fandomhigh | Magical Ethics: Week 3, Period 1

Entry tags:

magical ethics

Magical Ethics: Week 3, Period 1

"Good to see you all didn't freeze to death" was the greeting from Alysha as the bell rang for the start of the class. She had spent the weekend being really freaking annoyed that charms couldn't get the stove working again, and she hadn't been able to bake. The pies coming through from her aunties had been charmed up the wazoo, but she'd eaten 'em anyway and then gotten an enormous urge to call each and every auntie. Too bad her phone didn't run out of charge.

"Today we're talking about restrictions on power usage," she said after checking who was there. "Sometimes it seems stupid, you won't hurt anyone or use your powers for darkness, but maybe others will and suddenly there's a whole set of rules. Sometimes they're imposed by the government if you're in the type of country that acknowledges power usage, sometimes you're forced to hide any extra abilities you have because other people might feel threatened. It happens, and probably all of you have experienced some version of it."

"For instance, my family's rituals are always held in a particular part of the forest that is easily defensible by those not taking part in the circle. It's a mild restriction, but one my aunties impose on the family because outsiders don't know how to channel the type of power that was raised in ritual and really really didn't know how to handle the side effects. But also because too many outsiders come through and see parts of the ritual, they start to wonder what else might be going on." After they got done screwing their brain out with anything that moved. "And people poking their noses in can cause problems. On a heavier note, my family doesn't tolerate those who raise and hold power. We believe power is meant to be channeled and holding it leads corruption and evil." She shrugged. "Again, a restriction but one we place on others and take responsibility for enforcing."

"So what I want you to discuss today is what restrictions have you experienced - or know about if you don't use magic or other powers -, if you feel they're valid, and what type of limits you think should be placed on people who can do 'extra' things whether it's magic, super abilities, telepathy, or anything else you can think of."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"I agree," Raven said. "I did not know any better before I came here, but to be exposed to so many emotions, both good and bad, was difficult for me. I could not truly understand some of those feelings without knowing them myself. But I have tried to make my own rules. I will not force unwanted emotions upon another, and since I have learned some people like to cling to their pains, I ask before I attempt to heal someone. If they were unconscious or near death, however, I would not wait to ask."

Zack nodded, smiling broadly at that.

"I don't have the ability to influence the emotions of other people, but I do have access to some basic healing spells and potions, and even some items that can bring a person back from the brink of death," he shared. "I wouldn't just chuck a potion at somebody who was capable of making the choice themselves, either, even if it isn't easy to see somebody hurting. No harm is done by taking a moment to ask. But it's a different story if it's a matter of life and death, especially if you have the ability to keep someone alive who might have died otherwise."

"It is difficult for me to see someone suffer when I can so easily relieve it," Raven admitted. "I do not understand why someone would not want to be healed, but, yes, I have learned to force myself to ask. I do not think I could allow someone to die, however, if they were trying to take their own life. It would pain me, but I would have to ignore their wishes in that case."

This was a weird sort of conversation for a kid with a body count to have. Zack was steadfastly ignoring that fact, yes. It was entirely possible that the part of Zack that enjoyed fighting lived in a different corner of his head than the part of Zack that just wanted everybody to be happy.

"I can't imagine a situation where something like that would be warranted," Zack noted, frowning faintly as he thought on it. "A life thrown away is a life wasted, right? Though... I can see how there might be things that people think they can't ever live with, or overcome. And sometimes, people are long gone before their hearts ever stop beating."

He bit his lip. And then shrugged. He was hell-bent on smiling, but it was falling somewhat short, suddenly.

"I'm never sure what to do with people like that."

"I accept that all life must come to an end at some point," Raven said. "But to give up living feels so wrong to me. There may be perhaps some cases where death is a preferable option, but if it is to escape pain due to injury or illness...I can heal that as well, so there is no point to it."

The concept of suicide was something she found horribly distressing and could never really accept.

