| From: | Jared Leisner <leisnj48@****.CIS.UWOSH.EDU> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | [OT] Aztech (Ok, it might be long) |
| Date: | Sun, 10 Jan 1999 22:01:04 -0600 |
[snip]
>From what I know (and this is not extensive I must admit) of the
>Aztecs they were a culture very much geared towards warfare, and the
>attitude towards dead was very similar to that of the Samurai.
Ok, I've got to come to the rescue of the Aztechs here. Ever here "Geography
is Everything"? No? Prolly cause I just said it. Look at where the Aztechs
lived, there were two ways to far: use the debris in the swamp (chinapas
technique, I believe) or hack'n'slash'n'burn the forest and farm in the
ashes. Both of these ways had one definate problem: they could only support
a limited population. Now, the Aztechs had a specific way of farming, using
familiy-run communal farms. But, again, once the population got so big and
th brothers had to move off and start their own family, which reduced the
amt of land availible, which couldn't support the increased population.
Thus, you conquer a nearby city-state and make them pay a tribute (money and
goods) to support your population. BUT, it wasn't just kill-kill-kill-kill.
Most of the time, the ruler of the city-state would instruct his merchants
to ask some subtle questions and help devise a plan to replace the current
ruling body. So, one day, the populous would wake up with a new guy on the
throne, who says, "We have you surrounded and some of your people in
custody...So, pay tribute to us or we kill them and a lot of the rest of
you." Sometimes the threat wasn't even needed.
>Almost everyone had to serve in the armed forces and the glorification
>of warfare combat was present throughout all forms of culture.
Actually, /everyone/ did. :)
All males were trained for warefare, although the commoners went to poorer
schools and were in the 'reserves' by default.
>Furthermore the the most common way to rise in rank and distinguish
>yourself was in combat by taking prisoners (kids could call
>themselves adults once they captured someone in combat).
Again, true. Little quirk: Males had to grow a really long ponytail off of
their head until they caught a prisoner in battle. If you didn't ditch that
soon, no girl would even look at you, unless it was to laugh.
>It's very clear to see that this habit alone would perpetuate an almost
>constant state of war with anyone around them, apart from the fact
>that in order to become a successful king you also had to have a
>series of suitable impressive won battles on your name. Nothing
>seriously wrong so far, except that this simply cannot work forever,
>you either run out of enemies, or overextend yourself and the empire
>collapses.
Again, true, but remember that a single battle could wipe out 5000 people,
easily. Their battles consisted of two club-wielding groups running at each
other. And if yer paying tribute to someone, you can always try to shuffle
off the mantle of 'punk'.
>The cute bits start here: The poor POW's were marched up to the
>temples, received open heart surgery, were kicked down the stairs,
>and then chopped up and eaten by the capturing warrior's family.
There's a bit more to it than that. To oversimply it like that is saying
christians gnaw on bread and take a slug of alcohol.
>Special holidays involved, you guessed, more sacrifices. Kids,
>slaves, and of course a whole load of animals. To atone for a
>crime/offence the offender wore the skin of a sacrificial victim
>for a whole month. Ritual self mutilation, bloodletting, pain,
>most of the Aztec culture was centralized around the concept
>of sacrify and combat.
That goes back to the belief of their responsibility to give strength to the
gods in their fight against the darkness. As for you last statement, that
almost sounds like body-piercing and tattooing. That may sound
self-righteous, but maybe I'm just trying to get the Aztechs to be seen in a
more impartial light.
>Now they might have had astounding abilities in every other field,
>but it was hardly a healthy stable culture.
True, but are any of today's nations a healthy, stable culture?
Inter-faction warring, possible destruction of half the globe...all that fun
stuff.
>Even without the Spanish it would have not lasted for much longer,
>you can only rule that long by fear.
Ok, this I gotta nail: Conformists aren't ruled by fear, they are proud to
serve their city-state any way they can.
>It was not for nothing that so many of the conquered tribes were very
>willing to help out the Spanish. So, yes, I can see why they choose
>Aztlan as a place for Darke and his buddies.
They weren't willing to help out Spanish. They were bound by their heritage
and religion to follow the "god" Cortes. Many didn't want to (you wouldn't
believe how hard it was for Cortes to get a guide, and when he did, they
took him on a trip over five times longer than it should have been).
[snip snip]
>Like I said before: Evil is in the eye of the beholder. I that this
>black and white, evil and good stuff is better off in a "pure"
>fantasy setting, not in a realistic worldview.
Not sure what you mean, but evil is in the eye of the beholder, sure. Anyone
here not think Aztechnology is evil? *smirk*
The Aztechs, however, were /not/ evil. In some ways, their society was
better than ours (yes, that is an opinion).
-Jared Leisner
