>PERSONALITY
> Think of "Pittsburg Phil" (aka Harry Strauss), William
>Quantrill, Simon Girty, Otto Skorzeny, and "Bricktop" Jackson.
>That's what the KoW guys are like.
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.
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.
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.
Apparently we have some sort of semantic difference over the word "culture." Rather than argue that point, I'll rephrase my position: the inhabitants/subjects of the KoW react to the terrible reign of terror they live under in ways that are guided by the culture they grew up in. As the KoW progresses, there are more and more young people who know no culture other than the stripped-down terror-filled experience that is daily life in KoW-occupied territory.
I like the idea that the core of the KoW is a depopulated wasteland. As one Union general said after laying waste to the Shenandoah valley, "A crow flying across would have to carry his own provisions."
I agree that the weaknesses of the KoW are primarily non-military. One weakness is the set of internal contradictions inherent in the Kingdom's non-sustainable modus operandi. A scorched earth campaign with a deep enough buffer will keep them away, but I'm thinking of ways it should be possible to exploit internal weaknesses in the kingdom. That's something I'd expect my PC's to want to do, if I ran a Fronelan campaign.
In V2 #218, Peter Metcalfe says, after engaging in exactly the sort of
speculation about the Kingdom of War which he decries as--I don't know,
unnecessary?--anyway, he decries it:
>In short: Use your (plural - not directed at anybody in particular) bloody
>imagination and quit whining about it! Don't expect Greg or Sandy to come
>around picking up your toys after you.
Uh, Pete old thing, I thought that was exactly what we WERE doing. And you and Nicky and Sandy were trying to squash the whole line of inquiry (though thankfully Sandy has now unbent somewhat).
Re: Calvinism as model for Rokarism
Ugh, yes. As a recovering Calvinist, I heartily concur in Joerg's pairing of
these two dismal philosophies. Calvinists manage to make both Christmans and
Easter into somber events. Joy is a foreign emotion to them.
Re: Primal Coffee
Thanks, whoever that was. LOL.
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