I'm writing a story and have reached a problem which I can't solve without knowing how the relevant parts of IHL apply.
In my story, unarmed civilian contractors are working with soldiers to assist with gathering intelligence (specifically it's mapping cave systems in enemy territory but that's not really relevant) that would provide a concrete military advantage to their employers. One such group is attacked and mostly killed, and I was going to have the one surviving soldier arm the contractor before I realised that morally it's not good to take away this civilian's protection as a noncombatant - if they are one.
My question, basically, is this:
Does a person have to be armed to be a combatant? Can a person be classed as a combatant if they are assisting an armed group against another armed group in an explicit and direct manner, even if they don't carry weapons? I'm not talking about supplying food to soldiers, I'm talking about e.g. being an unarmed equipment specialist accompanying soldiers and using said equipment to collect intelligence for an army.
Im trying out an idea that Im calling roleplay heavy combat. Basically my players have found themselves in a town actively being overrun by gnolls and demons. The thing is though the players are strong enough that except for one or two demons the monsters really arent a threat to them just the NPCs. So instead of getting into the minutia of regular combat we are assuming they succeed when they choose to attack. And arent worrying about exact damage done to baddies. Instead we are focusing on how the players triage the situation. Are they spending their turn attacking baddies to hold them off or running into the burning house to pull out someone that is trapped sort of thing. They can make int/wis/skillchecks to try to get more info to prioritize or just go off the description of the situation I give them. If appropriate I have them make stat or skill checks based off their descions. They know they cant save everyone so I need to create a list of a bunch of situations where they need to choose who to save or if they attack the baddies to reduce the overall threat. So far it has allowed for a quicker more heroic/cinematic battle. Im trying to make a long list of situations so I dont get repetative with the dangers/choices. Any ideas?
It makes me pretty curious since Konoha and other hidden villages are basically a militaristic. Also, not all the greatest contributions are made in the front lines during great peril, right?
There are Medical-nin, Cryptanalysis Team, Info Gatherers, Academy Teachers, and others.
I know that in fanon there are Jonin Exams.
But apparently in canon, ninja have to be recommended for the role by their peers and deemed worthy by the Kage before being promoted.
I have a feeling that a lot of Nepotism goes on when it comes to ranking Jonin and seems to be a lot less death goes into it. So it could be possible for a non-combatant to get it.
What do you think?
Edit: I ask this since I saw that Mikoto was a Jonin and she didn’t seem to be the strongest fighter. So I wondered if her strength could be elsewhere to get that position.
After observing that Constellations, Go Gently, and Flechette's Foodie Forays are among some of my favorite Worm fics, I realized that I have a preference for either introspective, character focused non-action fics, or fics that focus on a noncombatant protagonist. Are there any other good stories around that have little to no action?
I'm writing a story and have reached a problem which I can't solve without knowing how the relevant parts of IHL apply.
In my story, unarmed civilian contractors are working with soldiers to assist with gathering intelligence (specifically it's mapping cave systems in enemy territory but that's not really relevant) that would provide a concrete military advantage to their employers. One such group is attacked and mostly killed, and I was going to have the one surviving soldier arm the contractor before I realised that morally it's not good to take away this civilian's protection as a noncombatant and so this doesn't work (at least without making my soldier much less moral) - if they are a noncombatant in the first place.
My question, basically, is this:
Does a person have to be armed to be a combatant? Can a person be classed as a combatant if they are assisting an armed group against another armed group in an explicit and direct manner, even if they don't carry weapons?
I'm not talking about things like supplying food or medical aid to soldiers, I'm talking about e.g. being an unarmed equipment specialist accompanying soldiers and using said equipment to collect intelligence for the soldiers to use.
