10. Human Sacrifice
Human sacrifice is an appeasement, or offering, to the Gods. Ancient civilisations saw it as a vital part of their existence. For example, the Aztecs subscribed to the idea of god impersonation, where a person was chosen to represent a deity. The individual was picked before the sacrifice was to take place, in some circumstances they were chosen as much as a year in advance. For the remaining time of their life, the chosen person would play the role of the god they were representing, be referred to by the name of the god, and be treated as a god by everyone. The person was perceived as the earthly vessel of their god. It was believed that at the point of sacrifice, the god actually became the human representing them. The accepted wisdom on this subject states that Human sacrifice hasn't occurred for a century or two. This, though, is not true. We don't have to look too far to find a more recent example of this practice. Towards the end of World War II the Soviets were advancing from the west and the Allies from the east. Hitler and his Germany were about to be overrun. The new empire of the Fartherland was crumbling. Nazism was essentially an occult philosophy and the drastic actions taken to change the course of the war in a final, desperate scramble for victory were its grim embodiment. The Leonidas Squadron was a suicide unit and its formation had its foundation in the myths popularised by Nazi propaganda. The squadron flew sorties to destroy bridges and ram Allied enemy bombers. Whilst the objective of these missions were military, they were also regarded as a means of calming an angry God who would turn the war in Germany's favour. There is a theory that all war is a blood ritual, but the futility of these self-sacrifice missions, or Selbstopfereinsätze, was as spectacular as it was bizarre.