A tripartite of schematic narrative

 I very much prefer narratives that force the characters to sacrifice/compromise actual things and act pragmatic, over the ones that abuse their own self-made (battle oriented or not) systems that narrow circle of the world despite the grandeur and using cop-outs out of it to cheapen the drama or/and being unnaturally narrowed down to few characters as the center of the world, which is nowhere near realistic when it comes to ambition - and here is why...

Ravages of Time - Altair: A Record of Battles - Lie Eater

...When it comes to crafting the narrative via the complex and grand schemes, it mostly comes down to how grand the whole ordeal is supposed to be. Some stories do not have much sense of grandeur and revolve around few plot points, then offer some plot twists regarding the personalities and alter the story-line according to it, not doing much in the grand scheme of things. a plot twist is more about how a composer plots and schemes the contours of the narrative, and it doesn't necessarily involve characters or factions coming up with grand plans, in a sense that it is not supposed to be jaw-dropping, especially to be considered as good and well-written…  This (focusing on singular event), of course, has its own merits, as it allows said plot movements to be laid out in tiniest details and showcase the importance, as well as the psyches of the characters, but it leaves much to be desired if you seek ideas that are centered around the world, rather than few or one particular character and want its world to fully realize its potential (ex, Black Sails)... such stories are common and way more than the uncommon grander stories (that may sound redundant but I want to emphasis on just how large the difference is), which is understandable, because of how much effort it takes to craft something so grand, you not only need to be sponsored for a big part of your life and dedicate yourself to your work, but you also need to have a lot of will-power and on top of that, you also need to not change your views drastically, which is hard when, let’s say, you are drawing such a story for 20 years… 20 years are A LOT, it is the most of the life I have ever experienced, it is highly unlikely that you won’t change and if you change, that will definitely affect your work as you practically are a generator of ideas for your own work. Needless to say, it is very ambitious and risky - enough of an excuse to not attempt it, as the simpler stories are spread in this day and age, people want entertainment first and foremost, they want to escape the hardships of life, hence why they do not want to go from one bleak thing from another and waste their time on something they will not be able to enjoy, not be able to reap the benefit. (And no, stories with thousand (hyperbole)  writers can’t be counted as such stories)

Now to clarify, when talking about the complex schemes, I do not mean that every story, that is oriented on world-building, should be considered by default - One Piece, Feng Shen Ji and Gunnm: Last Order would make good examples of this, as they do have world-building, but there are barely any strategies that are purposely chain-reacted within each other. They do highlight the actions that shape their worlds, but strategies themselves are barely ever focused and they mostly are focused on hand-to-hand combat primarily, as even if some of them have actual depth in them and could be used for discussion, everything still is an excuse for characters to fight and injure each other and not the other way around.

Mhm - you can have really contrived plot twists just for the sake of it even if it doesn't mesh with the rest of the story (such as Nisekoi's infamous Truck-Kun) that is no way related to logical course of events

Although to be fair there's also the extreme 'I outsmarted your outsmarting' levels of scheming in some manga where the 'prediction' is in no way believable or fair - knowing/guessing things you can't possibly know.

The best series (such as Ravages) don't go overboard on any of them - we know the skills, strengths, weaknesses and mindsets of characters. It makes sense that Sima Yi lies through his teeth to everyone and has a contingency plan, because it's what he does. Things can go awry, and characters have to adapt to it rather than 'oh, that was all part of my plan all along'. Heck, we even see characters saying 'we'll give this up in order to take this, as we can't have both' - it's Jia Xu's whole schtick

Regarding the scheming game being talked about ever so often in Ravages in comparison with other series like Kingdom always reminds me of the fundamental difference between tactics and strategy. I feel like most schemes in Ravages are strategic in nature, they are long term, try to achieve multiple goals and the setup takes time to develop and mature their ripples are felt many chapters or even volumes later and hence might take away the instant awesomeness of many tactical schemes like in Kingdom. Keep in mind , I'm not saying Kingdom can't be strategic but since they are so heavily battle focussed they take a more tactical approach to schemes. Whatever their ploy is will be discovered soon because most of their ploys have one agenda, create a chance at killing the general and that will happen at the end of the arc whereas for Ravages each scheme does not have a single purpose, it is layered with feints and other schemes to gain an advantage and a strategic one at that so that when it comes to the tactical war it can be easily won. It's similar to how a basketball team tactically operates with picks, screens, cuts and flares to get the one mismatch which can be won easily and strategically operates with Cap Space, contracts, player trade clauses, coaches, and trades to get the best team possible which can then have the best chance of winning tactically. Imo it is one of the reasons people can lose interest in Ravages because there is rarely immediate effect of any move and the reason Ravages have not so clear battles because ultimately it is all a gimmick since if you strategize well enough that when it comes to he battle you either have numerical superiority or high ground advantage that can be won through tactics and the only time they show wars is when one of the participants have Superior Tactics.

