Thread: Most horrible self-execution

Slow but impossible to stop ... it seems this leaves some poison with no known
antidote as the best choice, but I doubt that this would make a good legend.

Voluntarily stepping into a cauldron filled with boiling oil once was a suicide me-
thod used in ancient China by scholars who disagreed with a ruler and wanted
their death to become a symbol remembered for a long time, but although this
is certainly most painful, it is a rather quick way to die.

A famous Japanese example of this execution method would be Ishikawa Goemon:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishikawa_Goemon

Two variations on the same theme of exposing oneself to a horrible corrosive in a location which prevents inteference from others:

Stand in a pit of quicklime and get slowly causticed away
Stand in a volcano from which sulphur is mined

Does it have to be slow? Self-immolation is widely regarded as horrific and must take an enormous* strength of will to see through

Does it have to be a done deal? If you want dishonour (and potential redemption) are you not removing a more satisfying story possibility from the other players if your character can be rescued and then instructed by superior to do something undignified to atone (like a Samurai being instructed to shave his head and go to a monastery)?

* and in my mind unnecessary but we are talking here let's pretend and fantasy not real world so my opinion probably counts for even less than usual

Originally Posted by rust

Voluntarily stepping into a cauldron filled with boiling oil once was a suicide me-
thod used in ancient China by scholars who disagreed with a ruler and wanted
their death to become a symbol remembered for a long time, but although this
is certainly most painful, it is a rather quick way to die.

Depends on the starting temperature... But that leaves open the possibility of interference. Caustic substances would be hard to obtain and I want it to be as much a shock and surprise to the GM as the others players.

Standing/chained under pot with slowly dripping acid? For extra effect the pot could swing a little so you wouldn't know where it hit next.

Or you could use something like the torture device from Blackadder I (Last episode):

Wait! I have|a more...amusing method.
Amusing for whom, I wonder?
Gentlemen!
(All gasp in wonder)
- Bravo!|- Well done!
In precisely one minute,
the spike will go up your nethers.|(Cheering)
The shears will cut off your ears!
- Both of them?|- Yes.
These axes will chop off your hands.
I do not think we need go into the attributes of the codling grinder!
These feathers here will tickle you under what's left of your arms.
And that is the amusing part!
(Cheering)

Originally Posted by jarulf

Standing/chained under pot with slowly dripping acid? For extra effect the pot could swing a little so you wouldn't know where it hit next.

I don't think I could acquire enough acid.

Scaphism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is my favorite ... well maybe that's not the right word, but it's frakking horrible and attested to in historical sources.

And after a few days, in a Medieval setting, it is probably irreversible, just slow death from infection and gangrene while being eaten alive by insect larvae. The other character who swore to stand by him would really have to stand by him because any interference would actually prolong the agony because no medical treatment would save the suicide, just prolong the suffering. Lots of room for dramatic roleplaying

Originally Posted by HeirophantX

Lots of room for dramatic roleplaying

Obligatory reference:
The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I'm not dead.
The Dead Collector: 'Ere, he says he's not dead.
Large Man with Dead Body: Yes he is.
The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I'm not.
The Dead Collector: He isn't.
Large Man with Dead Body: Well, he will be soon, he's very ill.
The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I'm getting better.