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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Chrisling" data-source="post: 405464" data-attributes="member: 6816">Re: Re: Cavalier Attitudes About Torture and MutilationElder-Basilisk,LOL.  I think most people believe in evil, I just think most people lack the conviction to say it because, y'know, it's easy to make fun of them.  I'm thick skinned.Your point about the Roman Empire is well taken.  However, in the situations about which I am talking, the PCs weren't acting under any legal authority in the first place; in fact, sometimes they were the criminals fleeing a corrupt government.Additionally, I was using the Geneva Convention as a standard of morality.  Clearly, it does not apply to most D&D games, as there is no Geneva in which to convene and the society was far more primitive in most games.However, your statement that the Geneva Convention applies only to uniformed soldiers is incorrect.  The statement that has been bandied about militias needing a sign recognizable at a distance is only a small fraction of Part 1, Article 4 of the Convention.  Other people covered by the convention include, "Inhabitants of a non-occupied territory, who on the approach of the enemy spontaneously take up arms to resist the invading forces, without having had time to form themselves into regular armed units, provided they carry arms openly and respect the laws and customs of war" and "Members of the armed forces of a Party to the conflict as well as members of militias or volunteer corps forming part of such armed forces" -- and no mention is made in that article of whether they should have uniforms or not.Furthermore, if someone is taken in battle -- regardless of them having a uniform or not -- they're to be treated as if the Convention applies to them until such a time as they've been subjected to a competent tribunal to determine their status.  Or, to quote Part 1, Article 5: "Should any doubt arise as to whether persons, having committed a belligerent act and having fallen into the hands of the enemy, belong to any of the categories enumerated in Article 4, such persons shall enjoy the protection of the present Convention until such time as their status has been determined by a competent tribunal. "It is totally true that the Geneva Convention only applies amongst signators, of course.</blockquote>

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