Doctor Phibes
Prince
It's hard to avoid roleplaying in SMACX 2012, and personally, though I have no problem with committing a vast wholesale slaughter of enemy combatants - with a bit of collateral damage to civilians - in a good cause, I draw the line at torture. A shame, therefore that SMACX gives us little alternative with captured leaders than to stick them in a punishment sphere.
I might have considered summary battlefield execution in many cases, a la Ceausescu, if there was a chance that remaining followers would continue the cause in their name, but this is not possible, so I might proceed as follows, SMAC only for brevity:
[I'm usually playing Dee, Zak, Lal or Aki in these scenarios and I'm obviously roleplaying modern liberal democracy, maybe even Eudaimonea. If you prefer Yang or Santiago YMMV of course]:
Santiago: I consider the Spartans to be nothing better than terrorists and parasites. Common criminals, basically. As such, I'd hand Santiago and her more dedicated followers over to my criminal courts straight away, while conducting a war crimes investigation in the meantime (war crimes are an issue in all cases, but some leaders are more likely to commit them than others).
Zakharov: Erratic. I would likely sit Zakharov down with a nice cup of tea and a biscuit and ask him nicely what he thought he was doing getting into that war in the first place. But there is another side. Given his notorious lack of ethics, I'd simultaneously be investigating Uni facilities for Crimes Against Humanity. If they came to light, all involved would have to face public trial and possible sentencing. (The trouble is, just as happened after WW2 with the likes of von Braun, the temptation is, except for the worst offenders, to just give them great techie jobs).
Miriam: Well, this is a tricky one. The Believers are sincere, but, as a society, utterly insane. Insanity is, however, a defence. Believers would have to be examined on an individual basis. The obviously deluded, like Miriam herself, could be rehabilitated, especially easy once lategame facilities like the Telepathic Matrix become available. Those manipulating an insane system for their own ends should be further investigated.
Yang: No insanity here, though it is open to some doubt as to how sincere Yang is. Looks to me although he manipulates standard commie rhetoric for his own ends, a la North Korea. Yang would not, however, recognise the sovereignty of the legal system I describe (neither would Miriam, but she's bonkers). Deep ideological clash. Unless public opinion demanded a trial, I believe I would keep him under indefinite house arrest like Napoleon, surrounded by many many creature comforts to erode his Ascetic Virtues away. (Hmm, maybe that counts as torture...) In the meantime, of course, his old society would be learning the benefits of a free and prosperous society. Could be worth releasing him after a couple of centuries, likely he'd prove popular on talk shows and such.
Morgan: Well, I'm sure the great CEO would be happy to sit down for a nice chat once properly defeated (he doesn't usually know when he's beat, even when down to one size 3 base). And he'd no doubt say that he was waging a necessary and clean war for survival and resources. (Except his public rhetoric says otherwise, see his interpretation of 'the power compamy'.) In any case, barring war crimes, I'd simply release him on payment of war reparations. Such reparations starting with seizure of all Morgan family energy credits and capital assets. A great entrepreneur like him should be given the opportunity to show how he can build an industrial empire starting from absolutely nothing. It would, no doubt, prove an inspiration to many.
Deirdre: Well, time for a nice cup of tea again. It's hard to imagine the Gaians being big on war crimes, given their mindset. But that erratic behaviour. I could be pretty damned sarcastic with Lady Skye when she's declared on me for no good reason and I've been behaving in an utterly greener way than her. Surely the welfare of Planet takes first place. Sarcasm, Yeah, that'd be the way to go - .a bit of shaming. I think after that I'd give her a very demanding and high-powered environmental job that would hopefully keep her out of mischief...
Lal: The entire legal framework I'm operating under is the one Lal aspires to. So it's pretty unlikely that any great war crimes or CAHs may have been committed by the UN. It might be wise to treat the whole thing as a terrible misunderstanding. But one mostly due to the utter utter incompetence of the UN leadership. Lal's society itself should not need reforming like Yang's or Miriam's, but Lal himself should be quietly pensioned off. Perhaps he could retain some sense of self-worth by becoming a visiting speaker like Gorbachev.
