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The humact guild receives a 10% tithe from members, in exchange it offers them superlative training in undead slaying. These members make their living by slaying undead. The guild guarantees us, the undead attacked, minimal training and competence for our protectors. It grants the individual undead hunter improved bargaining power in the market place, and considerable health care benefits.
Now, consider the hypothetical circumstances, thus:
A book exists entitled 'Holy crap undead have a hideous weakness!' by Foul lord Grath'kok the black. In this book Grath'kok details a simple an effective way of repelling all undeads, which he included in the original design when he invented them. Manifestly this book has never been in the hands of an individual with an interest in destroying undead, so we will assume that it was in the keeping of some minor priest of death, who is killed in the normal way of such things, and his personal effects taken by the Humacti.
They translate the tome, they read it, they check that the facts described carefully. They realise that they have the secret, that the war can be won.
That they'll need new jobs tomorrow.
Is it Buffy, jealous of her political power? unwilling to become a thing of the past? proud of humact's legacy?
I don't think so.
I don't think it would get that far.
The field researchers have families after all. Their children need to be fed. They have dead colleagues whose widows and orphans are are cared for by the guild. They have wives who like being married to successful, heroic men, they have respect.
And if necessary, to protect that, they'll have a few more dead colleagues.
The guild has a fair few fanatics would use the secret, even if it cost them their livelihood, after all. But the realization that their entire life had been utterly wasted for the sake of a little knowledge would probably stun them for long enough for saner colleagues to kill them. After all what's one man's life against thousands?
And then the guild would know how precarious their position and power are. What if someone else found the secret? They could certainly avoid any blame associated with not finding the secret them selves; the Humact 'Held the line' and made a million and one other 'heroic' and 'nobel' sacrifices to protect us, but they'd still be long-term unemployed. So you'd expect the Humacti to attempt to prevent anyone else from investigating the nature of undeath. They'd probably run with the old 'If you are not humacti, all interest in undead is Evil!' line.
And thus the best interest of the guilds members would be served, and the guild would forfil its function.
Now, consider the hypothetical circumstances, thus:
A book exists entitled 'Holy crap undead have a hideous weakness!' by Foul lord Grath'kok the black. In this book Grath'kok details a simple an effective way of repelling all undeads, which he included in the original design when he invented them. Manifestly this book has never been in the hands of an individual with an interest in destroying undead, so we will assume that it was in the keeping of some minor priest of death, who is killed in the normal way of such things, and his personal effects taken by the Humacti.
They translate the tome, they read it, they check that the facts described carefully. They realise that they have the secret, that the war can be won.
That they'll need new jobs tomorrow.
Is it Buffy, jealous of her political power? unwilling to become a thing of the past? proud of humact's legacy?
I don't think so.
I don't think it would get that far.
The field researchers have families after all. Their children need to be fed. They have dead colleagues whose widows and orphans are are cared for by the guild. They have wives who like being married to successful, heroic men, they have respect.
And if necessary, to protect that, they'll have a few more dead colleagues.
The guild has a fair few fanatics would use the secret, even if it cost them their livelihood, after all. But the realization that their entire life had been utterly wasted for the sake of a little knowledge would probably stun them for long enough for saner colleagues to kill them. After all what's one man's life against thousands?
And then the guild would know how precarious their position and power are. What if someone else found the secret? They could certainly avoid any blame associated with not finding the secret them selves; the Humact 'Held the line' and made a million and one other 'heroic' and 'nobel' sacrifices to protect us, but they'd still be long-term unemployed. So you'd expect the Humacti to attempt to prevent anyone else from investigating the nature of undeath. They'd probably run with the old 'If you are not humacti, all interest in undead is Evil!' line.
And thus the best interest of the guilds members would be served, and the guild would forfil its function.
