Though the generals and marshals are the ones to earn the laurels and honors from glorious battles, victorious campaigns and successful wars, the core of every army is made up of simple soldiers and non-commissioned officers. Lance-corporal Zyvik of the Dun Banner was the best example. Like any good soldier, he was no philosopher and did not question his superiors' orders, yet ruled his subordinates with an iron fist at the same time. His combat experience and years of practice had taught him a few key rules: One sleeps whenever possible and rises whenever awoken. Drinking on duty should be discreet and restrained, and a mouthful of booze must always be left for the superior officer. And finally, while on the march women should only be raped when nobody's watching. Add to that a sense of extreme pride in duties fulfilled, a trait so characteristic of a career soldier, and you get, my dear readers, a portrait of the model Kaedweni veteran.

The lance-corporal had taken part in the previous war with Aedirn, which had proven fatal for the Dun Banner. Isolated on the battlefield, the unit had been decimated and its standard fell into enemy hands. Though Zyvik might have considered himself lucky - he had been recuperating at a field hospital at the time, and was thus spared the same fate - the memories of those days, and of his fallen comrades-in-arms, were still fresh to him.