Prospectors show attributes of both categories. They are smart, sneaky, sly, and skilled like warriors. However, they are also crazed, lustful, angry at the world, infected with gold lust, and destroy everything in their path. Prospectors are more complex characters then you thought!
-Peter "Ol' Pete" Barth
6 comments:
I'm gonna go with Pillager on this one. I think the anger, destruction, and gold fever justify a Pillager Classification.
But your description brings up a good point: Skill. Skill usually does flag a Warrior classification, but what we need to consider is the type of skill. For example, Zombies are very skilled at building large armies, and Pirates are very skilled at swinging on things and rowing. But they are both classic examples of Pillagers...
Therefore, I think skill should not be a signifier of either group due to its wide range of application.
In response to you're post, Trey, I'd like to correct myself. I used the general term skill...my mistake. I realize now that....prospectors posses skills, although they are very specific.
For instance, when venturing into the local miner's camp, the prospector often shows extreme skill in bartering, bar-fighting, sponsoring prostitution, etc. He uses these...miner-camp skills, as I will call them, in order to hide his real motives. You see, most prospectors actually lack the skill to find much gold, so they must snatch the necessary items from trading posts.
So, I recognize my mistake, and apologize for the inconvinience to the reader. However, I wonder, can anyone argue that Prospectors belong to the Warrior class?
I will be brief.
1. We have posited that the act or necessity of defense is an integral function of being a warrior.
2. We must consider the nature of the Prospector’s relationship with nature, perhaps specifically his donkey/mule.
3. The prospector most likely has erotic relations with said donkey/mule.
4. The donkey/mule is strong.
5. Therefore the Prospector must surely have to defend himself in the act of sexual intercourse.
How do we handle such isolated instances in day to day life where the pillager must defend himself?
Perhaps the pillager (Prospector in this case) simply looks at defensive acts in one way only: the best defense is a good offense. Having said this it seems many warriors often focus on attack in order to defend.
This thought has led me to many others concerning the nature of both the Warrior and Pillager—but I must refrain until later—for we must be careful in our discussion to avoid issuing grand statements regarding the nature of both the warrior and the pillager until we have encountered a larger range of both types.
You bring up a good point about defense. Surely in any combat situation, the participants continually alternate between both attack and defense; such is the nature of warfare.
However, we must consider the broader use of the terms attack and defense. One must always defend their self during combat. But what I question is the overall trajectory of their intentions. Is their campaign fueled by greed and desire to take? Or do they fight to sustain a kingdom, a lifestyle, etc?
A prospector attacks nature. He destroys the wilderness he encounters along his feverish and crazed path towards a golden wealth. Yet, the combat in which Prospectors most frequently attack probably occurs while defending their claim.
Is it possible, as Blake has asked, that certain characters move between a state of Warrior and Pillager? For instance, a Prospector will kill while defending a claim, yet that same night he might very well go on a drunken rampage into the nearest pioneer town and kill livestock, prostitutes, and unsuspecting saloon patrons.
Trey, I would like to respond to the way you described a Prospector's fighting/pillaging techniques. First of all, you were correct in stating that prospectors often make drunken raids into pioneer towns at night. However, when you said that prospectors often defend their stake, I would like to question what you mean by defend. I say this because the prefered tactics of a prospector call for a specific type of attack.
Young adventurers venture into the wilderness in groups, most of them from the eastern U.S. They have no idea what happens to them the first night at the campfire. You see, they will be telling merry stories and sharing drinks, when all of the sudden an old voice rings out from the bushes.
"Drop ur dandy lil' sissy drink right now or this here scattergun's gonna scatter ur' skulls!"
Then, well...I'm sure most of you have seen "Deliverance".
Anyway, I guess you could say that this is an example of the phrase "the best defense is a good offense", but this method is yet another example of how Prospectors are Pillagers.
I agree with Esteban however, when he wrote that Prospectors must defend themselves from the mule they are assaulting, and I can see how this is defence. But do Ninjas defend themselves from mules that they are assaulting sexually? I don't think so, because, you see, warriors also have a sense of honor, and I'm pretty sure that a man wouldn't have much honor after doing this to a mule.
Peter, after reading your response I must retract quite a bit of what I previously wrote. I realized that I misread Esteban's statement of "the best defense is a good offense" as "the best defense is a good defense," which at the time made no sense.
Now I see the point that both of you are making, and I agree. I think it is safe to say that many Pillagers attack before they have a chance to be attacked. And this is most certainly a form of defense.
Once again I apologize for my misinterpretation of the text.
- T Henry Barth
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