Mayhiros Ruja
"We have a saying, here in Lookshy. Goes 'Raise your sons to be Nitei, not Chumyo.' Heard it all my life, but didn't understand it until my boy, Turan, was three. His every other word was 'me' or 'mine'. Children tend to selfishness; it's up to parents to train it out of them. You indulge your children, let them have their way, they get spoilt and live their lives like they're the ones who're in charge. But if you raise them with discipline, they learn how to work with others instead of above them and if they ever get a command, they'll know how to treat and use the soldiers under them.
"Ruja was raised to be a Chumyo, and it shows. He's got arrogance and strength, but no discipline. Maybe that's alright where it's a boy and his horse and the open plains, but even in Marukan, a leader of men needs something more than his own pride pushing him on. Not that Ruja doesn't have something to be proud of; I watched the smug bastard duel a few of our comms when he came here to tour the redoubt. He knew some martial arts, gave as good as he got, but I think Karal Linwei would've beaten him in a real fight. It goes back to discipline; I don't think the boy could have taken the pain.
"It probably won't matter, in the end. He'll train in his father's manse and lead a small scale of horsemen out into the field. His personal skills will see him through a fight with a rival horse-clan and he'll take up arms under the protective wing of a Legion force if something bigger comes our way. He'll fight an engagement and think that he's a damn hero, while a battle raged on around him and he stays ignorant of the movements of troops. Sometimes I guess that's just the way it is."
-- Chegef Ixos, Gunchei (sergeant), 1st Fang, 5th Scale, 3rd Talon, 2nd Wing, 1st Dragon of the First Field Force of the Seventh Legion
