To: Sundren Recruitment

[Fuzziebunny]

To the Office of Recruitment, Legion HeadQuarters

Sir,

Recruitment is much the same everywhere. To be successful you have to convince people that you can give them something no one else can. For some this is emotional. They want or need something that that makes them feel powerful or a part of something. Others want what you can give them, be it money, food or weapons. Not everyone wants or needs the same things in life and it is important to appeal to the widest possible group. To do this I have put together a small outline of things I believe will increase recruitment both in the valley and in Sundren city.

I. Benefits - Why should people join the Legion as opposed to other groups?

A) I would like to sit down and discuss this with the proper authorities. It isn't a matter of knowing what entices people to serve. You all know that, it is how much you are willing to offer and how you offer it. Words matter, you can't afford to promise what you are unwilling to give. Why is the Legion the better option?

II. Give the people a hero - the face of an organization can attract people just as much as a good set of benefits

A) Everyone loves a tale of success. Find a local man or woman that is a legion success story and make sure there are songs and stories about them. What you are looking for here is public pride. You need some one likable, good looking, and with a decent record. Choose hometown men or women who made it to one of the higher ranks. You want men and woman to think of this person when they think of the legion.

III. Make it personal

A) You want to show that any benefits being offered by the other side belongs to your target audience by right. It was taken from them and they are suffering for the lack of it.

Remember the fallen and loss of land. Remind people what things were like in the good old days.

Of course there is so much more to recruitment then this. You have to decide how best to get the information out and when. You need to send different people to appeal to various groups. This is only a brief snippet. I would like the opportunity to speak in person with you or at least present a more in depth plan if you allow it.

I do thank you for what time you have given me.


Chime Mynick

[[DM] Grinning Death]

A reply is sent:

Tirones Chime,

Your ideas have merit, if not eloquence. Do you have time to speak this week on these matters further?

Aenator Ophelias
10th Legion

[Fuzziebunny]

Aenator Ophelias


I do have time to speak further on these issues. Thank you so much for allowing me the opportunity . I have sent you a copy of the duty roster for the next several days. Please let me know which time suites you best.

Tirones Chime

//// I can do any day this week after 5 PM AST which,I think, is 9 PM EST.

[Fuzziebunny]

Another letter is sent to Aenator Ophelis and the Sundren Recruitment Office at Legion Head quarters

Aenator Ophelias,

I would like to offer a very unorthodox recruitment idea. If my plan is taken up and is successful, I think you could provide not only new recruits, but all a little extra food to the city. There is very little food left as you are more then aware. And every day a dangerous tension grows. The refugees continue to flood in with the movements of the Black Hand. All around us the land dies from the poison that seeps through the ground like water. The trees themselves are twisted and foul. These are desperate times, but there is hope. As long as the Legion still stands there is hope. The people don’t always see what it is that the legion does for them every day. I ask that we show them.

In the frozen North there are several great worms. Among them, deep in the vast ruins of the dwarven complex, lives the purple worm. It is a gargantuan beast of tremendous strength and size. If one could found and brought down to the city, I think it could be added to the fading food supplies. I know it is not much, but it is something visible and viable.

The people need to see the legion active. I have listened to the talk and far too many believe that the legion rest upon their laurels, that the legion fails to help the people out shear laziness. It frustrates me to no end. You and I both know how deeply the command cares. We have seen our commander’s blank and tired faces and all the countless hours of planning. The sleepless nights they have spent attempting to think of something, anything that might offer just a little more food to the hungry.

I do not propose this course of action lightly. I know that care must be taken to ensure if such an action is approved that dignity must be preserved for all, including the animal. I have a small skill in bring such creatures under my control, twice before I have bent the purple worm to my will. It will be dangerous and difficult to bring such a creature to the very gates to be killed for massive amount of meat it can provide. But I believe that the rewards could be tremendous.

I cannot do this alone. Nor am I capable of ever killing such a creature by myself. It would take many Legionnaires to do this. And I can promise you that it will be extremely dangerous, maybe to dangerous to even attempt. This could take weeks from start to finish with all the travel even with good horses. But I ask that you at least consider it. This is not a perfect solution, nor any sort of permanent one. But it is action. It is something the people can see, touch, and talk about with their neighbors. Perhaps it will only be a little more food into their children’s mouths. But they will know that it was the legion that provided it for them.

Immunes Chime Mynick

[Fuzziebunny]

A neatly written letter is sent once more to the Office of Recruitment.

Aenator Ophelias

I think it is time we look at doing something about the blow to our image that the situation in Cheapside has given the Legion. It is no longer a matter of right or wrong. At this point we must either do something very public about the food situation, and the people of Cheapside in general or we risk a great deal of public support.

The food shortages have not stopped. And it doesn't look as if they will any time soon either. Our enemies are very vocal and loquacious to a fault, when pointing these things out. We continue to feed stags to all our growing problems but nothing is making much of a dent in any of them. I think, we might ease some of our current situation if we could do a few key things.

The first is expose Margaux as a Black Hand operative. I am not sure how the tale should best be spun, but we all know she has been with the Black Hand from nearly the start. We need to take away her statues as a hero of the people and expose her for what she is. I know there are always going to be some who, either just don't care or simply don't believe it. For far to long she has been on the peoples lips. She is not some folk hero. She is and always was a terrorist.

The second thing I suggest is to put the problem to the people. Find a man or woman in Cheapside who holds a good measure of sway with the people and start a discourse with them. Give them information. Tell them why the food is scare and offer them the chance to try to make a difference. There could be an opertunity here.

Right now, Sundren needs more Soldiers. What's more, we need seasoned, trained Soldiers. But, we simply don't have all the people we need to accomplish this. We need some way to rally in troops. What we are doing now isn't working. Perhaps , if we can actually get a discourse going with the people of Cheapside, we can explain how trade and large bandit activities really do lower the amount of food in and out of a region. They are not stupid and I suspect some of the more influential members of Cheapside run their own sort of organization. Perhaps a Cheapside legion, if properly supervised and managed, can help deal with one of Sundren's many and diverse issues.

I think it is worth mentioning that one of Knights of the Northern Watch is looking to clean up a portion of the current bandit problem in and around the old Exigo Outpost. Perhaps the Sundren Legion can be of assistance here.

Respectfully,

Salararius Chime Mynick
Tenth Legion

[Fateful Encounter]

A response is penned:

Salararius,

The Aenator was kind enough to forward your correspondence to me. I don't know what you've heard or from where you're getting your sources; I suspect they are of low repute. Allow me to put to rest any delusions that may now plague your mind.

The Tenth Legion has and always will have things in Cheapside well in hand. Margeaux's main forces were decimated months ago, as you surely must know, given that I am to understand you participated in their undoing. On that note, I'm sure your report on such event must have been misplaced somewhere, as I have yet to come across it.

The smattering of rebel activities that still plague Cheapside are of secondary importance to the food shortage. And further, there are new threats within the city that are on the rise. These are the things the Tenth has turned their attention to. Margeaux and whatever middling force she still commands will be dealt with if and when they prove to be more than rumor and speculation. At this point, whether she is Black Hand or not is entirely irrelevant to me.

Your idea concerning recruitment within Cheapside is the only thing of interest to me within a letter filled with misinformation and misstatements. If you've a plan to implement such a thing, come and speak with me. Otherwise, I caution you not to make clearly mistaken claims to the rest of the senior officers again.

There will be consequences.

Centurio Rhimus Ravain,
Tenth Legion