"There's more to pain than just what can be healed with a Cure spell," Zack noted. "I mean, I can't condone just rolling over and giving up, either. To fight to the bitter end, that's just the way I'm made. But some people might not be strong enough. Not... Not weak, necessarily, but maybe what they're dealing with is stronger than they are. To the point where it's gone and hollowed them out. What do you do with people who are empty?"

"If the body is just a shell," Raven said slowly, "then there is little point in its continued existence. But I do not think I would be able to watch the last bit of life flee."

There was Zack's wry smile, coming back to find him.

"What if it's trying to kill you, first?"

Oh, because that wasn't specific at all. Zack, your issues are showing.

"I was raised to be a pacifist and shun all violence," Raven said. "But I have come to learn I must be able to defend myself and those I care for. But I still do not think I could take a life." The very thought of it made her shudder.

Zack nodded a little, pursing his lips thoughtfully at that. He wasn't a pacifist by a long shot, no, but he could at least begin to empathize with those who were.

"It's not an easy situation to be put in," he offered. "Especially when you know that other people have been hurt by them before. But it isn't their fault that they're... whatever they became. I don't think anybody would choose to become empty, like that."

"Have their souls fled the bodies?" Raven asked quietly.

Zack's eyes, meet the top of Zack's desk. Hello, Zack's desk.

"I have no idea," he admitted. "I feel sorry for them, if they haven't."

"As would I," Raven said. "That is a terrible fate to befall someone."

"But what gives you the right to ignore their wishes?" Karla asked, taking up the thread of the conversation. "What allows you to privilege your will over theirs?"

"To throw away their life means their will is likely clouded by something else, such as great sadness," Raven said. "An impulsive action to end their emotional pain is wrong."

"Define 'wrong'," Alysha interjected. "That's a loaded word without much leeway. Is it always 'wrong'? What if the person's coming from a place where the right thing to do is to end their life?"

"I cannot imagine such a thing," Raven said, frowning.

"But you don't know that," Karla pointed out softly. "It might not be an impulsive decision and it might not be something as simple as sadness. And if life has become a burden, become something to be painfully endured, why force someone to keep living it? More specifically relevant to the class--just because you have the power to stop it, does that mean you have the right?"

"What I am compels me to fight against death," Raven insisted. No offense to Didi, of course.

"Perhaps, but there are circumstances that make life more of a punishment than death is," Karla said, looking down at her hands. "Forcing someone to live because it makes you feel better strikes me as...wrong."

"It is difficult for me to conceive of wishing to die," Raven fretted, "but I trust you that it is possible. I am uncertain now what I would do if confronted by that situation."

Karla sent a soothing tendril Raven's way. She wanted Raven to consider other possibilities, but not become upset. Glancing around the room, she said in a low voice, "How would you react if you lost your gifts? If you couldn't heal, couldn't feel people's emotions, couldn't summon your soul-self? Not lost--what if they were taken away, violently, forever."

Of everyone Karla had spoken to, she thought Raven was the closest to understanding her, because Raven seemed to define herself by her gifts, too.

"It would feel...wrong," Raven said. "I would be incomplete, not half of what I used to be." Even if her gifts came from her father's blood, the thought of being without them was chilling.

"That happens, sometimes, back home," Karla said, keeping her voice low. She was also choosing her words very carefully. "Craft can be taken away from someone under different circumstances, most of them unpleasant. Some people can forge ahead and make a new life for themselves, though they are forever aware of just what they've lost, like an ache that will never go away. Some surrender to madness, because that is the only way to get some few vestiges of power back. And some," Karla looked away, "some choose neither option. It was something I had to learn to accept when I was an apprentice Healer."

"It must have been difficult for you to learn," Raven said quietly, looking down and trying not to imagine those circumstances, though from her experience in Briarwood she had a bit of an idea. "It has been hard enough for me to have people refuse to allow me to heal them. I would have to respect their wishes, however, even if I do not like it."

She just hoped she would never be tested on that.

Re: Discussion [1-19]

glacial_queen - 2010-01-19 21:47 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Discussion [1-19]

trigons_child - 2010-01-19 21:54 (UTC) - Expand

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only