Besides, I'd find it interesting if we do manage to become a completely atheistic culture. I don't think that's ever been done in RL History.
There's a certain necessity for religion. Most people tend to need something to orient all of their morals and opinions, and religion makes a nice line in the sand for that. People who identify first as members of a political party before members of a religious group actually become irrationally incapable of believing negative statements about their political leaders. There's simply a
need in the average person's mind to have a core belief system that they base everything else upon, and if it's not religion, it may well be
battle, like the
lowlanders.
Atheism is an old idea, but there needs to be a certain level of general knowledge and higher philosophy needs a chance to be mass distributed before it can really take a front-and-center point in a culture.
So why not sacrifice some of our own? You made the point that it builds a sense of community as some die for others, and if the old get sacrificed it arguably would speed up (yet destabilize) our society. It's also just plain economical.
Also, if we attacked the fishing village and succeeded we'd own the fishing village. If we attacked the fishing village and partially succeeded, we'd have fish and lose some lives. If we attacked the fishing village and didn't succeed, we'd lose some lives and thus save food. It's a win/win/win, unless the drought ends soon and all our warriors are dead, of course.
Also, can someone actually explain WHY we should go pray to spirits who haven't even told us WHY we're being punished?? Like, what's the point of an expedition to that one place? (other than the benefit of receiving divine favor if we get that tribe to like us)
I did make that point. I simply don't want to take that direction, because, for the fifth or sixth time, I am not aiming for some subjectively ideal set of actions, I'm aiming for a particular variety of socio-cultural group, and Soilant Green isn't on the list of social elements I want to include in it.
Yes. Yes. and No. All actions first require the warriors be given extra rations for enough time to give them the strength to make an attack, so not only would we lose lives, we'd lose lives we invested
extra rations in, which would ultimately be a net negative or at best break even on food consumption.
Because for the fifth or sixth time, again, religion has the convenient effect of jumpstarting a priest caste, from which springs many early sciences, useful or healthy traditions, and record-keeping practices that are extremely useful for our particular brand of government.
