A Hero’s Welcome for a Convicted Killer Reignites Tensions
rating: 0+x

Summary

September 4, 2012: Eight years ago, a student named Ramil Safarov from Azerbaijan living at a dormitory at a NATO-sponsored English class in Hungary slew a fellow student from Armenia with an axe - according to the Azerbaijani foreign ministry because "the Armenian servicemen repeatedly insulted the honor and dignity of the Azerbaijani officer and citizen". He was imprisoned in Hungary for eight years and after intense lobbying by Azerbaijan was extradited there, with the understanding that he would serve out the rest of his 25 year sentence in his home country. Instead upon arrival he received a presidential pardon, eight years of back payment, a new apartment, a promotion to major and a hero's welcome.

This has increased tensions between Armenia and both Azerbaijan and Hungary, resulting in Armenians pelting the Hungarian embassy with eggs, sabotaging ongoing peace talks and causing some observers to speculate that the "Safarov Affair" might result in "a war by accident."

Source

Bibliography

Game and Story Use

  • Given the racial tensions in a typical fantasy world - or any other setting with distinct and mutually antagonistic groups - this scenario can be transplanted easily to other setting. Imagine a dwarf slaying an elf under similar circumstances - in a region under human jurisdiction.
    • It doesn't even need to be inter-species, or even inter-racial: Shakespeare's Verona could provide an equally good model for a venue.
    • If you feel really nasty, make it the PCs' job to sort out the resulting tensions.
  • Some settings have active ancestor spirits who bear old grudges - how much more frequent will such bloody acts of vengeance be in these worlds?
Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License