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

[deadelfwalking]

Not to me.

[vocalizer]

[ Yikes... ]

Okay, but what about a case where someone steals something small that doesn't matter like a pen. Do you really think they deserve to have a hand cut off for that?

[deadelfwalking]

Do not bring this talk down to trivialities. If you dislike the suggestions, offer alternatives.

[vocalizer]

Why don't we just make a better jail system? Isn't serving time in jail a much better option than cutting off people's hands? It works in most countries around the world.

[ Well his world... sort of.

Okay, so it often doesn't really actually work in fixing the problem. It does people from getting their hands chopped off though. ]

[deadelfwalking]

How would we make a better jail system? What would time in confinement accomplish?

[vocalizer]

A-ah... well I don't actually know a lot about these things, so I'm not sure I could help much there. But for the second question, it'd keep them from being able to steal again for awhile though, and if they didn't want to get stuck in jail again it'd keep them from stealing in the future without having to remove parts of their body, right? It's still a punishment, but it's not so severe.

[deadelfwalking]

What of murder? Violation?

[vocalizer]

I'm not sure about murder. If they spent time in jail it might be better to just keep them there for the rest of their lives, or at least for their rest of the time in this universe.

[ That second one..... ]

Everything else it depends on how serious the crime in, doesn't it? Even if it all falls under the same umbrella some things are still going to be worse than others. [ Hesitating. ]

If someone had the ability to force other people to do what they wanted, there's still a difference between forcing them to do something small and forcing them to kill other people. I'm not saying either is right! But we can't punish it all the same way.

And as for treason... I don't know if there's really levels to that or not. It's dangerous for the rest of us if they give the United Earth information, but I still think we should judge those on a case by case basis.

[deadelfwalking]

Hmm. So you suggest differentiation in punishment for someone forced to, perhaps, pour someone else a cup a tea, versus someone else forced to put a knife in another person's back? Both represent the worst kind of violation, to my mind.

[vocalizer]

Exactly. I'm not saying there isn't something wrong with both scenarios... [ Maybe. Who knows. He might be saying that, but not to this guy. ] But there's definitely a difference between one verses the other. There's no way you can treat those two cases like they're the same thing.