While thinking about why people leave after the Xiapi arc I felt the same feeling that Xiapi was a mostly tactical operation since they had to complete it as quickly as possible and hence comparatively easier to follow but after that all arcs shifted to the long game where strategy becomes key to success. It's like a game of Go vs Chess, in Chess you can do all the brilliant manoeuvres but the ultimate aim is to kill the enemy king whereas in Go each move you make is to gain territory, some advantage that keeps piling up and gives the ultimate advantage.

To add to the point about strategy vs tactics, it's not as if other series dealing with warfare and statecraft don't deal with strategic situations and calculations, but for the most part various stories relegate this aspect into the background (perhaps reducing strategy to personal motivations achieved by means of smart moves) or simplify the bigger picture (kill enemy commander, win battle, weaken adversary, gain territory or influence) to better focus on the tactical back and forth as the main engine for strategic accomplishments

Ravages for its part revels in presenting many layers and rounds of schemes, with multiple factors (inside and outside of battle) taken into consideration (even if the series does not always go out of its way to depict them all in detail, being content as it were to convey many moves as side notes in speech bubbles)

on that note, given how the campaigns and engagements in Ravages tend to be complex and intertwined to the point that readers find it difficult to distinguish when one arc ends and another begins one could say that aside from the attention given to grand strategy and war strategy, the series also showcases a robust operational middle ground (the interface of petty strategies and larger tactics, connecting the tricks on the ground with the big picture plans) even if the small-scale tactical details tend to be lacking especially when it comes to direct battles…

this brings me to another characteristic of Ravages, in that while it still shows battles (and duels) every now and then, the decisive blows across various confrontations and arcs tend to be from indirect maneuvers and sneaky interventions rather than the result of straightforward battlefield domination

now the tricky thing about this approach is that if readers happen to be more interested in smart battlefield plays rather than complex processes across, around, beyond, besides the battlefield Ravages would appear inadequate in comparison, with its condensed fights and fuzzy battle layouts (and a conspicuous absence of diagrams and bird's eye view positional panels)

moreover, since Ravages happens to weave together meticulous and convoluted plans and narratives alongside so much theatricality (the moments and gimmicks many like to praise) one other consequence is that those reading the series can get so drawn in to how the show unfolds (either praising how cool the setup is and focusing on character dynamics, or dismissing how pretentious the setup is and complaining about the lack of battlefield detail) that they lose sight of the infrastructure of stratagems and intrigues

surely it made it more challenging and it could be argued that it is a legitimate criticism, considering that if something can be improved, has a better alternative and could have been done in a better manner - it is a flaw - and of course it could have been done better, just like how Altair is full of maps and low-scale tricks, despite it not even being as grand RoT which basically means that it is even more burdened to convey the hardships of being in a point of view of a random soldiers and how hard it is not only for them but for leaders as well to convey the message for them and yet, RoT is fuzzier in combat.

on the other hand, Altair is a simplified approach to warfare, so it makes sense to not be so centred around fuzziness and Ravages of Time itself is so grand that sometimes people have to command a million soldiers. so it makes sense for it to be fuzzy, as they actually have problems with operating such a huge army and lose as well.

it could also be said that even if it is a flaw, that does not mean that it could not be excused and justified, in a sense that you are free to forgive things like this one, because it still matches with the overall point of Ravages' - how questionable are the records, legends and whatnot, considering how RoT in itself is written to be such material and that makes sense, because if you preach about how there is no such thing as a fully correct and unalterable event (aside of physical strength, but that's different matter - even if strength was there, we still are not sure how it was achieved and whether it was exaggerated or not. On top of that, one named guy could be taking all the credit of his squad (intentionally or not) when said squad is not named, as he did not bother to build his own and was assigned with random soldiers (otherwise there are handicapped warriors) - and that is how legends are born. Which basically means that it is not about whether something happened or not, but how the story was shared to others), you can't just go and write your own story as the opposite, fully correct, unalterable and crystal clear - no, you make it questionable and cryptic as well.

