War and Peace

From: Gianfranco Geroldi <giangero_at_yahoo.com>
Date: Tue, 23 Jul 2002 05:54:54 -0700 (PDT)


as for war:

The Lunars have a standing professional army, while the Orlanthi rely
much more heavily on militia. The Orlanthi have a small core of
professional warriors, but not nearly enough to fight the Lunar Empire. The
really big battles of the Hero Wars must require Orlanthi farmers to take up their spears.

Thus, if the Lunars want to wreak havoc in Dragon Pass they can stage
campaigns during planting and harvest times. Even if the Orlanthi win
the battles they will loose the war. The Lunars can return after
starvation sets in and offer food to those who worship at the
Seven Mothers temple, or sell it to the clans and tribes in exchange
for their land - creating Sartarite sharecroppers. To the Lunars this
policy would seem rational, but to the Orlanthi it would be viewed as a
despicable evil the likes of which they can hardly conceive. What sort of monsters attack at planting and harvest? It just
isn't done!

Nasty, very nasty.

~Kevin

Of course, but keep in mind that war, as many other thing (among them ceremonies and agriculture), is not a perfectly rationale businness.

I mean: a perfect plan, by the Lunars, can be mucked up by ill-command or a little delay which proves disastrous or a mis-reading of the correct moment to attack. Zulus beat British several times despite British technological and logistical and professional superiority.

A Lunar army could just interpret reaping as a fixed period, but maybe the godi decide when to start or how long to reap according to weather or to divination (which should coincide in heortling mind). If the Lunar misinterpret godi's decisions, they could make an attack in the worst time, despite any rational plan!

as for Peace:

Julian, the difference between men and beasts, ultimately, IMO resides in the field of faith and category field, not in the rational-philosophical or moral or natural field.
You can't say that a crippled at mind man at birth or a serial killer is intrinsecally more intelligent or more gifted or more worth of respect than an animal, biologycally, ethically or philosophically speaking.

Yet the question is: do you consider him a man or not and which rights/responsibilities do you recognize are his own. The rest is matter for mere speculation (and digest-ion).

Ciao,
Gian



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