Patrica C. Wrede's Worldbuilder Questions

War

• Which peoples/countries/races have been in conflict in the recent past? Why? When and why was the most recent war? Who won? Who is still mad about that?
• What major weapons of war are available (e.g., siege towers, catapults, cannons, A-bombs)?
• How much as the presence of magic affected strategy and tactics? Do army commanders have to use specific unusual formations or techniques to deal with possible magical attacks? How can magic be used as part of a battle plan (example: getting a weather magician to make it rain so that the enemy cannons are harder to move in the mud)?
• How are armies usually structured? Is there a formal, independent command structure, or is everybody officially under the command of the lord who brought them to the king's army, or what? If a formal structure, what are the various ranks and titles?
• Who can call up men for an army? How is this done? Does the king ask his lords for men, and the lords then draft their peasants, or can the king go straight to the bottom?
• Are there professional soldiers/mercenaries? Is a career in the king's army possible, or would you have to be a mercenary or sell-sword in order to make a living as a soldier? Does the army accept volunteers?
• How large is a typical army? What percentage of the soldiers in it will be trained (knights, professional soldiers, guards, mercenaries) and what percent will be untrained recruits? Are recruits given training, or are they expected to learn on the job (i.e., in battle)?
• How is the army supplied? Are soldiers allowed to live off the land/peasantry, or do they pay for what they take? How are supplies handled during long campaigns? How many days worth of supplies can the army haul along with them? (Ref. ALEXANDER THE GREAT AND THE LOGISTICS OF THE MACEDONIAN ARMY for the math on how much a horse can carry, etc.)
• What are the accepted conventions for making war (example: only fight in winter when nobody is busy with crops; don't make war on civilians; only certain kinds of weapons are used; etc)? Do they differ from race to race?
• How does the presence of non-humans (dwarves, vampires, etc.) affect strategy, tactics, and battles generally? Are special weapons required if an army is facing certain kinds of non-human armies? How would non-human soldiers turn their physical differences from humans to their advantage?
• Are particular non-human races traditionally better with certain weapons (e.g., dwarves with axes, elves with bows)? Why--because they have greater strength, better eyesight, more manual dexterity, etc?

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