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Hey folks! Fireside this week! Last week’s post was a monster (over 10,000 words compared to our more typically ~6,000) which left me with some non-blog catching up to do. Next week, we’ll be starting our next Teaching Paradox series, this time looking at Hearts of Iron IV, which has been requested for quite some … Continue reading Fireside Friday, September 4, 2026 →
This is the first half of the final part (I, IIa, IIb, III, IVa, IVb, Va) of our apparently five-part series laying out some general guidelines for how pre-modern armies are organized, in particular exploring the principle that armies cannot help but recreate their civilian social structures on the battlefield. Last time we looked at … Continue reading Collections: Pre-Modern Armies for Worldbuilders, Part Va: Putting It Together →
Hello again all. It is once again the week of July 4th and so, as is customary here, I am going to use this week’s post to talk about the United States. This is going to be a bit more of an open musing than an argument as compared to previous years (2021, 2022, 2023, … Continue reading Collections: On the Declaration of Independence →
This week I want to try something a little different. Rather than taking apart a particular fantasy military system, I thought I might try to lay out a more general sense of how military systems tend to map on to societies, both because such general historical frameworks are handy for thinking about the past, but … Continue reading Collections: Pre-Modern Armies for Worldbuilders, Part I: Why They Fight →
This is the third part (I, II) of our series looking at how Carthage’s complex, multipart armies were raised and constituted. Last time, we looked at the backbone of Carthage’s armies: North African troops levied out of Carthage’s subject communities in North Africa. These fellows seem to have been directly employed by the Carthaginian state, … Continue reading Collections: Raising Carthaginian Armies, Part III: Generals, Warlords and Vassals →
More in history
Despite ultimately achieving victory, the Soviet Union lost tens of millions of people during World War II. As the people bled for their country, so did the cities eschew plumes of dust and smoke from deep within the bricks and mortar of their foundations. Moscow, the Soviet capital, was a glittering prize for the […]
Using GPT-6 and Opus 5.5 to trace alchemical knowledge and decode 17th century letters
Economics, politics and philosophy for a new era
Have you ever heard of Ulanqab prefecture, a small (by China’s standards) jurisdiction of 1.5 million people lost in the middle of the Inner Mongolian steppe?