OK - what would you do with your captured leaders and societies?
EDIT: I'll maybe have a go at the SMAX lot later if there's demand. But feel free to include them yourself...
I might have considered summary battlefield execution in many cases, a la Ceausescu, if there was a chance that remaining followers would continue the cause in their name, but this is not possible, so I might proceed as follows, SMAC only for brevity:
[I'm usually playing Dee, Zak, Lal or Aki in these scenarios and I'm obviously roleplaying modern liberal democracy, maybe even Eudaimonea. If you prefer Yang or Santiago YMMV of course]:
Santiago: I consider the Spartans to be nothing better than terrorists and parasites. Common criminals, basically. As such, I'd hand Santiago and her more dedicated followers over to my criminal courts straight away, while conducting a war crimes investigation in the meantime (war crimes are an issue in all cases, but some leaders are more likely to commit them than others).
Zakharov: Erratic. I would likely sit Zakharov down with a nice cup of tea and a biscuit and ask him nicely what he thought he was doing getting into that war in the first place. But there is another side. Given his notorious lack of ethics, I'd simultaneously be investigating Uni facilities for Crimes Against Humanity. If they came to light, all involved would have to face public trial and possible sentencing. (The trouble is, just as happened after WW2 with the likes of von Braun, the temptation is, except for the worst offenders, to just give them great techie jobs).
Miriam: Well, this is a tricky one. The Believers are sincere, but, as a society, utterly insane. Insanity is, however, a defence. Believers would have to be examined on an individual basis. The obviously deluded, like Miriam herself, could be rehabilitated, especially easy once lategame facilities like the Telepathic Matrix become available. Those manipulating an insane system for their own ends should be further investigated.
Yang: No insanity here, though it is open to some doubt as to how sincere Yang is. Looks to me although he manipulates standard commie rhetoric for his own ends, a la North Korea. Yang would not, however, recognise the sovereignty of the legal system I describe (neither would Miriam, but she's bonkers). Deep ideological clash. Unless public opinion demanded a trial, I believe I would keep him under indefinite house arrest like Napoleon, surrounded by many many creature comforts to erode his Ascetic Virtues away. (Hmm, maybe that counts as torture...) In the meantime, of course, his old society would be learning the benefits of a free and prosperous society. Could be worth releasing him after a couple of centuries, likely he'd prove popular on talk shows and such.
Morgan: Well, I'm sure the great CEO would be happy to sit down for a nice chat once properly defeated (he doesn't usually know when he's beat, even when down to one size 3 base). And he'd no doubt say that he was waging a necessary and clean war for survival and resources. (Except his public rhetoric says otherwise, see his interpretation of 'the power compamy'.) In any case, barring war crimes, I'd simply release him on payment of war reparations. Such reparations starting with seizure of all Morgan family energy credits and capital assets. A great entrepreneur like him should be given the opportunity to show how he can build an industrial empire starting from absolutely nothing. It would, no doubt, prove an inspiration to many.
Deirdre: Well, time for a nice cup of tea again. It's hard to imagine the Gaians being big on war crimes, given their mindset. But that erratic behaviour. I could be pretty damned sarcastic with Lady Skye when she's declared on me for no good reason and I've been behaving in an utterly greener way than her. Surely the welfare of Planet takes first place. Sarcasm, Yeah, that'd be the way to go - .a bit of shaming. I think after that I'd give her a very demanding and high-powered environmental job that would hopefully keep her out of mischief...
Lal: The entire legal framework I'm operating under is the one Lal aspires to. So it's pretty unlikely that any great war crimes or CAHs may have been committed by the UN. It might be wise to treat the whole thing as a terrible misunderstanding. But one mostly due to the utter utter incompetence of the UN leadership. Lal's society itself should not need reforming like Yang's or Miriam's, but Lal himself should be quietly pensioned off. Perhaps he could retain some sense of self-worth by becoming a visiting speaker like Gorbachev.
OK - what would you do with your captured leaders and societies?
EDIT: I'll maybe have a go at the SMAX lot later if there's demand. But feel free to include them yourself...
(Or demons 
as Miriam would likely call them) have taken over.