with regard to setting and storytelling the approach of Shoukoku no Altair is basically to construct an alternative fantasy world (one still based on a particular historical juncture, so the composer can selectively show the fruits of her research since she studied the period then came up with a story based on it) as a means to explore alternative arrangements and play with ironic parallels, whereas Ravages is more about confronting the source texts and critically commenting on the processes of history-making (in multiple senses of the term)

but that's just a side remark, with regard to the scheming one could note that Shoukoku no Altair (like many other stories dealing with warfare and statecraft) places a premium on how the battles were conducted (positions, formations, tactics, equipment), along with some plans and tricks in the background to assist the campaigns, whereas in the case of Ravages it's really the schemes that take the front seat, with the battles serving mainly as fronts (and as spaces to show off the theatrical side of the series)

now on a side note

the thing about the historical account regarding the early periods of the central plains is that (unlike the chronicles and military manuals in ancient 'western' history) there isn't as much detail about how the battles unfold on a play by play level and what the formations could have looked like, plus there's more focus on compiling stories of trickery and deceit

what's more, fighting during the end of Han turns out to be rather disorganized with many forces going at it dynasty warriors style but without the musou attacks so heroic tales became more prominent features (the Records is full of it, and it gets embellished in subsequent folklore all the way to the Romance)

this background no doubt shapes how Ravages approaches the battles (inheriting the standard formula of heroic tales of martial might plus trickery, but with the stratagems and intrigues ramped up to new heights and depths as part of the commentary on how things need not have been as simple as what the sources say)

anyway, back to the topic (so that we don't get sidetracked, we can channel back the casual lamentations about how Ravages remains appreciated over to hangout to fill the space there) and to reiterate a previous point

'smart war stories' (those that focus on strategies and tactics in contrast to 'dramatic war stories' that highlight other things) tend to feature clever plays on the battlefield with some assistance from behind the scenes maneuvering

'battle of wits stories' tend to showcase players challenging one another intellectually and psychologically in contest/game situations with more limited parameters

the thing with Ravages is that its theatrical component indeed draws from the elements of 'smart war' (in scenes of troops and commanders going at it in battle with various tricks and techniques) as well as 'battle of wits' (in subplots that highlight the personalized clash between schemers) not to mention the occasional heroic tales of martial combat (and to be fair, many stories weave these aspects together too)

but where Ravages stands out is in how it mobilizes and organizes the schemes in a complex and meticulous fashion, how this unfolding takes on a life of its own beyond the battlefield moves or the mind games

I wanted to specifically talk about the trio of Ravages of Time, Altair and Usogui - these are the stories that no only manage to incorporate complex scheming game in their stories through the cooperation, while constantly yet naturally getting more and more convoluted at it, but they also drastically differ from each other, not only in terms of setting (RoT is about the ancient china, Altair is about the simplified versions of various cultures, Usogui is modern-day japan) but also how exactly narrative operates with said schemes, how they help to enhance the story-telling, what opportunities will be the characters given and what dilemmas will they face to dive into the rabbit hole of ubermensch schemers.

Now to make the comparison easier to comprehend, I think it will be reasonable to order them with a sliding scale of… well… scale: 

-Ravages of Time is almost fully focused around the grand scheme of things - It is about just how farsighted, the ones that make the crucial decisions towards saving the country, can be, compromising to each other and finding common ground with the several other factions, while all of them having the plans that they did not reveal amidst the arrangements with others. Of course, they all will be forced to sacrifice things, that are highly important to them or to others, to do so and eat the consequences in one way or another.

