For the previous fortnight, the smell of Hydra's Breath reeked from the ashes of the dead. Smoke still rose from their oil soaked remains as nightfall approached. \n\nAdmiring my creation's handiwork, I entertained the protests of a few New Corsican prisoners. These plebs spoke of "ethical warfare” and purported that the Hydra's Breath I was preparing and rationing into casks was cruel and unethical both in theory and in practice. They claimed what I was creating was lacking any virtue that the gods find admirable. \n\nI laughed heartily at their non-sensical bleating and reminded these Socratic imbeciles that there were only two truths in regards to the "ethics of war." First, those with power who fail to use it are fools. Second, those who fall prey to such power are deserving victims, whose complaints are whispered from charred, dying lips.\n

From Ignatius's journal

A Debate on Ethical Warfare, Part One

When dawn broke the next day, the prisoners were at it again, seeking to dissuade me in my purpose. The casks of Hydra's Breath would soon be dispatched to set fire to their kinsman in New Corsica. "All is just and virtuous for the glory of Legatus Crassus and the 19th Legion," I told them. \n\nThe casks of my handiwork sat stacked in rows, only a few feet from their holding pit. The one called Rahat appealed to my compassion and begged me to forsake my task. She pleaded with me to seek the wisdom of the gods lest my soul be torn from my body and banished to the Underworld. \n\nAnother prisoner called me a cur and warned that the retribution of the gods would be swift and just. I laughed at the lot of them!\n

A Debate on Ethical Warfare, Part Two

Damn these New Corsican prisoners! Will their tongues never cease wagging? \n\nThe Legionnaires are having a go at them with their slings. Two score times I watched stone meet bone. I smiled as the light faded from Rahat's eyes, only to have her crawl her way back from the dead. It is not I but rather the gift of this land that is cruel. She began to speak again of my cowardice and barbarism. \n\nUpon hearing her insults, I loomed over the pit like the shadow of Hades. I rolled a cask of my "immoral" concoction over the edge, setting it ablaze with my torch. \n\nThe proceeding moments of tortured screams and crackling flesh were a small price to pay for a peaceful night’s sleep.\n

An End to the Debate

The sandswept and sunscorched desert in the West, and the last known home of the Ancients

The Hydra's Breath Chapter - NWGuide Database of Lore

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