It's worse than that. There are actually magicians who can shield you from the ill effects of your own oath-breaking. Naturally, this is considered evil as all get-out, and no one admits to doing it.
Martin natters on:
>[Humakti] worship the God who possesses and used Death. Their ceremonies
>are grim in the extreme and must fill a man with a cold sense of detatchement
>from the world around him. Imagine the High Holy Day when they see the finding
>of Death, feel its touch in their hand and experience the power in weilding it.
>This happens to these men yet we expect them to maintain some sense of modern
>day morality about what is right and wrong?
Oof. I recommend reading Tales #5's article, "A Matter of Honour," and realize that there are many ways of worshiping Death. Also see my letter in Tales #6 for yet another, a more mystical approach.
>Here's an example: I was talking to a soldier who served in Bosnia and he told
>me about a group of the SAS (Specal Air Service, 1st grade elite British
Special
>Forces) in a pub in Bosnia. He tried to talk to them. They took his beers but
>replied in a monosylabic fashion. He said, and this is a veteran soldier who'd
>been under fire speaking, that these men scared him. His closest movie analogy
>for them was the "Terminator".
Maybe your friend was a twit, or the soldiers had some other reason for their attitude. I know that a large percentage of U.S. special forces soldiers are highly articulate, often very spiritually-aware, people. (Sorry if this annoys the pacifists out there.) Rather than being dead inside, they are very much alive inside. Not to say that they wouldn't be scary in person, but for reasons other than inhumanity.
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