Advantages: This type of story-telling is great for those who like grander plot advancements that also have a great perspective of showcasing the march of time - as the farsight plans involve the plans that cover several years, it is also supposed to include the several “levels” of generations swap their places, young ones are supposed to become old themselves as well. This notion also allows the author to showcase the pretense of ever-changing ideas, one replacing the other and improving upon it, how the new “system”, that the old generation shaped, leads to the different type of predicament of upbringing for children and hence how it affects their world-view, meaning that asserted world-view of “fathers” births the other type of perspectives that will repeat the change. Which is, on one hand, is a representation of dual human nature, craving for change to progress from the things you lack in the current predicament - in short, there is a great room to excel in the exploration of human conditioning and Ravages of Time goes even further by adding just how all of these things in the second century will be viewed in the 21th century, all around opposite environment; Or rather, how are they being viewed right now, by reading Ravages of Time. So in the play comes the concept of history and its branches: What was written as official records, what was actually done, what was the goal to begin with, how people perceived and distributed as facts, what was romanticized as novels and how they affect the masses’ perspective and so on. As a cherry on top, the author gathered all of these (including Dynasty Warriors video games and how they shaped the stereotypes) as a package to convey - how all of these things get mixed within each other unintentionally and how the drastic cultural change affects how the end result is viewed and judged (so it is quite fitting for the story to have the feeling as if the conspiracy theorist wrote it and everything being chained, usually through deception, to the point of paranoia). In conclusion, Ravages of Time how people try to fabricate the history and how it backfires to not only them but the whole civilization, that they want to save so much but ultimately further putting it chaos, which also hurts the selfishness that motivated them. Now to enjoy this type of a tale, you, the first and the foremost, should realize that the point of RoT is barely ever (if at all) to “outsmart” an opponent and merely make them feel bad, no, it is about how to advance towards the peace. So I think it is weird to expect RoT to be about it and the fact that it is being blamed to have too perfectly chained stratagems, when in reality the characters are just good at adaptability and compromise and most of the characters even die in the process anyway. Some people, used to the stories that heavily rely on the psychology of the characters to convey the message, will come out and declare how shallow the characters of RoT are as it is so easy to operate characters to do anything when they lack mental illnesses and then go and praise things like Fate/Zero they fully bank on the psychology of its character (whether realistically executed or not. Some people just want some good old-fashioned psychology and delude themselves when the contradictions arise to their character traits and define it as an extra layer) even while exploring the philosophy and not the psychology, meanwhile characters are superficially and hypocritically discuss/present the ideologies by mostly talking about them - unfortunately missing how you can derive more depth by looking the grand scheme of things, how the character arcs are being escalated according to fixed ideologies and how the schemes and approaches to things characterize the warlords (like how Dong Zhou childishly likes and wants to control all of the valuable toys and how this reflects to him being childishly brutal, how he owns the childish “survival of the fittest” idea, how he dares and fails to control the valuable toy(talent) Lu Bu, then how the history depicts him as incompetent and fat instead of his ‘actual’ reputation among his family that he crafted by being an incarnation of sheer charisma).

Disadvantages: Such type of a story, naturally, alienate the potential audience for very simple and unfortunate reason - these days people are not used to stories in which narrative and the world is not centered around the protagonist and hence starts the first level of how unconventional the writing of RoT is in "today's standards" and why the readers are so troubled with it. People are used to having the story focused on one guy being in one faction and gradually meeting others, while also serving as a moral compass and a point of interest, in a sense to have someone to care about and feel empathy - On one hand, it is bizarre to ask from a completely opposite of a setting to have someone that you would morally relate, as the morality is subjective and people had drastically different perspective back then, on top of having drastically different upbringing that resulted in them being primarily hardened and on the other hand, it is ridiculous to proclaim that you can only relate to paragon of virtue, considering it it quite impossible for someone to uphold such unrealistic standards in real life, so anyone who is demanding so much from the main characters must be dishonest or/and self-unaware. As a friendly advice, I would say to be content with how Ravages of Time is not demanding from the readers to care about the characters for several volumes, but instead makes them charismatic and non-chalant in both in conflict or outside the conflict half of the time, alongside depicting their world-views - basically, enough to get attached to the main characters and number of character is pretty high, hence how the author can’t allow himself to give a lot of time to depict their mundane lives at once, but gradually at the course of the whole story. But even for the ones that do not mind the things about the attachment that I have mentioned, RoT’s story-telling comes hard to digest, considering how the grander goals force the author to frequently cut from one scene to another drastically different scene without enough room to get used to the situation, on top of having a lot of hard to remember and recall names in these scenes. I would say that not being able to pay attention to it adds a lot of re-read value and I like re-reading and re-watching things - after all, if scenes won’t give you enjoyment on the re-read, are they even worth it on the first read? So I also want to say that from being so large of a scale, author is forced to bring all of these characters you see in other stories as mere background characters (for example, people walking in the streets) as named characters and just because they are named, it feels unfair to judge negatively its narrative, the way you would not judge small scale stories that they do not characterize and give focus on background characters. It is a high-scale chaotic world with a lot of people trying to do things and rot away in their passive state that they can’t or won’t break. They are necessary. Talk about the re-read value - you will start noticing the names of characters that may have been mentioned 100 chapters before their face is revealed. the hard part with the historical narrative that I have mentioned above, alongside the importance of unimportant character that somehow must be remembered (at least, their roles) to grasp the whole context of the situation, collecting stories from the various sources, is the fact that it also forces the author to be cryptic, in a sense just how things may be hidden from the plain sight while reading a history book and you may find the connection or a detail that would recontextualize the whole context, but I have to admit, when it is so hard to pay attention to so many details, then it is even harder to not get confused by such cryptic details - but on the bright side, you will be heavily rewarded and your kills and capabilities of comprehension in terms of narrative will sky-rocket to the top, even if you won’t like Ravages of Time. Although it is quite ironic that we have so many barely important named characters and yet, you could find characters that are actually quite important, but… are unnamed or lack an identity of their own. It all fits the narrative in terms of the exploration of its thematic facets, but it does not change the fact that the most of the people just seek the simple entertainment from the media and deem all of this as a waste of time or just find it way above their own capabilities and give up early on. And on the grander scale itself, the lack of maps and formations may be a problem - First, operating the characters on a huge scale for them to timely interact with other characters and do not ruin the flow, so to conveniently move the characters around, in my opinion, is a forgivable flaw, considering it would turn into never-ending cycle of loosely connected sub-plots otherwise and that is the last thing I want in my exploration of grander ideas. Second, some readers’ who seek the battles full of formations may be disappointed (not me, though)... simply because of how lacking the history is in that department - not only there are not enough records to warrant the pretense of advanced formations in the manga, but it is also hardly even believable that people in that era were capable of being good at the concept of formations, at all. Basically, Ravages of Time shackles itself since day one, but remains respectable.

