>Lee R. Insley
>>There is something that has bothered me for a long time about Glorantha
>and that is the use of Broos by Prax >tribesmen. Does anyone have a good
>explaination for this?
> It's easy - like everyone else in Glorantha, the nomads allow
>political and military needs to take precedence over religious scruples.
>Look at it this way - if you use the broos as allies in your battle,
>you're probably going to win. Regardless of whether you win or lose,
>there's _still_ going to be broos in Prax, right? So you may as well get
>some benefit out of it. Of course, you might try to betray and slaughter
>them after the battle (but the broos usually beat you to the betrayal).
> Gloranthan humans are no less short-sighted and selfish than
>Earth ones.
I agree with the comment about over looking religious scruples in general (many Sartar clans do this with the Lunars), but Broos (pure Chaos) are an entirely different matter. I could buy almost any culture using Chaos, but not one that has a fairly large and strong Storm Bull worship. I tried to come up with a RW analogy the equivalent of Storm Bull worshippers fighting with Broos on their side (in the case, I cannot believe the end justifies the means to the Storm Bullists). The best I could come up with is something on the order of having Jewish sects hire Nazis agents to subvert and to attack other Jewish sects. I just don't think it would have happened. Yeah, individuals may side with/use the Nazis (Broos), but to be accepted as a 'norm' and common practice is stretching it (IMO).
I can (almost) buy off on the use of Broos at Moonbroth (desparate measures and all), but to use them commonly in tribal/clan warfare - I don't see it. I would think that if one tribe/clan used Broos in this manner, several other tribes/clans would 'gang' up on whoever used Broos. It would be the perfect 'holy' crusade. The only way it would work is if the Broos were 'hired' in secret and were used independently as raiders and/such. Even then, I would see this as a very rare occurance. Wouldn't the god Storm Bull send spirits of reprisal against any of his worshippers that condoned this kind of use of Chaos?
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