If the settler is turned into a barbarian settler, will the AI use it to spawn a barbarian camp nearby? Or will it be kept as a captive in the babarian camp where it was delivered?
Barbarians cannot create/capture cities in civ5 but they can ransom them for gold if city's hp is 0.
I know there's a positive affect for returning settlers/workers but there a diplomatic penalty for not returning them?
I've always done it but Genghis didn't return one of mine yesterday so I denounced him and he's first on my hit list (I think its one of the only times I've had a settler stolen by Barbarians so not sure what the correct etiquette is).
If I get a settler stolen by barbarians, I chalk the game up as a loss and reload. It is a pretty devastating game-killing event if you are playing a sufficiently challenging difficulty level.
Yes, if your city is reduced to 0 health, melee barbs will disappear attacking it and the player loses gold. But is this explicitly called ransom at any point?