IMAGINE The Kingdom of War's enemies gather great armies together, and move them to each other's territories so they do not hesitate to do what they must. 100 miles from the KoW border the armies begin to ravage whatever lands are between them and the KoW, burning everything including the plains and forests, then drive on to the KoW and thoroughly sociopathic and suicidal by this time expend themselves in a orgiastic slaughter of their enemies and themselves. The greatest Brithini and Seshnelan zaburs and holars and the vast armies are destroyed, and many of the KoW's finest die as well. Within the KoW this is viewed as a defeat, and the KoW's myth of invincibility is no more.
After this horrible action the leaders of the west, Seshnegi talars, rapidly aging Brithini Talars, and the others have now become just like the leaders of the KoW. They realize that martial power is not the ability to kill your enemy, but the will to sacrifice your own people to defeat your enemy, even if the hard-won victory is not total. The idea of "total war" against normal enemies, previously reserved for wars against chaos, becomes entrenched in Glorantha.
Note that heavy stuff follows. This is definitely ultraviolent material, so if you are squeamish then I'd advise skipping to the next message.
WHAT THE WARLORD SAYS, ETC... I think the idea of sacrificing your own to defeat your enemies is the piece of the big picture that was invisible in Mark Smylie's KoW pieces. That, and the jarring references to the War Machine. I really think that Mostali are the only gloranthan group that ought to be going on and on about machines. The "war machine" is an industrial metaphor, and I wouldn't expect people in an ancient or even high medieval culture to grok it.
I'd rather see something truly frightful instead of this endless prattling about machines. Perhaps a casual reference to the time that the pre-teen neophyte warrior was told that he'd have to kill his own mother to become a full member of the army, and he gladly killed the woman who was identified to him. Or a mention of a scapegoat ceremony for some ill-defined purpose in which the warriors draw straws and the one with the short straw gets tortured to death with the death of a thousand cuts, every one of his comrades being required to use the scalpel on him, and probably rape him too. Of course if anyone screws up and kills him before the ceremony is over they get to take the sacrifice's place. Or a tie-in to beliefs about True Names and the new warrior has to kill anyone who would know his True Name so it can't be used to take away his magical power to wage war. That would include, apart from his mother, the midwife, perhaps a sibling or several, and other people. That might explain both the frightful devastation that the KoW wreaks on its own people and the invincibility of its armies.
In short, the write-up needs a clearer understanding of the nature of human evil. I'd recommend you watch _Goodfellas_ and _The Usual Suspects_. These movies are frightening in a way that the write-ups are not. Glen Cook's books about the Black Company also have a good understanding of human evil and what is required to combat it. I can't recommend them highly enough.
whoah!
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