Re: Terror in war

From: Jeff Richard <richaje_at_op0irbtivEGzAESpOnflhZIupqFyNaTabsIXZ0_Aufh3VVX_4Y9rz3wnd0pb7FCxH3Ym>
Date: Wed, 22 Aug 2007 15:17:12 -0000

> Well yeah. I mean look at Gladiator, I think someone told me the
> reason that Marcus Aurelios was famous was for killing so many
> christians, thats why the christians come up with the doctrine of
> just war, but the film presents him in a sympathetic light. Leonidas
> is presented similarly in 300, but the Spartans were right bastards
> by all accounts.

Marcus Aurelius has long been famous for his "Meditations" and for continuing the Antonine Peace during his reign (although his reign was marked with external war and a terrible plague). His writings alone make him one of the more remarkable political leaders in history. He certainly persecuted Christians and committed a number of actions that we would call atrocities. Nonetheless, he can safely go down as one of the more just and principled world rulers in history.

"Right bastards" isn't how I would describe the Spartans. Obsessive and unbelievably ruthless soldiers might be better. Almost what a community protected by Humakt might look like. :) Ironically, their insistance on hoplite warfare was far more humane than the more wideranging and flexible warfare adopted by the Athenians.

>
> I guess for me Glorantha struck a heroic chord with me, and I am not
> interested in the moral ambiguity angle which I do enjoy in real
> world history. Maybe its because for me I get to roleplay these
> cultures (as GM or player) and I just don't dig on those themes.

There has always been moral ambiguity in Glorantha. Neither the Lunars nor the Heortlings are objective good or evil. They are just people. The Lunar Empire is hubristic (and doomed) but not evil. The Heortlings are the underdogs (at least initially) but they commit acts of unbelievable destruction and devastation in their efforts to free Glorantha.

Jeff