- Altair’s focus has an interesting ‘contradiction’ implemented within - it wants to be both individualistic and grader/co-operative, simplified and complex (as much as it will be allowed for it to be). If RoT places its priority on how all of the sides "trade for food" with each other and constantly bark to each other while doing so and if Usogui places its priority of crafting a co-operation by characters fully embracing their individualism and somehow finding the synergy through it, Altair moreso places its priority to finding a balance in-between these two as well.

Advantages: When starting the writing of your own precious work, in my opinion, you should first gauge just how ambitious you wish to be when it comes to what would be explored in it and how large the scale is. Now imagine if Ravages of Time, the work that takes several tens of years to be finished, also had a theme of how different cultures interact and eventually affect each others’ conditioning - Of course, that is just too much of an ambition for a single man to shoulder to depict in a real life-ish setting, as that would take so much time that the children of could have inherited the rights to continue his cherished story-telling. What did Altair, that wanted to have several drastically different countries in his story, do to avoid this problem? By simplifying the world all around. Surely, simplification in itself is neither entertaining nor deep, but that does not it is not offering the opportunity to excel at both of them - the first, the author can use his own distinct artstyle (the variety of designs and how they mix with each other, as well) , which on it’s own will make the characters way more expressive, both in terms of body language and facial expressions and, at the same time, provide an excuse to have a focus on immature characters and they flamboyant mannerism (well, I would not say that this should encourage people to go over-the-top and have interactions as horrendous as the ones in Magi, but to each their own, I guess). Needless to say, it makes things easier for both the readers and the authors in exchange of reducing the thematic depth for a bit. Similarly to RoT, Altair also uses strategies as its focal point and main narrative tool to advance the plot. What is different is the approach - if Ravages of Time puts the whole emphasize on the strategies and throws you right away in them, Altair takes its time, shows არnot only how the characters are taking experience out of their baby-steps in Art of War, but also one by one giving the introductory arcs kingdoms that have different cultures as their fundament AND, at the same time, both competent conflicts that properly represent the value of said cultures and, to not be too episodic, plot relevancy that gradually transforms into more and more thick plot-line, that results in a convoluted warfare of several coalitions. Now to note - Ravages of Time does have a bit of cultural difference, but that mostly comes from the single country, just the different territories standing-out in different aspects, so it does not really need to explore it as in-depth as Altair does, in a world where there are different “countries” that are ruled by drastically varied ideologies, when in Ravages of Time, all of them are supposed to be under a single rulership. This is a very good basis to involve the cultures in an ace of spades of schemes as its naturality remains intact, considering how aware of each other all of these countries are, backed not only by their own histories (both internal and external) but also how they are trying to interact/co-operate with each other (again, both internal and external interactions, both affecting each other) and to what lengths, whether will they give priority to execute the decay/stagnation in exchange to be the single country that dominates or help each other to survive - without a need to deeply indulge in to per culture. Anyways, just like in RoT, sides here also showcase their backline and do not just act out of altruism, but for the good of their people, may even sacrifice things that are dear for the main characters (so as to say, that main characters frequently lose things and are forced to do certain things, accept the reality) and stand out from each because of how different all of their world-view is, whether they will be capable of compromising or not - while covering all sorts of topics, such as: apathetic rationality, isolation, indulgence in desires, glory of the past and so on; while not being stagnant with them. Another thing that could be highlighted (when compared to RoT as well) is the technicality through the anachronism, both in terms of artwork and in-verse capabilities - in terms of the artistic tools, Altair has a full usage of its medium’s limits and its monthly release schedule as well, considering its perpetual state of feeling fresh because of its constantly reconfiguring paneling, with breathtaking perspectives (that give a bird-eye view to both locations and formations), smooth flow and very varied environment, full of references and rarely (if at all) used concepts, like an x-ray view-like to buildings to give a dynamic ‘blueprint’ view of tactics and its process and whatnot. In terms of the non-artistic tools, Altair is the most rich fictional work, that comes to my mind, when it comes to tactical engagement - of course, it is full of general tactical thought-process that also should match the ideologies of the ones that are trying to assert them (for example, main character is always trying to come up with the most efficient tactic, that will save as many lives as possible, as he dislikes worthless war and gives priority to peace), but what makes Altair so memorable to me are the usage of not only the "as to how to think like an adviser" but also items that are being used to assert them - architecture, new inventions, birds, animals, naval battles, climbing, siege on earth and water, heat, floodings, false advertisement, propaganda through the fairy tales, merchants, crossdressing, food, decoys, marriage, beauty and many more - needless to say, it is fascinating to experience a shounen story that relies on how characters co-operate and use the environment in which they may live or may not live, rather than some abused power systems. Comes naturally that Altair would also have the convoluted strategies, but I should note that it is its highest peaks in which Altair's schemes get on the RoT vibes and as if it was an achievement worthy of celebration, gives it a flavor of a jaw-dropping twist (that which would be treated as a daily routine by the advisers from Ravages of Time)

