Net
Net (Shinasthana: 浽, snur; 1770/71 – Apr. 2, 1793) was a Themiclesian soldier most known for brutally killing 92 Camian prisoners publicly and committing other atrocities, as part of Long Lêt's plan to terrorize the Camian government into recalling its army from Maverica. A minor and obscure figure in most historical works, Net has been the subject of recent scholarship in the history of war crime and urban legend.
Name
There is some variation between the sources as to the name of the person who was publicly witnessed killing Camians during the occupation of Kensington, the Camian capital. All sources agree that there was only one person who did so, at a fixed location near what is now Market Street and 14th Avenue, leading to the conclusion that the differing names must belong to the same person. Themiclesian letters, mostly in Hallian and Shinasthana, refer to Net as Snur, while most Camian sources in Anglian state his name was Net. Scholars usually do not controvert this point, and some state that Snur was likely his given name, while Net was his courtesy name. Themiclesian people of the time usually had courtesy names for social interactions, as calling a person by his given name was considered offensive.
Life
Almost no verifiable information is available about Net's early life, other than his unusual relationship with Long Lêt. It is likely that Net came from the interior of the Subcontinent, where a multitude of Themiclesian settlements existed. Records show that a young soldier in the South Division of the Colonial Army, named Snur, absconded after mere months in the ranks. This Snur may or may not have been the same person as Net/Snur, as it was not uncommon for Themiclesians even in the same community to be given similar names. In accounts given by contemporaries, Net and Long were both in the 9th Regiment of Marines, though by the start of the Second Maverican War, Long was an officer, while Net was a newly-enlisted man. Net is described as Long's "familiar" (褻, sngrjat), indicating he functioned as Long's personal assistant.
When Long was made General of the West Expedition, he attempted to secure an appointment for Net; however, Net was unable to show proof of his abilities, so the War Office rejected his appointment on Jul. 2, 1790. In September, Long again asked for an appointment, but the War Office rejected him again, on the grounds that it did not have any record of Net's previous performance.
After Long had taken Kensington and negotiations broken down, Net's most notorious activities began. According to Camian diarist Charles Mantle (1754 – 1830), Net "made several appearance a month upon an erect scaffold and killed citizens of Kensington, imprisoned by Themiclesian forces, before the public and in daylight. He said to the people outraged by his actions, it was joyful to him to kill and maim. The blood seeped from the scaffold and pooled upon the street. The respectable people of the whole city spoke of him in disgust." Several Themiclesian letters refer to the same activities in the similar locations, which strengthens the historicity of Net's public atrocities. It is unknown if Net actually participated in any of Long's campaigns to the west in the summer of 1792, but it seems likely he stayed behind in the capital city and continued committing atrocities.
In early 1793, General Long was replaced by the Lord of L'jin. Soon, Camian elites established what Net had done in the previous year and demanded retribution. L′jin's ordered him to be tried by his judge, Srin Nuk. The prosecution argued that because none of Net's victims had actually been convicted of any crimes, Net had killed innocent men and was guilty of the crime of murder (賊殺人). Net's defence does not survive. He was convicted by Nuk on Mar. 29, 1793 and sentenced to death. Camian accounts say that he was beheaded at Dead Man's Gate, Kensington's north gate where executions usually occurred. In L′jin's report to the royal court written in 1794, Net was executed on Apr. 2 at an unrecorded place, for the crime of murder. There was apparently a crowd that turned out to see the death of the "infamous murderer", even though it seems L′jin attempted to keep the matter discreet.
Doubts
Historians of related fields often assert that Net's story is very fragmentary and difficult to verify, because neither the Themiclesians nor Camians attempted to make a biography of any level of detail about Net, which is expected for a person of his status. There are certain areas which attract much doubt, as accounts contradict typical practices of the day or each other.
Camian records
On the Camian side, the only source written by a plausible eye-witness of Net's actions is the diary of Charles Mantle, who lived in Kensington during the occupation. Mantle's account of Net's atrocities is very short and somewhat problematic. Historian A. Billy says that Mantle fails to mention that many Camian citizens rose up in arms and attacked Themiclesian soldiers, sometimes ambushing pairs of them in the night, and that the "citizens of Kensington" are such ambushers, not ordinary civilians living in the city. Billy continues to say that Mantle wrote during the occupation and probably wanted to emphasize the enormity of the Themiclesian general's policies.
In the History of Kensington written by Nelly Alder in 1831, Net's actions were given in very graphic detail: she asserts that Net skinned his prisoners alive or used their intestines to strangle them, and Net not only killed "prisoners in chains" but also innocent passers-by. These accounts are troubled by the book's preface itself, which says that Adler did not live in Kensington when these events occurred, and she had interviewed the "old and respected gentlemen" for these accounts. Billy says that these "old and respectable gentlemen" are potentially the same ones who informed L′jin about Net's atrocities and sought his death. He also notes that, prior to 1831, nobody has suggested that Net employed such diabolical methods to kill his victims.
In An Account of the Maverican War, a 1849 monograph dedicated to Camia's campaign in Maverica and at home, Mason Lee asserts that Net was ordered by General Long expressly to kill innocent Camians, to humiliate and terrorize them and ultimately to cow them into submission. This is portrayed as the prelude to a "civic uprising" that tragically failed. Lee's account is deemed untrustworthy, because it openly contradicts the implications of Mantle's account that the Camian citizen's spontaneous assaults on Themiclesian soldiers began before the atrocities did. His 1849 title also makes several other gross errors that make its narrative difficult to reconcile with other works.
Themiclesian records
The matter has generally not received as much attention in Themiclesia as it did in Camia. In the 1795 General Account drafted by the Marines, Net was adjudged guilty of murder and executed because he killed individuals who were "falsely put to death without observing laws and accustomed forms" by General Long. The identities of his victims are not mentioned. Long escaped punishment largely because he secured a special pardon from the Emperor with the fantastical tale that he had accidentally burned down a lawyer's inn in Camia, and the entire country's lawyers were pursuing him across the sea. As absurd as this account seems, it is shown Long in fact thus wrote to the Emperor in 1793; at the time, many lawyers did actually pit themselves against royal requisitions in support of the war effort, so it is considered likely Long accused lawyers of wrongdoing to levy the Emperor's temporary impatience with legal actions during war.
Some historians believe that more information about Net would be available if the Gwreng-l′junh Palace did not burn down in 1841, as it held most of the armed forces' archives about personnel, finance, and inventories.