Imagine the following scene. You are in Stormwind, a regular citizen, minding your own business. Suddenly a group of Boralus guards in full combat gear open fire from a roof top and down into a restaurant where a man and a woman are having a chat.
Their target, an alleged cultist leader flees, mortally wounded. One of the Boralus guards chase him down and as he dies from the gun wounds, the guard decapitates him with an axe. The guard returns to the rest of the guards. Cheerful and happy with a job well done.
There is only one problem - the Boralus guards didn't plan this with the local guards. They didn't alert them that they were conducting an undercover meeting. They didn't inform the local guards that they planned to kill a man. Nor did they provide evidence against said man's cultist behaviour. In fact, the only reason the local guards knew what happened was because a patrol randomly came upon them and tried to enforce their authority over their own city. While the Boralus guards pretended to cooperate with the locals, they went ahead and killed the man.
This is what happened on the 7th of this month (May) - only it was not Boralus guards in Stormwnd, but Stormwind guards in Boralus. Did that change how you feel about the above? It shouldn't. We may be in an alliance together, but that does not mean soldiers of another nation can outright kill a man on the other nations soil.
Diplomacy, respect, conduit, law - all ignored. A group of guards from Golf Company - Aka The Kings Footmen, led by Captain Stormblade and composed of several high ranking officers from the guard company went to Boralus in the chase of what they claim was a dangerous cultist. Director Blaze of the Investigation Bureau had managed to setup a meeting with the man in question - and it was her and the suspect who were engaged in talks in the restaurant in Uptown Borough in Boralus when one or more Stormwind guards opened fire on the man from a nearby roof top and killed him. It was one of the Stormwind guards who followed the alleged cultist down a muddy hill and separated the head from the body with an axe.
They had not as much as notified the Boralus guards that they would be conducting an operation - which included killed a man - in Boralus - ahead of time. As Lieutenant Brineburn of the Boralus Guards, Proudmoore Admirality said when I spoke to him: "Ms Seagraves can attest to there bein' no warnin' o' their arrival, she 'appened upon 'em on patrol...It's thanks to 'er dilligence we even knew o' this occurin'."
When Petty officer Seagraves of the Harbor Guard Unit came across the Stormwind Guards, they informed her that a dangerous man was in the city having dinner with one of their agents (Director Blaze). They informed her that they planned to take down the man, at which point Petty Officer Seagraves insisted that they did not have authority to do such a thing and that would have to talk with the Boralus guard so a collaborative attempt could be made to arrest, and question said man.
The Stormwind guards insisted that time was of the essence - but eventually agreed to have Captain Stormblade follow Petty officer Seagraves to the barracks to talk to Lieutenant Brineburn. The rest of the Stormwind guards stayed at the location of the operation.
At the barracks an agreement was made to arrest the man - A Mr. Munchausen - and bring him in for questioning. Unfortunately - before Captain Stormblade, Lieutenant Brineburn and Petty officer Seagraves could return to the restaurant several shots had already been taken by the Stormwind guards from roof tops. Before the local authorities could protest two of the Stormwind guards chased the fleeing Mr. Munchausen down.
As Lieutenant Brineburn tried to reason with Captain Stormblade - who according to Lieutenant Brineburn stated: "
what happened, happened." one of the guards who ran after Mr. Munchausen returned, having cut off Mr. Munchausen's head.
Both Lieutenant Brineburn and Petty officer Seagraves made it plenty clear that they were shocked and appalled by the actions of the Stormwind Guards. Especially the removal of the man’s head - after his demise - shocked them both.
Of course, here at the Roar we try to hear both sides of a story. So besides having talked to the Boralus Guards then I also talked to Lieutenant Parker of Golf Company about the incident. Lieutenant Parker was supposedly one of the two gunmen, the other was identified as Sergeant Chesterfield. A guard who has previously been linked to having an itchy trigger finger. Which one of them who shot, or if they both did, has not been revealed.
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There are not many differences in the version Lieutenant Parker of Golf Company tells and the one previously stated. There are a few points to note however. According to Lieutenant Parker then the beheading happened as:
"magic began spewing out of his dead body." supposedly that is meant as an explanation of why the head was removed. I'm no expert, maybe it makes sense. While Lieutenant Parker does admit that:
"In hindsight, it could potentially have been done better." then he also goes on to claim that:
"but they were informed of our presence, they were informed of our purpose and that it was of the outmost urgency." and this is the crux of it. At no point during my talk with Lieutenant Parker did he think that urgency or not, dangerous man or not - then they do not have the authority to kill a man on Kul Tiras soil - heck I am not even convinced they can outright kill a man on Stormwind soil.
He also claims that the Boralus guards were informed, but we already know this only happened because Petty officer Seagraves ran into them in full combat gear on Kul Tiran territory. According to Lieutenant Parker then attempting to arrest the man would have led to deaths and wounded and as such they had no choice but to do as they did. This is a classic "the ends justify the means" defence and one which has no place in a civilized society. Rules, laws, and rights exist to make sure authorities does not abuse the power our King has given them. They exist to make sure 4 guards do not decide someone they do not like is dangerous - and kill them without a trial.
If Lieutenant Parker thinks it was impossible to apprehend the man without people getting killed or injured (and keep in mind - it was not even attempted) then perhaps he should ally up with some more competent people instead of thinking every problem is solved by the use of a rifle. Of course, Lieutenant Parker also told me that I don't have all the facts - that there is information he cannot reveal - but no amount of facts will change the picture. They killed a man in cold blood. Assassinated him, and did so on foreign soil. Some may think that the end does justify the means - Lieutenant Parker clearly does. But Lieutenant Brineburn of the Boralus Guards clearly does not see it the same way.
I asked what sort of charges the Boralus guards are considering levying against the Stormwind guards who took part in the little excursion. Lieutenant Brineburn's reply was: "We 'ave: Three charges o' murder, one fer the Cap'n, the shooter an' the one who finished Mr Munchausen off after they chased 'im. Two charges o' dessecratin' the dead, one fer the axe lass who beheaded the feller upon death an' another if any belongings were stolen from 'im. Three charges o' obstruction o' justice to the axe lass, the Cap'n an' the shooter. One charge o' destruction o' property to the shooter who broke the table. Two charges o' conspiracy to Agent Blaze an' the Cap'n. Then a charge to each o' those present with abettin' to murder an' to causin' a public disturbance shootin' in a public space."
I imagine no one would be surprised that potentially the sentence for such crimes goes up to and including: "The worst case Scenario? Fer a charge o' Murder or Conspiracy, bein' a capital crime...They would be expected to be 'ung by the Gallows or sent to Tol Dagor fer life...'Owever I don't wish to cause an uproar in the Alliance so...I'm willin' to settle fer those lot to be branded, lashed an' exiled from Kul Tiras, to be 'ung should they return to our isle."
Of course, no one actually expects it to end with them getting hanged, and from what I understand then currently they are banned from Kul Tiras territory - but exactly what sort of aftermath this diplomatic blunder will result in - still remains to be seen.
What do you think dear reader? does the end justify the means? is it okay for foreign guards to kill a man in a foreign city all on their own? Is it okay their only defence and explanation being that the man was dangerous? Do dangerous men not deserve a fair trial? Should the Stormwind guards who took part in this operation be trialed in Kul Tiras for murder? or should they be made to publicly apologize to the Boralus guards and then thanked for taking out a dangerous enemy? How much punishment should they receive, if any, and how do you feel about guards straight up killing a man - just because they decided he is dangerous?