Not trying to be political here or anything like that, but with religion being how it is, there are always going to be people who either take it too far or do a hell of a lot for their religion, or perhaps a small mix of both. Today we're going to be debating who would win against these two religious groups who are not afraid to take up arms against those who do not believe in the same faith.
Jewish Zealots: Enemies of the Romans and a political party in ancient Israel, these Zealots certainly know how to fight, even if they are a little bit...constantly unorganized.
vs.
The Testament of the New Ezekiel: The cult in Outlast 2 formed around Sullivan Knoth and his prophetic sermons about the Antichrist and how they must prevent him from coming.
Who is deadliest?
Jewish Zealots[]
Originally a simple political movement that was against Roman occupation of Israel and the Jewish Lands, the Zealots would eventually turn violent. Really violent, in fact. These zealots would eventually go about forcefully removing Roman's from Jewish lands by just attacking Romans and Greeks in the area in order to drive them off. Though, on top of killing the Roman's, the Zealots would also kill their Jewish brethren if they suspected them of collaborating with the Romans. They would call for other Jewish people to kill the Romans and Greek and Jewish traitors, essentially. Because of their time against the Romans in the Jewish Roman War, they got a lot of weapons that we can pull from. Let's go over them now.
Sica: These metal daggers are the main weapons of people of Thrace, but that doesn't mean these Jewish Zealots wouldn't use them if they got their hands on it. weighing 2.5 pounds and 30 inches, the blade is shaped to get past shield and under helmets.
Wooden Staff: These are more or less used by the Sicarii, which are assassins which were often grouped together with these zealots. They would carry these wooden staffs, often ranging from 3 to 5 feet. These aren't exactly the quarterstaff's of medieval Europe, and there aren't really any spikes on them. They're better at keeping a foe at bay then anything else. Not much killing potential here.
Entrenchment Tool: While this sounds like a pretty fancy name for a weapon, this is essentually going to be a Zealot taking a shovel and trying to whack someone over the head with it. Entrenchment tools were used a lot in warfare, even in the Roman times, and these zealots happened to be armed with shovels with fairly sharp head. With enough force these things should be able to get through the skin, possibly cutting off an arm if put through enough force. Not exactly opportune weapons, but what did you expect, a spatha?
The Testament of the New Ezekiel:[]
Following under the teachings of Sullivan Knoth, the Testament of the New Ezekiel believe that their prophet Knoth can listen to god's voice, and they do everything the voice tells them to. As Knoth writes the newest addition to the bible, the Book of Knoth, the Testament goes on with their lives, torturing and killing for prophet Knoth, and killing children constantly in an attempt to prevent the birth of the Antichrist. Makes you wonder how they keep getting people for this cult. One of their main leaders is a woman named Marta, known as Knoth's Eye because she reports everything directly to him. She's incredibly tall, and can destroy tables and doors with ease. Despite being mostly farmers and such, there are some weapons to cover here.
Machete: A classic weapon of the horror genre and a pretty good tool when you need to remove foliage, though it is also a good tool for cutting off heads as well! This weapon can reach a length of 17.7 inches and is fairly lightweight, while being able to cut through flesh fairly easily. A useful tool, indeed.
Pitchfork: Usually used as a simple farming tool, this tool can also be used as a weapon by angry mobs and rebellions if they ever need to stab someone from a distance. Pitchforks vary in length, put at times they can be about 4-5 feet in length, and they end in four pointy prongs at the end to stab into hay or loose materials. Or the flesh of a human being. You do you.
Pickax: While this is often used as a mining tool, it can also be used to stab into someone's skull as well. This is the main weapon of Marta, the Executioner of the Testament. She has a giant pickax to go with her tall physique, and the metal ax can easily tear into a man. Though, the normal pickaxes held by the normal people really don't do as much. they're not nearly as sharp or pointy.
X-Factors[]
Leadership: So considering that the Jewish Zealots are little more than rebels, one can argue that they really don't have much in terms of leadership, as more often than not they spent a lot of time infighting and fighting themselves as much as they did the Romans and Greek. Meanwhile, the Testament are at least united under one cause and don't have much infighting, if at all.
Zealots - 70
Testament - 75
Organization: This is something that both combatants are sure to be a little bit lacking in. Both of them aren't exactly military units, and therefor organization among them is lacking. One could arguably give this to the Testament as they've all been under the same leader for a long time now, and they perhaps have the slight advantage considering the Zealots couldn't hold all the factions into one singular force.
Zealot - 55
Testament - 60
Experience: The Zealots have actually fought the Romans and the Greeks on several occasions, so it's pretty easy to say they have more experience considering, at most, the Testament may have fought the Heretics a couple of times, but they're not really Romans, are they?
Zealots - 75
Testament - 65
Tactics: Once again it's a little bit difficult to find out. The Zealots knew a lot about Guerilla warfare which helps them out quite a bit, but the Testament works well in a mob setting, and they know how to work together fairly well, and they have been able to fight the Heretics and hold them off for quite a while, so it's not like they haven't tried out a few tactics. Meanwhile the Zealots also focused a lot on "Let's just attack the Romans and Greeks and see what happens"
Zealots - 70
Testament - 65
Setting[]
This will be between four Testament members led by Marta and five Zealots, lead by Eleazer ben Simon. Fight takes place at Mount Massive Asylum from Outlast 1.
Voting ends basically whenever I feel like it. At most we're waiting a few weeks.