War

[forsakenscorpio]

in my story there is going to be a great war that mirrors the war of palestine & israel & my protagonist must end the centuries of hatred. What is a good way in a world wear anything is possible that someone could stop a war such as this one?

in other words if magic existed, what would be a powerful way that a wizard, or supernatural being would be able to stop the fighting or convince the people to stop hating?

[Magus]

I don't think that any amount of magic would ever stop hate. For that what you'd need is understanding and time. But stopping a war is another matter. A great cataclysmic display of power in the center of the fray can stop the fighting temporarily and then a moving monologue might help to break the fighting up further. But, as I said, no amount of magic can ever stop hate.

[Spiderkeg]

One of the magic users in my story, who is very powerful, tends to go overboard all the time. He has lived a long time and has a good understanding of how humans are. He realizes that someone who is blinded by a purpose will give no thought or be rational once the mind is set. People can be pretty dense. With this in mind the best way of stopping a single person, or a massive army, is to shock the people back into a sense of reality. This is best done through great displays of fireworks and flair. Any act that causes immense fear (giant illusionary Devourer of Worlds) or causes someone to recheck their senses (earthquake) will make any individual go into shock and rethink.

[Bmat]

in my story there is going to be a great war that mirrors the war of palestine & israel & my protagonist must end the centuries of hatred. What is a good way in a world wear anything is possible that someone could stop a war such as this one?

...

A hackneyed way is for the enemies to face a common adversary- planetary cataclysm, alien invasion, evil person who wants to control the world, etc.

Star Trek TOS had a planet controlled by a computer (?). Come to think of it, Forbin Project similarly had a computer controlling everything.

Welcome to Speculative Vision, forsakenscorpio!

[wafricansavage]

history teaches us that no matter how much we want to romanticize war, in a drawn out conflict it always boils down to economics.

Whether it be the Romans overextending themselves and no longer being able to financially support their expansion. Hitler depleting his resources faster than he could acquire more, the end of the cold war, or guerilla warfare in the middle east. It all boils down to finance. The fastest way to stop a war is to cut the finance which is supporting it. (Freezing of Japanese assets prior to WWII). These scenarios play out in the larger, global scale type of conflict.

Even in urban warfare, where soldiers are not paid, but rather fighting for some ideal, finance still has a direct impact on the duration of the struggle. Albeit, the fighters have support through the local population for food and supplies, but when it comes time for weapons money is the only factor.

Though it may not be as grandiose as an invading alien force, which by the way I think is the only way humans will ever learn to live together (temporarily), finance and economics is key.

You can also look at it in terms of two parties arguing over property and a third party paying one of the parties to drop the issue. This has been used in world politics for centuries, or referred to as 'appeasement' when Hitler annexed Poland....

Something else to remember is that war breeds opportunity. If your two factions have been fighting for decades-centuries, it makes for the assumption that they are gradually depleting their forces over time. This usually allows for an otherwise unimportant factor to raise his head and cause trouble.

Everything aside, throughout man dominance of the planet, only acts of great savagery have pushed men to band together. Taking into account the fact that the war has progressed beyond the point of logic and into bitter hatred for no other reason than because it's been going on for years.

You can take your character in one of two paths. Have him play the typical hero, identifying a new threat which threatens all human race and he takes steps to prepare the warring factions to face this threat.

Or my personal favorite. Your character, in order to put an end to this feud, creates the threat himself. While he is counseling the two nations, he is at the same time masterminding the growing threat to keep the parties in line. Would make for a much more interesting plot I think.

Well my .02 cents for the day.