I begin by stating that these are my personal views and do not necessarily represent the official view of the Disciples of Light, in which I am but a member in training.
We must first decide what we are trying to achieve here. The original meeting last week was a war council, entirely focused on military action. It was difficult enough to control that, so it seems to me that extending the scope to include all aspects of society over which we, the ordinary people, might have a say is a folorn hope. I suspect that any given meeting would not get past the first item on the agenda, and the many of the people who have turned up with a single interest will find themselves having had a wasted journey.
If the people of the Alliance wish to discuss subjects in different areas, let there be multiple Councils; there might be a War Council, a Trade Council, a Religious Convocation, a Mage’s Conference etc., and a given Order, Guild, or other organisation might join one or more depending on their interests. I think it likely that Lady Ceanna would not wish to sit through two hours of trade negotiations in the hope that there might be time for religious discussion at the end. Much better that, if she wishes, she can focus her efforts on a Religious Convocation, and send Sir Borivar to represent the Disciples at a War Council, or Mr Whiteholdt to report back from a Mage’s Conference.
More specifically on the subject of the War Council, I felt that those present at the last recent meeting were too disparate in their views for much to be achieved. There were many different views not only on where we should join together in military action, but even whether we should be involved in offensive or defensive operations. We should also bear in mind that those present were mostly not part of the regular army, within the direct chain of command beneath the Alliance’s generals.
I propose, therefore, that we should found a Special Forces Division and make ourselves available to the Alliance Army when they have any specific orders, and act on our own initiative as a Division when the army has no order for us.
The Special Forces Division should comprise a Special Forces Brigade from each of Stormwind, Ironforge, Ashenvale, Theramore and Southshore. Each Brigade should appoint its own Brigadier, and an overall General should be selected for the Division. A local Brigade Council should advise each Brigadier, and the Brigadiers should form a Divisional Council to advise the General.
Each Brigade would be responsible, first and foremost, for ensuring a minimum level of defence for its own area. This might be as simple, for instance, as Stormwind keeping a rotating force guarding the bridge between Stranglethorn Vale and Duskwood while Ironforge keeps a similar force guarding Thandol Span, thus making it more difficult for Horde raiders to cross into core territories in small numbers.
Having provided minimum local defence, the second duty of each Brigade would be to provide forces to the Division for strengthening defences in any Brigade area under particular threat, or for any offensive operation.
This approach should make individual councils, whether War Councils or other types of Council, much easier to manage.
Squire Valestrion Drayke, Disciples of Light