From: Sandy Petersen (sandyp@idgecko.idsoftware.com)
Date: Tue 02 Jul 1996 - 23:05:15 EEST
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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