Disadvantages: Simplification of the world did not come with its own shortcomings, naturally. The world was simplified, thus the weight of the actions and decision were significantly lowered. First, if you seek the adventure in each kingdom, you will be disappointed that it does not have that “let’s fool around for 100 chapters” One Piece type beat to them, as the stories that belong to kingdoms first and foremost are supposed to flesh out whatever is their fundament and not the facets of how all sorts of people live under a regime - it is not detailed by any means, it is straight to the point. On one hand, this is a great way to deal with the possible detraction from the main plot that would lose the connection, but on the other hand, it gives the story somewhat formulaic and repetitive nature. It gets quite predictable to know that they will go to yet another kingdom, in which something will happen to someone important at that time, who will most definitely get in touch with the main characters and be befriended. Then again, which series is not repetitive at some point? My gripe with this type of narrative is the fact that part of the ordeals are not as satisfying as they could have been, both in terms of what could have been achieved but was backpedal-ed and required build-up to have had fully realized tearjerker. At least that’s the feeling that stays with me. This could be connected to the aspect of not expanding on the lives of various characters that have their dramatic-to-be spotlights, but I am glad that they are at least getting the attention and adding dimensions to their factions and there is also another matter of not really giving much thought to the future, the march of time, as the everything important happens in a pretty short amount of time and that is something unheard of for things that are supposed to reshape the world and the whole plot is basically is as grand as it could get in this setting. But at least it does show just how some of the countries have evolved from their states that they were in for quite awhile ago. So as to finish the talk about the types of scales and how they affect the narrative - Altair being stuck in-between of grand and individual scales allows it to be all-around fulfilling in both departments and easily digestible at that, hence being the smooth starting point for someone who just started getting in to the scheming game. But it is also a reason for how Altair limits itself to dig deeper and deeper into either of the subject matter.

Similarly to RoT and not Altair, Usogui is also a collection of superhumans, both capable of doing feats that need a fair amount of suspension of disbelief in terms of physical strength and wits, but the latter part tends to be explained on reasonable level, despite characters may having some supernatural abilities that would help them in the battle of wits as well. What also separates Usogui from the other two would be the subject matter - centered not around warmongership, but gambling, with some factional display as some extra flavor, to add an innovation for its genre - cultivation of influence, through violence and preparation.

