Martin Crim
>This is the only part of Sandy's bit which didn't mean anything to
>me. Otto Skorzeny was a Wehrmacht commando, right? None of the
>other names rings even a faint bell.
Sorry. PITTSBURG PHIL was a hit man for Murder Inc. He was probably the most callous murderer ever known, and generally didn't even know the name of the people he killed. He murdered between 100 and 1000 people (no one knows how many -- only 50-60 were ever proven, but it is certain this was only a fraction of the total). He failed on only one job ever (and no, that _wasn't_ the job that led to his being caught). His personality was just like what you'd expect.
WILLIAM QUANTRILL was a Confederate guerrilla leader who fought in Missouri during the Civil War. He took no prisoners, freely slew civilians, and was incredibly hard to beat. The regular Confederacy despised him, but could do nothing to curb him. He sacked a town in Kansas, killing hundreds of civilians. One book explores the fate of his men after the war, and it turns out that practically ever single western bad man in the entire Wild West either served with Quantrill, or was taught the ways of outlawry by one of Quantrill's men. Jesse James, the Younger brothers, the Daltons, etc. All owe their existence to Quantrill.
SIMON GIRTY was a renegade American who joined up with the Indians and led them on many raids and massacres. He drank the blood of his victims, took great pleasure in scalping, and proved an effective leader, though he generally went too far even for Indians on vengeance raids. He was notoriously tough in hand-to-hand combat, and a dead shot. He did not die in battle. There ain't no justice.
OTTO SKORZENY was indeed a Wehrmacht commando. He was huge physically, and performed several impressive missions, such as rescuing Mussolini, kidnapping Admiral Horthy's son, and masterminding the German plan to dress up as American soldiers to sow confusion in the Battle of the Bulge. He probably wasn't a sociopath like the others in my list, but he was certainly an effective soldier.
BRICKTOP JACKSON was a legendary termagant of old New Orleans who killed several people during her life. Her story is quite astonishing, but a little long for the Digest. Anyone who wants to get it from me, send an e-mail.
Sandy again:
> I believe that the KoW men, by and
>large, have traded in their humanity and that the normal activities
>that pleasure Homo sapiens are not theirs. All are sociopaths.
Martin again
>OK, I can see that. This, coupled with the need to replace
>battlefield losses, means that they have a way of CREATING
>sociopaths. A ritual of "Remove Conscience"? Rigorous training?
>Or is it good enough to stay alive in the KoW army to fake it?
That >might explain the odd act of mercy, requiring (according to
Sandy) >the death penalty.
In the first place, yes, I think it's enough to fake it. The odd act of mercy probably only requires the death penalty if it hampers, ever so slightly, the military operation.
Note that we know very well how to create sociopaths. The world has been doing it more or less involuntarily for millenia. Most big-city American policemen find themselves slowly sliding down that path as they experience constant brutality and horror, combined with frequent fear for one's life. Now, American cops rarely become true sociopaths, because they _do_ get to have a family life, the camaraderie of the other police, etc. But they do have a very high rate of suicide and alcoholism, no doubt because they sense the unwelcome changes taking place within themselves.
The same process is seen within organized criminal gangs in the U.S. and elsewhere, in an even more accelerated pace than cops suffer. Ditto for many long-term prisoners in U.S. prisons.
The einsatzgruppen in Russia had a policy of forcing regular Wehrmacht soldiers to come with them on partisan sweeps, so that the regulars would share "complicity" (their word, not mine). The camp guards and einsatzgruppen executioners suffered from personality disintegration, for obvious reasons. Once you get used to killing people, so it doesn't affect you any more, what's left of your soul?
I think that the KoW has perfected a combination of training and experience to "harden" their soldiers.
End of Glorantha Digest V2 #224
WWW material at http://hops.wharton.upenn.edu/~loren/rolegame.html
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