IanPolaris wrote...
louise101 wrote...
Siding with a genocidal maniac is not the choice, you side with either the mage or templar order. There are guilty and innocent on both sides remember. Is slaughtering every templar justified because Meredith is a fruit loop?
Siding or not siding with a genocidal maniac is precisely the choice you must make. It was (and should have been) the Knight Captain's Duty to relieve Meredith of her command when she so clearly went off the deep end and declare a RoA on such sketchy grounds (at best!)
The Templars failed and willingly followed a genocidal maniac.
Just because the Templars decided to put their brain in an icebox doesn't require you to do the same.
-Polaris
Well Polaris is right in this.
The difference between innocents and non innocents is not always only that they did not do anything wrong. A soldier for example can be a nice and upright person. But soldiers ain't innocents. They signed a contract and with that gave up on some of their rights. For example that their right to live is untouchable (don't know the correct term in english). Matter of factly soldiers have a duty which can involve dying to fulfill it. So they are not innocents. They are soldiers. Same applies to templars. They are sworn to a duty and serve a higher goal than staying alive. Mages though don't do that. They are born as they are. People always forget that. That mages are not 'equal' opposites to templars. There is not basic 'justice' in the templar-mage relationship. Neither is it just to be born a mage, nor to not be born a mage. It just happens. And mages are dangerous, and templars are tasked to limit this danger as good as possible.
Basically the templars/chantry fail(s). It is not the fault of mages to be mages. It can't be. How can you blame someone to be something that he or she can't change anything about. Again, being mage is not a choice. Job of the chantry and the templars is not to imprison or kill mages. It is to make sure mages are no danger to the rest of the citizens and the other way round. And the way templars oppress mages is just not qualified to achieve that. Especially not in Kirkwall.
The less pressure, the less bloodmages. So basically you can lay all blame on the templars and chantry, since ... what will you blame mages for? For being mages? You could blame them for using bloodmagic and/or summoning demons. But only if they do it for 'bad' reasons. If they do it for power or other immoral goals. But if they do it for self defense? Because they are treated unfair and bloodmagic is the most powerful weapon against those who harm them?
I really have the feeling that the main problem of the mage-templar issue starts with the chantry. They claim morale superiority by some divine right which is nowhere justified. There are no gods to see anywhere and there are no means to even communicate with them. All we have is a Chant of
Lies Light, which could as well be just a bunch of made up stuff. I am not against religion or morale concepts. But if they declare human beings as 'not being persons' or not having human rights because they are different or dangerous, then that's a line that can only be crossed if you have real divine sanction. As in having your god and maker actually be present or speaking to the people. Otherwise, if I only see people, I can only believe in people. Or values that must be equal for all people.
What the templars do is genocide. The Annullment is only meant to be used if a Circle is beyond hope. If there is no chance to save anyone. The Circle of Kirkwall wasn't in that state. It is even obvious since you can save some mages. People may think genocide is justified in a certain situation. That's one thing to say. But to say killing a group of people because of what they are by nature is not genocide is just denial. Because that's the definition of genocide. The Annullment assumes that the Circle is beyond saving, in other words all mages are dead or soon dead. Like in Ferelden, if the templars had waited for a week or so there would only be demons left to fight. The Circle of Kirkwall wasn't in that state. Yes it was corrupted and the First Enchantes himself was a Bloodmage. But it was not beyond saving.
Modifié par AlexXIV, 21 avril 2011 - 11:13 .
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