Ritual of the Dead Pt. One

It was an orderly way of conducting a disorderly business. When one side declared its intention to invade and plunder, the defenders picked a village or hamlet about which to conduct the battle. Both sides moved to their rally points with a single battalion. A few dozen tanks, a thousand, maybe fifteen hundred men. Maybe a dozen attack helicopters. Then they dispersed and combat was taken. It was traditional to agree on a forfeit before the battle was joined. Some amount of treasure, a disputed border region, or perhaps a particularly productive mine. Occasionally whole cities changed hands, but this was rare.

And so wars and great industrial complexes passed to the wayside without the annihilation of the martial arts. The two superpowers had their method of solving disputes without war, but with the necessary bloodletting to settle the issues. While peace was not absolute, it was rare that two battles would take place in consecutive years, much less in the same year.

Occasionally great heroes were forged in these fields.