The Academy of War
Structure
The Academy of War is rigidly hierarchical. The High Tactician is the leader, supported by a staff of three aides called Adjutants. One is responsible for the teaching and conduct of diplomacy. The second heads up the teaching and conduct of strategy and logistics. The final Adjutant is responsible for the teaching and conduct of combat operations.
Beneath the Adjutants, there are a number of senior priests called Captains, who are responsible for leading their local temples, or cadres of other priests, or in at least one case, providing oversight to a monastic order (ex. Kiseswa's Fists, a monastery of monks devoted to the Way of the Open Hand). With the exception of monasteries, the Captains then oversee junior priests called Soldiers of Kiseswa, who carry out the day-to-day functions of the priesthood.
Culture
Rigor and Discipline
Those who enter Kiseswa's priesthood can look forward to a life of strict discipline, in which the mind and body are challenged constantly. Those who aspire to priesthood spend hours each morning and each afternoon honing their bodies and their personal and unit martial skills. In between, they study tactics, logistics, strategy, sanitation, languages, and diplomacy. Ordained priests spend their time, teaching these students. Idleness, whether physical or mental, is simply not a part of their way of life.
Dualism
Kiseswa teaches that war is to be avoided whenever it can be. When conflict must happen, it is to be carried out intelligently and mercilessly. This duality pervades the culture of the Academy of War.
Public Agenda
Ironically, because of their belief that war is to be avoided whenever possible, the Academy of War's primary goal is diplomatic. Their priests engage themselves as diplomats at all levels, and they are famed for doing so in a neutral manner, making them sought-after mediators. Few courts are without a Soldier of Kiseswa serving on their behalf.
Their second goal is the training for and execution of war. Although Soldiers of Kiseswa can and do occasionally participate directly in warfare, quite effectively, in fact, they usually devote their time and effort to training professional military people from various governments and organizations in the effective conduct of war.
