Originally Posted by Kralizec
Not exactly, some V/V's wich increase dread also lower your units' morale, such the 'no mercy' vice. The reasoning is that since you execute all your prisoners, your troops don't get a share in the ransom, because there isn't any. Though if you do it enough, or execute 1,000 prisoners in one go, you'll immediately get a V/V that increases your dread a LOT without morale penalty.
Dread itself doesn't lower troops' morale of either you or the enemy, it just scares populations into submission AFAIK.
Speaking of wich, I hope prisoner ransoming is back.