A worn and battered manual with a cracked spine in Culufinnel’s pack, entitled, Advice to a New Recruit, opens easily to a dog-eared page:
Do violence to no one unjustly, neither accuse any falsely. Follow all orders of your Officers, and do not challenge them; be content with your station, and do not grumble about toil. Soldiers must endure much hardship: they are taken from their homes and friends, and must go on long marches, through the storms, heat, and cold, and often have little to nothing to eat and must sleep on stones. No one who wishes for an easy life should seek to join the ranks. Let no one come into them unprepared, and unwilling to suffer many trials and burdens! You will not receive a bedroll of down to sleep upon, nor will you have hot meals, and there may be times when you are cold and hungry. The question remains to be asked, why would any enter the ranks on such terms?
The soldier is looked upon as a person of good character by the people, and receives esteem as his due portion befitting to a keeper of the peace and general welfare of his nation. Those worthies who have earned the name of a Good Soldier are deserving to be promoted to higher degrees of Honour, and his advance in this is only limited by his personal merits; that is, the virtues of Valour, Discipline, and Justice. He must take care that he does good in a right manner, and that his good may not be spoken ill of. Some soldiers are very brazen, and spend their time throwing themselves about and making much noise: outwardly seeming valourous, but it is often that these soldiers are the greatest cravens, who coat their base cowardice with a thin veneer of brass.
A soldier must ensure that his name remains unsullied and unstained by any base and unworthy actions: running from battle, stealing, lying, swearing, gambling, and drinking to excess; for by doing so he degrades not only himself, but his station, his regiment, and his nation; and whoever comports himself in such a dishonourable manner will find it to be to his own wounding, sooner or later. If a soldier were to act thusly, then he may as well cast down his badge and join the herd of profligate robbers and cut-throats, those desperate Men who have no sense of honour, nor dignity, nor any regard to Government and Authority, which is the root of all villainy and evil, and it is common to see such behavior in Men.
Men are a scourge to one another, and often beat and trample on each other by turns. This pleases the Enemy and his army of Evil Spirits, who eagerly blow upon the hot wrath and rage of these people, and by giving a measure of power to dangerous Men, blind and harden them to the threats of the Just and Valourous, and to the desolation and destruction of each other, so any alliance thereby is weakened and ruined.
Some Kings and Princes are such common disturbers, and are continually invading their neighbor’s lands, and for this purpose it is necessary to a keep a standing force, to expel these invaders, or protect the house-fief from barbarous and evil people, of which there are too many in the world, who have great ambitions and designs for conquering our people. Be ready to punish every perfidious act, and neglect nothing: as the towers and walls of Utumno were speedily thrown down and destroyed, and the servants of the Enemy were brought into the starlit dusk, some rebels remained hidden deep in the earth, and from this serpent’s egg flew out a fiery snake. Thus, a soldier must overlook and neglect nothing, and turn over all stones to root out the evil that crawls underneath.
Consider that we must forever fare with how we have acted, while the lives of Men pass quickly by and are soon forgotten; therefore, we have far more to lose by acting wrongly. The good will be forever happy, and the wicked will be forever chained and wretched. So those who strive lawfully shall receive great recognition, and their praises sung and their names shall be remembered, long after they have departed from the lands of strife; and this reward is beyond measure.
