Leave No Survivors: Difference between revisions

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* ''[[Tortall Universe]]'': Keladry of Mindelan has to give this order twice at the end of the fourth book while sneaking a band of people into enemy territory, and neither time does she like it. But they don't have the luxury of keeping prisoners and they can't let them go to warn the enemy where they are.
* ''[[The Dresden Files]]'': In "Changes", the Red Court strike teams like to operate this way to send a message to their enemies.
* ''[[The Dark Elf Trilogy]]'' puts this to use by making it completely unspoken. [[Klingon Promotion]]s are a cornerstone of drow society: noble houses move up in rank by slaughtering the house above it. However, by their definition of "justice", if even one survivor is left to accuse them, ''their'' house will be exterminated as punishment. So there's no need for those in command to order their soldiers to kill anything that moves and then comb the compound afterward for any secret rooms where others may be hiding; [[Lawful Evil|to them, it's just common sense]]. Note that only ''members of'' the noble House count — blood relatives who "officially" joined other groups such as different House, mercenary band or trade company (thus can be elsewhere, hard to track when no one remembers where they came from, and could pull said groups into the war if attacked) like Jarlaxle or Kimmuriel Oblodra are not part of the game.
** As [[splatbook]]s point out, the drow avoid large scale vendettas and internecine war above all else, as the greatest threat to their cities. Thus for them it's a matter of self-preservation to have all serious conflicts resolved by the participants in a way not allowing any ambiguity or sequels… or it will be done by others, in a way that [[Make an Example of Them|shall discourage such sloppiness]] among the rest.
* ''[[Honor Harrington]]'': Narrowly averted in ''Echoes of Honor''. When the combined Grayson-Manticore fleet with the new [[Macross Missile Massacre|podnaughts]] rides to the defence of Basilisk, Earl White Haven nearly has a heart attack when he thinks Admiral Yanakov ordered no quarter. Fortunately, the latter only called for no mercy. While any ship in range conceivably capable of fighting is blasted to pieces, the escape pods are left alone.
** It does sound somewhat [[Plausible Deniability|open to hopeful misinterpretations down the chain of command]], however. Also, this moment inspired the [[Filk Song]] ''No Quarter''.
* In the ''[[Confederation of Valor]]'' series, the Others are well known to not take prisoners. Which confuses the characters intensely in ''Valor's Trial'': They're in a POW camp. [[The Reveal]]? It isn't run by the Others, a.k.a. the Primacy.