Advantages: As a story with its classic narrative of “who outwits who”, Usogui is easiest to access from this trio and on top of that, it may even have the most amount of info-dumping, whenever they are trying to explain the rules of the games in details, that which may even take the full chapter. Of course, foreshadowing remains subtle, but even in that department, at the end of the chapters, editors also provide detailed explanation of foreshadowing and what is going on in the arc, to enhance the experience for the readers immensely. What is drastically different from the RoT and Altair is the fact that its scale is the lowest - which allows it to be fully focused on individuals trying to deceive another individual in the seemingly shortsighted ordeal. In this aspect, it exceels by not only never repeating the same gambles, but how innovative these gambles may even be, literally no one of them is a standard gambling game that you could find in a formal list of gambling games. Funnily enough, one of the gambles is the Unification of Three Kingdoms in a ‘video game’ island. Another thing that separates Usogui from other gambling stories is the usage of violence, which has both, their own rooms to serve as a breath of fresh air from mind games - not to mention its hard-hitting perspectives (which in the medium is a compensation of mangakas not being able or rather not being allowed to put “hour long” movie-like choreographies in their volumes, because of how limited their page numbers are and how much time it may even waste) and both very unique choreographies and situations, considering how it is not reliant on one-against-one fights, but also two-against-one, 1v1v1 or two-against-two at the same time and whatnot, which is barely present (if at all) in the medium. And all of the things that I have mentioned above are being used to go for the two paths at the same time - psychology and convoluted plotting. How gamblers approach the gamble is heavily tied to how they approach their own lifes and what kind of world-view they acquired by observing, affecting and being affected by the environment they reside in, so they are not about the rulership of people but the rulership of oneself. Although main character stands out from his opponents because of how his views are centered around exploiting the “system” of how could the game be exploited and what are the flaws in the world-view of his opponents to distracted them by the wedge of himself - as a result, whole gigantic cast is deeply fleshed out and shaped as the one of the most unique collection of personalities that do not sabotage themselves as well. Honestly, that is the only type of action series I like and do not understand how people can enjoy when one guy is killing tons of random background characters (like, John Wick) - I very much prefer all of the characters more or less being similar both in terms of wisdom and physical prowess, because this not only would get rid of all of the time wasting talks about the power-scaling and thus limit the author and force him to plan the whole plot precisely, but it would also force the author to give his characters more defining traits in various aspects to make all of them more and more distinct (normally I would have disliked pacifism (and other goody-two-shoes mentalities) because it is not only an extremely idealistic and whatever ideology, but also limits the action in an action series which is unheard of - but I am glad how Usogui has more than one type of pacifism and critical and unique facets/nuances around it, that are more impressive than the ones in a certain Viking-oriented manga) - this way every single ordeal may have high tension and weight behind it, and it would also appeal to as many readers as possible, because all of them would feel free to choose one or more favourites among the hundred and root for them - this is both very interesting, charming and very realistic as well (and I am glad that both Altair and RoT could be described in similar manner). What makes the execution of this type of action even more delightful is how these individuals manage to co-operate and even improve themselves further without enslaving each other, which on its own is what creates the convoluted arcs - despite the low scale, the ambition of such structure is not to be underestimated. Many of you would most likely be surprised to hear if the most of the authors were to confess, because many of them would reveal that they wanted to make such a story but had to settle on way less, rendering it as a wet dream. This reason alone could explain how it was one of the easiest 10/10s I have given to a story - and these convoluted arc are not just dumped on you like in RoT or visibly set-up like it is in Altair,  but they are being subtly foreshadowed, recontextualized and gradually built-up with several arcs in which step-by-step are getting collected thing and characters that would suddenly drop the twist that the stakes are way higher than they could have been imagined at first, packing a lot of context beneath the surface. Starting by your regular exploitation of slot games and going up to several illuminati-tier organizations engaging in psychological warfare against one another.  It also has smaller in-between arcs as a breath of fresh air to establish the high value of the grander ones with a contrast and do not undervalue them, to not give a chance to the reader to accept them as a normal but anticipate them, to not let us grow desensitized to impact.

