encyclopedic source of knowledge. The task of memorizing its contents had become a mammoth task for any aspiring scholar, which defeated the Schultz philosophy of practicality and utility. The person to solve this dilemma was none other than Gunther Schultz II, direct descendant of the famous martial theorist himself. Schultz empowered the grimoire with astral properties, enabling the scholar to command the book to disappear and reappear at will. This allowed proponents of the Schultz school to consult the grimoire at any time, significantly expanding their realm of movement. This flexibility would prove invaluable in the time of the Crystal War...

An inquiring mind and boundless curiosity--these are the traits one must possess if one wishes to tread the path of the scholar.

Illustrations by Mitsuhiro Arita

*It is theorized that Lungo-Nango possessed the innate qualities of a beastmaster.

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SE FAILS
# Nov 05 2007 at 6:20 AM Rating: Default
Joy another RDM type job, except they might be able to slap people around with books... I can see it now... the weaponskill "Damnation Dictionary" does 1253 points of damage. I must say that this job just looks aweful. I agree, where is a new tank?
Time Mage!
# Nov 05 2007 at 5:57 AM Rating: Default
"If your allies are strong, support them with time magic" is what That means.
/whm onry
# Nov 05 2007 at 5:42 AM Rating: Default
47 posts
Too little, too late. This job isn't going to do well, it's going to be another, /whm equip whm spells and main heal. Instead of reinventing a new and exciting way to main heal, the simply made a hybrid job that will only get invites if they "choose" to main heal.
#REDACTED, Posted: Nov 05 2007 at 5:34 AM, Rating: Sub-Default, (Expand Post) wheres the damn tank job SE. Nice new jobs but come on we all know most servers are dead no tanks.
SE please a tank
# Nov 05 2007 at 3:43 AM Rating: Default
i was hoping for another tank job but this seems more like another enfeeable job
Mixed feelings.
# Nov 05 2007 at 3:26 AM Rating: Good
**
903 posts
Its sort of interesting; the suggestion that theres only one -real- Grimoire and that it can be summoned at will by Scholars. Thats kind of neat.

I do hate, though, how Scholar is regarded as this powerful mastermind that was thought so highly of during the war and yet has been completely ignored in the lore thus far. Lets face it, there are records of the Crystal War. If the Scholars were such a massive power during the war era then it seems somewhat ridiculous that there has been no mention of them. And even further ridiculous that there were none in the multi-national Hydra Corps unit.

I realize that this is sort of SE reconning the story but it really just sort of bugs me that we're learning new jobs from twenty years ago. Did everyone suddenly forget how to dance and use this school of magic after the war? Why?
Mixed feelings.
# Nov 05 2007 at 3:52 AM Rating: Decent
****
4,511 posts
Myrrial wrote:
I realize that this is sort of SE reconning the story but it really just sort of bugs me that we're learning new jobs from twenty years ago. Did everyone suddenly forget how to dance and use this school of magic after the war? Why?


Actually, it's a little diffirent. It seems that someone is manipulating the past, making sure certain things will not take place in our time. Just by making that the story they go by, they can introduce whatever job they feel like and give as a reason we don't have them right now that they were created from the things changed in the past.

In this case it was how the "unexpected sophistication of the beastmen's strategies" called for this new form of battlers. Something that wouldn't have happened in our current timeline.

If we look at that closer, it also means that because of these changes long ago, we will now have them in our current time as well.
Great Read!
# Nov 05 2007 at 1:40 AM Rating: Good
**
477 posts
Wow! Very neat read! I'm liking the backstory on scholar now.

I'm also starting to think that the quest to unlock, and then gain AF for scholar might be difficult, as in mentally. Solve riddles and such? Who knows, but its really shaping up to be quite interesting!
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