Re: Conscripts

From: Sandy Petersen <sandyp_at_idgecko.idsoftware.com>
Date: Tue, 2 Jul 96 15:05:15 -0500


Joerg B.
>MOB's previews on Soldiers of the Red Moon had characters almost like
>conscripts, i.e. country boys with little or no other choice but the
>Imperial troops.

        Certainly in ancient times peasants, or poor citydwellers, or fifth sons, etc. had little choice but to join the army, but this did not make them conscripts. The idea of a mass army is pretty modern.

Sandy writes:
>I do not believe that true conscription has been invented
>anywhere in Glorantha.

Jim Chapin
>But I think that various forms of "forced" volunteering went on.

        In a sense, every town's militia is a sort of forced volunteering, but I think that shanghai-ing is only a feature for folks of professional skills. Historically, the only men who were frequently kidnapped for war were 1) really tall men (in Frederick's Prussia; to join his Grenadiers), 2) artillerymen (mainly back when a cannoneer was a civilian contractor), and 3) sailors. Probably others were, too, but these are all I can think of.

        Of course, in Glorantha, with magical powers rife, there are excellent other reasons to enforce enlistment of certain folks. I expect that Mystic Vision-using sorcerers go through all Pelorian villages every few years and haul off every common-born person who seems fairly athletic and has a POW of 18. The Empire has use for such men (and women). Whole regiments could be formed.

>I wonder, Sandy, about the KOW of your description. If they don't have
>true conscription (in their case Universal Military Service) what do
>they have?

        There's no other job description in the KoW -- you don't get "conscripted" into being a warrior anymore than a Kralori peasant is "conscripted" into being a rice farmer -- neither has any choice, but that's life. We're perhaps getting too technical here.

        The lack of conscription in Glorantha doesn't mean that they are somehow hindered in building huge armies by lack of imagination. They don't _need_ conscription. They don't need conscription any more than they need universal literacy, or electric outlets, or parliaments.

        In the classic Orlanthi culture, every adult male is a warrior. This doesn't mean that they're conscripted. They serve (without pay) for a limited period of time each year, and all of them pick up their swords and fight when the clan is attacked. There _are_ full-time warriors in the tribe, but that's their job, the only thing they do.

        Amongst the ancient Greeks, all men were citizen-soldiers. All were supposed to have their gear, and all mustered to fight in the short but bloody summertime wars common to that time. They were volunteers, in a sense, not draftees.

        Of course, you can _have_ a mass army without conscription (just look at the American Civil war -- almost all volunteer). But I don't think that's really happened either.

        Of course, it's possible that I'm quibbling over semantics, but it seems to me that conceptually and actually there is a clear difference between a Viking and a WWI French poilu.

Sandy P.


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