Senor Giuseppe,
I feel for you. The Pathfinders are a diverse society. And with that diversity comes conflict. Sometimes conflict of a fundamental nature.
Acting as a soldier always means sublimating one's personal goals to something else -- ideally to something greater. When you find that the constraints of the organization prevent you from doing good as you see it, honor demands that you make a clear but difficult choice; sublimate your goals to the organization, or leave the organization.
You and I, alike, are soldiers in the Pathfinder Society. They ask one thing of us; that we not use violence against our fellow soldiers, no matter how much we differ. This is not an unusual standard for an armed organization -- though, on the other hand, many Captains order soldiers to follow the rules of just war, while Venture Captains do not often hold their people to such standards.
To be sure, there are some members of the organization that, if my Venture Captain saw fit to regularly pair me with, I would be unable to continue, and would resign my Wayfinder.
But if you wish to continue working as a soldier of the Pathfinder Society, you must curb your temper vis-a-vis your compatriots -- even when (and perhaps especially when) they are morally lacking. Instead, show that you will not sink to their level, and walk an ethical high road.
In response to some of what I saw, I left one lodge to join a lodge that kept to more ethical standards.
If you make it clear that you will personally guarantee that the high road is always easier than the low road, then perhaps your fellow Pathfinders will perforce accept your Wisdom. Remember that they, like you, will forfeit their membership in the society if they attack you physically.
By way of examples:
It became clear to me that one of my fellow pathfinders stole. I spoke a word into the ear of a local constable, and let things take their course.
My fellow pathfinders attempted to do violence to a beautiful woman who -- though guilty of sorcery and of attacking us -- was human, and thus capable of redemption. I interposed myself and accepted on my body many of the blows of my fellow Pathfinders, until I could convince her to submit herself to my protective custody. (OOG: The GM allowed me to make reflex saves which, if they matched the attack roll, would allow me to absorb the damage instead of the NPC.)
I bull-rushed one potential casualty around the corner to safety and whispered at him "run" -- advice that he took! (OOG: Granted, I had to use a standard action and Intimidate)
I have left my horse, Willow, to guard a prisoner for whose life I feared. Willow could then sound a challenge and bring me quickly, if the less scrupulous Pathfinders came near.
Perhaps you and I, Sir, would be on opposing sides. To me life is sacred, not corpses. The challenge, for a decent person in a state of war, is to use necessary force -- and no more -- to attain his ends. But once it has come to blood, and the person who fights you has made it clear that he will happily trade life-blood for life-blood, you may find few alternatives to slaying the individual. I may pray for his soul, but I do not object to my comrades taking steps to prevent a monster from being raised back to life.
But, Giuseppe, you and I agree that gentlemen can disagree on the right thing to do. And I think that you and I, alike, would that there were some flexibility in the Society's standards. Many is the time that I would have bound a fellow-Pathfinder, and brought her or him back in chains to the local authorities or to the Venture Captain.
However the Society is organized how it is. And unless the Venture Captains make some difficult choices, perhaps the only alternative for forthright and decent Pathfinders will be to resign. Perhaps this is part of the call of the Shadow Lodge?
In our conflicts with the Shadow Lodge, I have not as yet encountered a single member who complained that he was prevented from visiting justice on or physically interfering with an another member of the Shadow Lodge.
Of course, on the other hand, the lack of organization and the every-agent-for-himself attitude of the Shadow Lodge will probably be their downfall. So, for me, I stand by the Pathfinders, even if I am not always thrilled by the mercenary attitudes of some colleagues.
-- Senor Vicente Maria Sanz de la Vina y Moreno
