Giant Immortal "the 300"
Do Revolutionary Armies still have a moral obligation not to destroy the people they free?
Throughout history there has always been an attempt to glorify the invincible warrior state. From the Persian Immortals to the glorified Spartans, the fear of every peaceful nation and people is the overwhelming power of a hyper advanced military machine.
Imagining Horror--The Rising Super-Soldier
What would you do when this army came promising freedom?
They feel no pain. Nothing hurts them or slows them down. They don't sleep. They don't eat. They just keep coming. They know no mercy or morals. They don't negotiate.
The only way to stop them is to kill them; and according to the myth that surrounds them--you can't.
The freedom they deliver to you is from the pain they inflict, the relief that comes with death.
The Islamic Experiments
The Nizari Ismailis were a Shia splinter group that formed around the time of the first crusades. By the 11th century this group made murder and terror holy virtues within their brand of Islam. By the 12th century, in the west they were known as the Assassins, the followers of the Old Man of the Mountain. The named derived from the Arabic word "hashishi" which means people of lax morals or rabble.
They were renowned for running headlong into death laughing, and even when they were mortally wounded never slowing down. They knew no bounds, just murder. They spread throughout the Islamic world and made spectacles out of the death of their enemies.
The Islamic world answered the question of whether jihadists allegedly drugged to fearless stupor were making holy war or political murder. From the time of Saladin they were hunted as lawless murderers and heretics.
The 'Faithful Brothers of Basra' were the Ikhwan as Safa, the 'Sincere Brethren', a group of Ismaili (a Shiah subgroup) Muslims whose great tenth-century AD work was their Rasa'il (Letters), an encyclopedic undertaking that attempted to make available the knowledge of the time, including what we would call esoteric or metaphysical knowledge. They considered themselves heirs to the most ancient wisdom of Pythagoras and Hermes, which the Sufis also say is identical with their tradition." The Jewish Encyclopedia 1901
Their beliefs were uncompromisingly Western.
Christian Europe's Response
The crusading kings of Europe were enthralled with the idea of re-creating invincible, murderous warriors for themselves. In the 12th century, the only truly successful crusade happened in part due to this.
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