When she was growing up, Dolor always knew that Cheliax's problems stemmed from lawlessness. The taxes were high, yes, but people could bear them if there weren't so many bandits and monsters about, and if the tax collectors stopped skimming off the top. And all the other petty corruptions - guards tracking down pretty girls to slake their lusts instead of standing watch or dealing with crime, the local deacon who decided who to report to his superiors based on who paid him the most money... what they needed was the iron fist of authority to sort them out. She wasn't smart enough to be a wizard, but she hadn't really wanted it anyway - how could going off to the city and spending years poring over books just to end up another pathetic teacher with no influence over anyone other than children compare to the army? They were, she knew, a cut apart from the rabble that made up the guards - they battled the real dangers like demons at the wound and monsters in the forest, not just whoever had a face that annoyed the local sheriff. She would join, prove herself, and work her way up the ranks, until she was trusted by her superiors when she told them all about what had been going on here behind the government's back, and then she would go on to bring that same discipline everywhere else. 

The chelish army tended to prefer male recruits, but most women aren't nearly as strong as she was - strong enough to hike around in heavy armor with her weapons and a pack full of supplies for hours on end - and those that are as good a shot with a crossbow are even rarer. She got in, the recruiter accepted another bribe not to conscript a family now that they could make up the numbers without, and she went off to training.