I think he's deluding himself with an "I'll make up for all of this evil later" mentality. Not that he's insane. He's similar to Caesar in NV.
I agree that he is comparable to Caesar but unlike Caesar Ashur doesn't plan to let slavery last long after he dies.
Caesar's plan is to unite the wastes as much as possible before he dies and make a strong long lasting nation or if it splits up nations.
His second in command isn't that afraid of him if you listen to their dialogue. Does he sleep with his armor on? Didn't he already get knocked out once? He's not god-like, just armored.
Who, Werhner? That crazy anarchist isn't afraid of death, all he wants is to take over the Pitt for personnal glory and power which he fails at.
I think he would have trusted guards while he slept.
And he was seen as godlike because nobody saw him get knocked out, all they did was see him drag himself out of a pile of rubble that would've crushed a man without power armor.
If you think the purifier is worthless because of other fallout lore you should take that up with Bethesda's writers.
It's the basis for the entire plot of FO3.
I know, it's kind of sad. The purifier would be obselete if F3 followed already established Fallout lore.
And if you think about it the Lone Wanderer's the bad guy. Autumn has the same goal as Lyons but instead of telling Lyons that and getting them to peacefully work together you just keep your mouth shut and kill dozens of people to accomplish nothing.
Sometimes things worked out for the best. Sometimes they didn't. That doesn't mean it was the only way to go about doing them. It was just the only way that was tried. May not even have been the best way.
For many cases it was the only way to help us advance unfortunantly.
And I feel this is one of them. To keep the Pitt strong and to keep the scientists safe while they make the cure Ashur has to keep slaves to work in the Mill.
It's terrible but it will make humanity immune to radiation.
You're putting your faith in Ashur and his good intentions. Maybe it will work out. Maybe it won't. I happen to lack faith in him.
But I don't see a reason to lack faith in him.
And if it doesn't work, though I may sound like an evil jerk saying this, the price of a few wastelanders who had already been caught by slavers isn't very high.
He has a noble goal and the means to reach it, he just has to do some terrible things along the way. That is one of my favorite kinds of characters because they always have inner conflicts with themselves about morality.
Or they could just leave the Pitt and go back to where they lived before they were enslaved. . .
To what? Be killed by wild life, get caught by slavers again, or, maybe, etch out a living before kicking the bucket?
There is little to nothing for them at home. It may be terrible in the Pitt but what is happening there will benefit everybody eventually.
Who says the cure is guaranteed to work without side effects anyway?
They will test it and perfect it.
It's not like they have a limited amount of time or anything.