Magical Ethics: Week 3, Period 1

[justagalegirl.livejournal.com]

"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."

Comments

Re: Discussion [1-19]

[trigons_child]

"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.

Re: Discussion [1-19]

[glacial_queen]

"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."

Re: Discussion [1-19]

[trigons_child]

"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]

Karla didn't, either. Raven didn't deserve to ever be faced with that choice. "It was. And it took a while for me to get it." She leaned over to give Raven a hug. "That's all I was saying. Sometimes there are forces at work that we can't know about. While I do think that it's good and right to stop some suicides if you can, there's never one hard and fast rule for anything."

Re: Discussion [1-19]

[trigons_child]

Raven nodded against Karla's shoulder as she hugged her back. "Yes," she said, "different circumstances dictate different responses. I cannot say my action would always be the same."