Disadvantages: obviously the things that would be sacrificed in exchange of everything I have mentioned above are the grander establishments, the exploration of the setting and unique world-building. Yeah, we may find some “factions” in Usogui, but they may be defined as “stand-alone complex” of some sort if anything - they do have similar uniforms and agree to rules on their own, but they never declare each other as friends or basically having any other sort of attachment to each other, it's a collective individualism, which I find very fascinating, but that’s pretty much it. It is just your regular world aside from the characters that have magnetically connected fate to each other, as they want to step on each other and rise above. On top of that, lack of sabotage is directly responsible for the lack of compromise - on one hand, this is the way to get rid of the big chunk of realism in a story, but it is up the perspective and its priority, because as the RoT is centered around the dramatic realism, Usogui is the opposite, it is centered around fun, so I would declare it as an equivalent exchange. This (in)directly affects the investment and what type of story the readers may expect, but I have found the readers that nitpick about (in my opinion, naturally) that some of the characters are not dying and they survive some of the hard injuries. Of course, on one hand, I understand this complain and I would not have complained if they actually died myself, but I still find this take to be quite minor, for several reasons - 1) as I have mentioned, it is a fun oriented series and does not have to over dramatize itself; 2) they have a bit superhuman capabilities and, in parallel, a bit advanced technology that allows for some of them to survive grave injuries; 3) I think it is fine for the characters to survive, as they on their own do things that make them deserve their survival and to conclude their character arcs organically, as it would be ridiculous for every arc to end with a death; 4) character do die here, and they die a lot - yeah, the most of the one are the antagonistic towards the main character, but the author gives to the readers enough to care about them as well, so their deaths should be counted as well - so as to say, that Usogui overcompensates for its so-called shortcomings. Now the actual thing that may be a turn off for some readers and especially the ones that are not used to animanga medium - is the plausibility of the superhuman capabilities, especially when there are no supernatural system and the rule in its own fiction world to justify it and to be honest, normally I too would deem it as a flaw, so let me excuse it by myself. The reason I dislike it the fact that some of the authors just cherry pick the characters (main characters, specifically) and let them trample on another average humans that also supposed to have similar strength and wisdom (or even higher) - as an example, there is Berserk, in which Guts stands out as a warrior for no in-verse reason whatsoever (especially when there are magical rule in that universe and even they do not justify it) and is capable to not only kill hundreds of coldblooded mercenaries all alone and not even being injured, but he is also capable to overpower the horde of gigantic demons. Now this not only nullifies any sort of tension, but the fact that all of the opposing characters are so disrespected in a unnatural and forceful manner, completely undervalues the conflict from my point-of-view. Not to mention how the main characters are mere teenagers that did not even know the taste of defeat just because they have a leader who has read few books, despite the ones that oppose them are adults, thus way more experienced than them both in terms of battle experience and researched books to improve themselves - in Usogui’s case, there are no such implausible things to be found in it, hence why nothing feels cheap in it, but the opposite, it starts reeking of effortless genius (of course, I am just applying that term to praise it and do not want to say that he transcends humanity with his sheer ‘brain-power’ - just like in RoT’s case. These authors just have perspectives that I find correct and attainable by any human being). From here comes another problem that may rise in someones’ eye - yeah, the characters seem smart and it is justified, considering the standard of being a smart character in FICTION and not in real life, so please, it is just a fictional flavor that is being used properly, do not expect from an author of a manga (who is basically dedicating his/her whole life to drawing a manga, coming up with character interaction and plotting - which takes a lot of time and barely leaves free time - just like most of the other JOBS) to be some mysterious genius of gambling who will unveil the secrets and life-hacks to you just because you heard it only that this or that manga is genius. Frankly, that’s your problem, because this case is quite simple - why would an author draw an obscure manga instead of winning billions in gambles, for example? As the final touch, I would like to add some(/another) fair criticism, that stems from the low scale and even Usogui is not handling it like a champion - 1) having an almost full focus on Baku as a gambling god may rendered the story and gamble’s outcome quite predictable and thus tiresome for some readers. Sure, this is fair, but I have never been bothered by it, considering how many other characters are there to care about anyway and worry about the outcomes of their battles; nevertheless, it was delightful even for me to witness arcs that did not have Baku at all, so as to say that I do not find this as a major flaw by any means. 2) Never-ending gambles in such a low scale are a never-ending struggle for the authors as well. On one hand, there is a limitless potential to further expand more and more on everything and have a huge emphasize on everything, but on another hand, it's getting more and more difficult to be not only consistent but to be constantly fresh and innovative as well and that will take at least a single life-time of a human being and that requires ungodly amount of dedication - while the in-verse time basically stays unmoved, highlighted when compared to RoT, that has the same amount of chapters practically, and yet it spans more than 20 in-verse years. So the only ending that such a story could ever dream of was the “journey continues” that it already pulled off. 

All in all, what I'm trying to say is that Ravages isn't quite like a 'smart war story' and that it's Altair that's more like it. Ravages would be more like a 'conspiracy thriller' in the backdrop of a war (but instead of just one shady secret society in control, it's more like an illuminati civil war) and Usogui is somewhat similar by taking the “underground” (rather than grander) approach of illuminati civil war for the opposite effect, that is action - It was rather interesting to have experienced how the main character of Usogui managed to win one of the battles of wits, when the opponent was decentralizing Baku from the tricks and solely was predicting what would happened according to what Baku SHOULD have done considering his mental state and general aura, reputation of a genius, but that in itself was a trap by the main character, so as to give a lesson about how the aura could be weaponized and you rendered as prejudicial towards people (one of my favourite examples being Oberstein, the most patriotic character in the show, who is also being feared and hated by everyone in the series, because of his lack of social skills and emotions, that gives a room for suspicion to the ones around him) - RoT basically expands on this concept, as this is basically how Ravages of Time AS A WHOLE is supposed to be approached, as the narrative and characters should be decentralized from they theatrical behaviour, cause it server it is own purpose and is weaponized. Chen Mou focusing on theatricals is the same when Sun Ce used the grave of his very loyal soldier and tarnished it to raise the morale and move forward - we are supposed to be decentralized from the scheming for us to make sense as to how the morale of the soldiers is being affected. It is not being used for romanticization.