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Old 11-16-2015, 02:56 AM   #48
Icelander
 
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Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Iceland*
Default Re: [Mass Combat] Discipline, Law, Order and Preventing Atrocities

Quote:
Originally Posted by SRoach View Post
I don't remember the number, or the source, for our world, but I remember reading that the same, small, percentage of people will avoid committing a crime even at need as will commit a crime even if there is no practical reward. The larger percentage was malleable based on the circumstances.
The PCs accept that there will be looting of small, valuable items. That doesn't concern them all that much, as most of the valuable loot belongs to the enemy anyway and is thus legitimate booty. Looting just means that the soldier doesn't report the capture and tries to sell it himself, keeping the full price for himself (and maybe his cronies), instead of reporting it to his superior and having the accountants of the mercenary organisation tally it, issuing the soldier who captured it a small part of the total value, as well as dividing another part of it among his regiment.*

The atrocities they want to discourage will mostly be the sort that aren't committed for gain or out of rational motives, but happen because confused, tired, angry and scared men react badly when under the stress of war. Risking death in order to rape terrified slave girls as soon as the army takes the city, instead of waiting a day or two for the siege to be over and the quartermasters to establish brothels in the city, is hardly rational. Neither is massacring a family of peasants in order to loot their hovel of stuff you couldn't give away. But there will be those who do both, if not restrained by peer pressure, prevented by officers or blocked by provosts.

*Most of the total value, or half, goes to the government for whom they are fighting. Another large part goes to the owners of the mercenary group, i.e. PCs and their closet allies. About a quarter is divided between the soldiers, with ca 1/24th of the value of the captured booty going to the soldier who captured it. Ransom goes by the same rules, but even in cases where prisoners are not ransomed, a bonus is paid out to a soldier who takes living prisoners and does not mistreat them. Having the Mulhorandi accept Purple Reign, the mercenary group led by the PCs, as honourable foes with whom bargains may be struck, is extremely valuable. Ransoming noble prisoners back to the Pharoah has so far yielded millions of gold pieces.

Quote:
Originally Posted by SRoach View Post
How strongly do your troops follow Oaths? Would a required Oath of "I will refrain from rape and pillage upon those we conquer on pain of being found False before my gods" have any effect on these people? Becoming just another brick in the wall, to quote a certain British band, might be a strong motivator to stay on the straight and narrow. Assuming, that is, someone thought to require such an oath.
Many soldiers might take such an oath seriously. Others would not. On the other hand, being able to administer an oath requires a position of nearly unlimited formal authority over someone. Kings and nobles accept oaths from their knights and men-at-arms, but just volunteering to fight for someone doesn't give him any authority to impose oaths on you.

The Purple Reign mercenaries are long-serving professionals* who pride themselves on being not just fierce warriors, which is an epitath almost of derison among them, but on being skilled soldiers. They swear an oath to their employer, by any god they choose**, to follow the laws of the company, to obey their superiors, to keep faith and to observe discipline. But those men are mostly members of a hereditary class of professional military men, tend to be combat veterans even before joining and their training in military skills*** is about as intensive as that for modern soldiers.

But it's not so much the highly trained and loyal mercenaries that the PCs are worried about. If nothing else, the mercenaries have been with them long enough for the very high Reaction bonuses that most of the PCs have to work on them, predisposing even the most cynical of them to view their leaders with awe and admiration. It's the local allies and the pirates that are going to be the problem. They will have cultural expectations of warfare that doesn't feature any mercy for the conquered and they have not spent much time with the PCs before this.

But the PCs have no authority to demand oaths from these men. Well, from a part of the pirates, possibly, though it would be resented by many of them. But none at all from the rest of the pirates, not the gansters and rebel slaves from Messemprar, and certainly not from soldiers of Untheri nobles and military commanders who are lent to this operation. In fact, the PCs have no formal authority to subject such troops to any disciplinary proceedings at all, being probably required by the strict letter of the law to report any alleged crimes to their formal superiors and asking them to try the accused under Untheri military law.

But since Untheri law was ossified and exception-riddled to the point of unusable complexity and arbitrary unfairness centuries ago, not to mention that large factions within the country have declared it invalid with the fall of Gilgeam fifteen years ago, the PCs have no intention of doing that. They'll try any accused men, no matter what their faction, under simple and sensible Purple Reign law, and punish in the field. Hopefully, success will excuse everything.

This is one reason I need to estimate this carefully and not just have it be unimportant background information. Executions among certain units that belong to other factions in Unther are going to have repercussions for all future plans in the region.

*There is a variable signing bonus tied to the length of enlistment. Most sign on for a full 25 years, with the minimum length of service being four years.
**As long as one of the chaplains confirms the existence of such a god and that an oath sworn in its name would be binding.
***While there is some weapons training, in general, recruits are expected to be capable with sword, buckler, spear and several other basic military weapons before joining. They train in formation fighting, unit tactics and a variety of speciality skills for their branch of service. Crossbowmen learn the most of camouflage, orienteering and small unit tactics; caliver men learn new formations, as well as how to operate a new weapon, how to load, fire and fix bayonets; pikemen focus heavily on formations and disciplined ranks and marines learn to use a magelock caliver, as well as training in amphibious operations.


Quote:
Originally Posted by SRoach View Post
P.S. How did I go so long without finding out there was actually a RP system that took "solitaire" play into account?
I think it's more a matter of play style than RPG system.
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