By [IO]Clemency
Militarism, the word has an aggressive tone. Webster's New World Dictionary defines militarism as "the policy of maintaining a strong military organization in aggressive preparedness for war." The Empire must attain this principle for survival. There are certain levels of militarism. There is low level militarism, the total lack of preparedness for war. Then there is medium level militarism where warfare is not truly considered. Lastly, there is high level militarism in which the society is based on the possibility and existence of war.

The problem the Empire faces is the problem with Player Killers and Player Killer guilds. These individuals and guilds are in the high level of militarism. They care not for anyone but themselves and their guild, if they should have any. Let us look at Satan's Warriors. Satan's Warriors is an awful mess of a guild. Spies from the first age of the Empire report that the internal organization and ranking of SW is extremely low, yet, how can they conquer all those that oppose them? The answer lies in their philosophy. Being a Player Killer Guild, the Satanic Warrior's only desire is to cause suffering and they enjoy it thoroughly. Thus the unorganized masses of Satan's Warriors prepare themselves on their own to accomplish their desires. With a single word, any Satanic Warrior can send a swarm of his brethren to smote any enemy they wish. They attack and attack and attack. They know their duties and will do as they are told. This is high level militarism.

The average Anti-Player Killer guild is usually in the medium level of militarism. People flock to the normal Player Killer Killer guild because they have experienced the sensation of being murdered (in Battle.net of course). The people want to fight PKs, but what I believe they are after is some group of people that are willing to find the assailant and pay him or her back. Once they discover that the guild will not budge toward accomplishing their own goal, their participation drops. Many become unconcerned with guild affairs. Because the people are no longer interested in serving their guild, they do not train and prepare for warfare. Some guildsmen might ready themselves for armed conflict but the number most of the time never exceeds half of all the able bodied guildmen. Thus, the readiness for battle is at best half the total guild's ability to fight. This is due to no patriotism.

Low level militarism is the common condition of new guilds with unconcerned leaders. Sometimes new guilds don't make it at all. They simply do not raise out of the primordial ooze to achieve any sort of acknoledgement. All I can say about this is that the leader himself is weak. He is uncaring and doesn't care for his guild even though he may believe he does. These guilds not only do not aquire manpower, they don't prepare for war as they should. There is no nationalism, members leave, the leader loses interest and that is the end of the guild. It is over in less then a month. Because there is no trained military or sometimes no military at all, they are no match for any of the powerful guilds. That is why I believe they should be considered as low level militarism and low level militarism is usually characterized by the ideas I mentioned above.

Where does the Empire lie? I cannot say. What I can say however is that the first age of the Imperial Order was from middle low and medium level militarism and medium militarism. How can I prove this? I'm am not an uncaring leader, I have my weaknesses but I am by no means the kind of leader that begins the dead-end mosquito guilds of low level militarism. The Empire was and still is against the unlawful actions of killing players for pleasure. The members fit the medium level militarism but less than 50% of the guild was actually ready for battle, "physically" and emotionally. In order to prosper in the new age, we must build a strong war machine and we must oil it well. Militarism is aggression, both are means of survival.

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