We didn't do the bad things in WWII by and large. We set up no death camps. The US detention camps were not praiseworthy, but they were far above the German concentration camps. Even the Russians, with the most vindictiveness of all (and rightly so), in the last months of the war began to teach their soldiers that not all Germans were bad, and that it was just their leaders (this in direct contrast to earlier propaganda from 1941-1944).
We did not fall into the abyss in WWII. That doesn't mean we couldn't have as a nation. I personally believe that on an individual basis, some of us did. Bomber Harris, for instance. And MacArthur, with his vindictiveness towards certain defeated Japanese officers regardless of actual war crime guilt.
>The argument that the Cold War would turn the West into an
analogue >of the Soviet system was a commonplace
Again a possibility not realized, but I think still potential. We did not become like unto the Soviets, but we also did not get pressed by them all that profoundly. Soviet power expanded relatively slowly, and they had occasional setbacks. While the situation overall looked grim at times, most of the clash remained economic and political, with the fighting taking place in obscure fringe areas via footspaw troops -- _never_ between Soviets and Americans directly, at least not admittedly so. This mitigated our tendency to become like unto them. But even so, there were trends in this direction -- McCarthyism was spawned as a reaction to Communism. Had there been no communist "threat", Tailgunner Joe could not have done what he did. The FBI kept tabs on a huge number of inoffensive American citizens. The head of the CIA was crazed by the Russian threat and covert operations began a decline into barbarism, as exemplified by Operation Phoenix. More than one federal employee was labeled "untrustworthy" on the basis of a report that said merely "Have uncovered no evidence that this man was _not_ a communist."
All in all, we weren't all that villainous. But the warning signs were present.
In any case, there are certainly examples in the past of nations imitating another to sink with them in evil. The classic Biblical case is when the Hebrews demanded an end to the rule of the judges in favor of having a king.
>As for plagues, there seems to be no extant Gloranthan example of
>biological warfare between humans
Actually there are such examples -- the largest-scale case of this sort is the deadly plague which was spread (and cured) by Gbaji's Riddlers in the First Age. Another case is the use by Praxians of the Goddess Malia to send spirits of disease among their enemies and their enemies' herds. Such usage is not restricted to Prax, of course.
The reason that little biological warfare is seen on Glorantha is the same reason that little biological warfare was seen on Earth. During most of history, no one had the ability to harness the forces of disease. This is as true for Glorantha as of Earth. Certainly a nation could try to mobilize the Malia plaguemasters to assist their cause. BUT, how far are these individuals controllable? Would you really trust them? If they get a tad too much power, won't they present a bigger threat to your nation than the foeman?
Think on this. A Malia plaguemaster is able to spread disease at a swifter rate than an equally-skilled healer can cure it. A Malia plaguemaster can "stock up" on disease spirits over a length of time, casting Summon, regaining the spell at a ritual, then recasting it again and again, until the Summon spell has enabled him to acquire a large number of disease spirits. He can then release them all at once.
A healer cannot store up his anti-disease spells in the same manner (though he can try to save a number of healing spirits if he has binding devices for them all -- he can't just store them in his non-existent fetch, tho). So when the plague hits, there are many more disease spirits around than there are anti-disease spells to cure them (assuming the healer is no more proficient than the Malian). In addition, all of the Malians, initiates and plaguemasters alike, can spread at least one disease by contact (having no doubt received the Malian inoculation). The healers' initiates can only cure disease by the use of a tedious skill or a one-use spell.
Also, since the Malians are on the "offensive", they can choose when and where they wish to strike with their plagues -- assembling a number of plaguemasters in secret in a single city, for example. By the time the healers can summon additional help to the beset city, the plague there already has a major head start.
Any nation wishing to use disease as a weapon in Glorantha is presumably fearful of what would happen in their _own_ lands if Malia got too much of a headway (esp. with government support). Soon everyone would have to worship Malia or die. One can only hope that this general attitude will persist. A war fought by disease would be a very grim thing.
Sandy P.
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