It takes as true the legend that Plutarch wrote about, of the Sacred Band of Thebes, the single greatest fighting force of the classical age. The Band was comprised of 150 pairs of male lovers: the strength of the army deriving from the strength of the bond between each lover, as well as the prospect of shame if a soldier should show cowardice in front of his beloved. Plutarch doesn’t mention what happened when a soldier died. Army takes as its starting point the refusal by its protagonist, out of love and grief, to replace his fallen lover and make the army whole.