Mohammed (Mo) (not verified) — Tue, 2003-12-09 17:00
Olly,
I would agree Its immoral. However that is not the same as illegal. And highly moral guys like Olly & Mo are not in the majority in medieval fantasy settings.
I doubt if, in many lands in my campaign, anyone would blink an eye at killing goblin kids. This is not because it isn't a horrible action. I agree it is vile, but its just that I believe that in primitive and violent societies, most people will end up being bigoted racists, and their rulers will probably be the same.
One final point Olly, there are grey areas to do with survival and security. Many immoral actions may be justifiable on grounds of self defence.
Of course the clever politician will always couch his immoral actions in terms of self defence. For examlpe:
(1) Hitler claimed he invaded weak poland in self defence because they fired over the border first. yeah right !
(2) Bush and Blair actually claimed that IRAQ ravaged by 20+ years of sanctions and under continuous surveillance, was actually some kind of threat to the greatest military power the world has ever known ( sorry if any of you guys believe this, I'm not trying to be controversial ).
Anyway, I take these two examples as obvious lies, but there are occasions of genuine threat when very brutal action becomes justifiable in terms of self defence.
Olly,
I would agree Its immoral. However that is not the same as illegal. And highly moral guys like Olly & Mo are not in the majority in medieval fantasy settings.
I doubt if, in many lands in my campaign, anyone would blink an eye at killing goblin kids. This is not because it isn't a horrible action. I agree it is vile, but its just that I believe that in primitive and violent societies, most people will end up being bigoted racists, and their rulers will probably be the same.
One final point Olly, there are grey areas to do with survival and security. Many immoral actions may be justifiable on grounds of self defence.
Of course the clever politician will always couch his immoral actions in terms of self defence. For examlpe:
(1) Hitler claimed he invaded weak poland in self defence because they fired over the border first. yeah right !
(2) Bush and Blair actually claimed that IRAQ ravaged by 20+ years of sanctions and under continuous surveillance, was actually some kind of threat to the greatest military power the world has ever known ( sorry if any of you guys believe this, I'm not trying to be controversial ).
Anyway, I take these two examples as obvious lies, but there are occasions of genuine threat when very brutal action becomes justifiable in terms of self defence.
Realistic Mo