If I may introduce myself, I am Yosh. I'm a fairly new mercenary, and I mostly throw knives.

On my last mission I met a Nightsoil. She assured me she was not one of the unliving, although I must say she rather looked it, even going so far as to hide her face from a troll who apparently didn't like letting the undead over his bridge into the Mittelnacht. It would have been a problem for me if I had had to cleanse the world of her taint, as she is a fellow mercenary, and also a Knight of the Land, but trying yet again (and often with great difficulty in our world of moral grey areas) to do the right thing, I find myself driven to seek the guidance of those more learned in the faith than I.

So, um, what are Nightsoil exactly, and where do we stand on them?

Also, there seem to be rather a lot of really disgusting things going on among mercenaries, like the summoning of wights for instance. (I wasn't able to find out who summoned the wight on my 3rd mission, but I'm sure it was one of my fellow mercenaries.) What am I supposed to do in that sort of situation? I mean, presumably the idea is to stay within the confines of the law...

Thanks for the tips

Yosh

You're gonna get a lot'o diff'rent ans'ers fr'm diff'rent people

You need 'tknow 'at t'lady loves ya

That's it.

So, do wha' ya feel is right. You should'a smote 'em all if ya ask me tho'.

Scooter Smith

Scooter's right! There's right and there's wrong. You know what to do in your heart....the law shouldn't come into it.

Bob Bishop

The world is a complex place, Yosh. Whether you follow the Lady of the Stars exclusively or as the representative of a pantheon, the one thing you can be sure of is that no answer will fit all situations.

If you act with love, grace and kindness, expressing your desire to protect those who cannot protect themselves, then I am confident the Lady will smile on you.

Keledrien alla Vaire

"Love, grace and kindness" - now that makes sense. I think I'll meditate on that for a while.

I'm all up for putting myself in the sorts of situations where evil needs smiting. I just wish the world were a less complex place, often.

Yosh

Yosh,

The world really isn't a complex place. Embrace the Lady and destroy evil... what could be simpler?

Bob Bishop

Indeed. Because evil is such an easy concept, as long as you commit yourself to not thinking about it very hard.

Ignatius

Ignatius, you can do better than that. I've thought about it very hard, I just always get the same answer. And I don't think respect for the law of a corrupt Empire that appoints undead and the torturers of souls to help rule it should be an undue concern to anyone, especially where respecting that law would permit evil to continue.

With that said I don't think all nightsoil are undead, unless I'm wrong, although we've met some that were. We also met some undead that weren't evil, who were minding their own business, and I didn't really have a problem with them.

Falorn

I probably can, Falorn, but what would be the point?

Tread your path as you will, Yosh. Some will agree with you, others won't.

Ignatius

Oh dear Iggy. Soundin' awfully glum.

Is it cos you were picked last for the Gobbal teams Sunsday gone?

I sorta agree though, sometimes, simplicity is the answer. You could go on for ages about right and wrongs, and different peoples ideas of right and wrongs, and some people will believe that they are definately right and cant be wrong, and some people will be unsure.

I say, pray with a pint or two of danger juice, then see how you feel. (generally, its joy and happiness... until the next mornin')

Bradley

If you do not speak, Ignatius, then they cannot listen. If you do, then they may.

Personally I would argue that the Nightsoil are unfortunate but no more likely to be evil than any other folk. The taint of undeath which lingers around them lessens day by day.


Evensong Moriquendi

"Is it cos you were picked last for the Gobbal teams Sunsday gone?"

Yes - indeed - that is why.

You are, as ever, the saint of perspicacity.

Ignatius

What? I'm a saint of sweating? Nice.

Bradley

I personally think that the empress has done a terrible thing by creating the nightsoil. These are people that are denied the peace and tranquility enjoyed in death. It's not their fault though...it's the empire's fault.

Ignatious...thinking is what lets corruption and temptation in. Faith is what keeps us true.

Bob Bishop

Really?

You ain't right wit' 'hat!

We 'av free will an' all 'hat so we can think!

Scooter

I guess that in wanting to do the right thing I don't want to:-

- get outlawed, hence not be able to do anything effectual to help anyone at all (I'm not very good at subterfuge)
... (is it really doing the right thing to go out with a bang of righteousness before you've made much difference to anything?)
- kill people who are less sinful than the horrendously evil enemy they're going to help me kill
- kill people who are only mildly or moderately sinful and whose lives still have value
- kill so many people that all I can think or dream about is killing people
- somehow start a war in which lots of innocent people may die (unless it really can't be helped)

However, isn't it (at least generally) true that the abominations of undeath are trapped in an awful world of suffering caused by their own evil, and are actually better off when we smite them?

Yosh

You are asking all the right questions, which suggests to me that you will know the right answer in a given situation. There is no hard and fast rule - at least not to my mind, although others would disagree.

The only thing I would say is that you shouldn't worry about being outlawed. There is an important difference between holding back because it is the right thing to do, or because it protects other people, and holding back only because you are worried about the consequences for yourself.

Ignatius

P.S. Bob, I do not know who told you that maxim, but I consider it as wrong as it is possible to be.

That's what makes us all different...that's why I love life.

When given a choice there's always a right and a wrong...your head often tries to trick your heart though. That's why I said what I said.

Bob

It is worth noting that she didn't create them. She's merely been responsible for removing more of the undead taint away of the last few years; trying to give them more life and ease their suffering. That on the surface doesn't seem to be a bad thing.

I've met goodly nightsoil, and I've met down right evil ones. My feeling is we should judge them just as we judge men; the wicked die (or are, in rare cases, redeemed), the good live.

Aurora

Redemption is a conundrum isn't it... you can't exactly say that the wicked deserve to be redeemed (they deserve three feet of blessed steel through the abdomen), and yet, it seems right to help them achieve redemption, if you can.

Yosh