thirteenth rune; frost; video

[deadelfwalking]

[Hello, friends. A cold-eyed elf with a fairly significant skin condition stares at the camera, his jaw set, his mouth a thin, inscrutable line.]

Talk of a council is all well and good, but we have another matter in front of us.

As many of you have pointed out, there is no formal system of law in place. At present, those of you who acted as peace officers have simply continued as you were in your own worlds. If you brought others to justice, if you spoke about justice -- you have continued to see this as your right.

[His eyes narrow, drawing his long eyebrows together.]

But it is not your right. Your laws are not universal. Your morality is not sacrosanct.

We must decide on appropriate conduct as a whole, with consideration given to perspectives outside of our own.

I propose that any code we settle on be simple and direct. For example:

1. Murder shall be abolished. In the case of murder, execution.

2. Theft shall be abolished. In the case of theft, the hand shall be cut off at the wrist. Repeat offenders shall lose both hands.

3. Conspiring with the United Earth shall be considered treason. In the case of treason, suspected or actual, execution.

4. Bodily autonomy shall be respected. Knowing efforts to mind control, telepathically invade, steal, or otherwise forcibly take spiritual or physical authority over another sentient being will constitute assault. In the case of this assault, execution.

And so forth.  These are merely ideas, of course.

[His lower lip twitches, suggesting that he's perfectly aware of the extremes he's recommended. Suggesting that he's just trying to get your attention, to get you to think about how you would define your own terms. What constitutes murder? Theft? Conspiracy? Justice? He's only asking.

Maybe.]

[After several hours, the post is edited with a very carefully recorded text attachment.]

Proposed countermeasures to theft:
public humiliation 
fines
time locked away

Proposed countermeasures to murder:
temporary exile
(where?  to a safe place?  to a random location in time?

General countermeasures
better jail system (?)
compassion (???)
mercy (???)
trials (how?  who receives authority?  who takes what position?  what verdicts should result?)
jail time (general solution?)
punishment via the VR room (?) 

Comments

[fintastic]

That's not my point. Killing someone is probably going to make them pretty mad.

[ And by probably she means she is pretty certain it will. ]

[deadelfwalking]

That doesn't concern me.

[fintastic]

It concerns me when they come back and go on an angry rampage! Laws are supposed to protect, not make things more dangerous.

[deadelfwalking]

If they can be killed once, they can be killed a second time.

[grin.]

[fintastic]

Or we could just not cull people in the first place! Then we wouldn't have to worry about culling them again and again.

[deadelfwalking]

How do you dispense justice in your world?

[fintastic]

In awful ways that I would not want repeated here! Besides, Alternia was different. Our Empress was always thousands of light years away, and could kill the entire planet in a few minutes if she wanted to. I don't think you can really compare it to what is going on here.

[deadelfwalking]

Azeroth is different, too. Our justice is not the justice of this land. But this is the perspective I come from. Others may come from similar perspectives. Should we discard our home cultures simply because another culture disagrees? And, if so, what should we do instead?

[fintastic]

I didn't say anything about other cultures, though. You asked me about mine and I think most trolls would agree that Alternian law shouldn't be enacted here, not most of it. Yes, there was execution we called it culling, but you could also be culled if you were too weak, or if you got injured, or because you said something against the Empress. Murder wasn't always punishable though, unless you murdered the wrong person. Same with theft, and telepathy. So there's nothing to learn from it. It was a bad system and everyone just lived in fear of the day the Empress would decide to wipe out their entire caste.

[deadelfwalking]

In simple terms: you would leave the viewpoint of your culture by the wayside.

[fintastic]

Leave it by the wayside? I would like to do so much more to it than that if I could!

But yes. Alternian culture as the Empress decided it should be, yes. The viewpoints of me and my friends though, no.

[deadelfwalking]

And what is your viewpoint, Feferi?

[fintastic]

I just told you my viewpoint. That execution is both wrong and ineffective. We have so many other things available though. The transporter, for one. The VR room. I think virtual punishments would be a good way to get the point across.

[deadelfwalking]

Virtual punishments. What do you mean?

[fintastic]

I guess it would depend on what they did, but make them do a VR course that was unpleasant. It would have to be relevant to what they did. Like if they betrayed us to the UE, make them see what it would be like if the UE destroyed their world.

[deadelfwalking]

Interesting. I will note this idea.