Orlanthi Honour

From: SimonPhipp_at_aol.com
Date: Thu, 27 Jun 1996 18:24:36 -0400


Peter Maranci:
> I need to decide the moral approach of Orlanthi towards Lunars
>during occupation. Ideas would be appreciated. The situation:
>
>[Description of Orlanthi PCs ambushing various Lunars]

In my campaign, anyone slaying a Lunar soldier or official causes 10 people from his clan or tribe to be slain, or 20 people from the local clan or tribe if the murderers cannot be identified. The murderers are clearly held responsible by the authorities and are given the chance to give themselves up in which case they are executed. This makes such killings fairly rare, or should make characters think twice about such actions.

However, in a war of attrition against an occupying force, is ambush wrong? The Resistance in France or the Partizans in Yugoslavia thought nothing about ambushing German troops - was this wrong? The British were driven out of Kenys by a campaign of terror and ambushes - was this wrong?

In my opinion, Orlanthi law only applies amongst Orlanthi - when applied to anyone else, they have no relevance. So ambushing Lunars who do not belong to your clan, tribe or kingdom is quite acceptable. However, ambushing Lunar converts from your own tribe would be murder.

As a GM, I had an NPC show a Wind Lord PC a family of Lunar farmers where the men had been castrated and killed, the women raped and mutilated by Orlanthi patriots. All he said was "they should have killed everyone".

Also, who says that Orlanthi are honourable? What about Orlanth the Thief, Orlanth the Murderer, Orlanth Kinslayer? Are these honourable things? Remember the murder of Yelm - Yelm walks onto the field with his papier mache ceremonial armour, his cardboard shield, his little bow and arrows with rubber stoppers on the end and his bendy spear when Orlanth comes along with his iron greatsword and cuts him in two. Where is the honour in this?


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