Ieldra2 wrote...
By that logic, we should all have implanted ID transponders and only be able to leave home accompanied by the police, because, you know, otherwise nothing prevents me from acquiring a gun and killing a few dozen people before anyone can respond. To say nothing about the fact that in this scenario, the abuses by the police would become worse than everything they're trying to prevent in no time at all. As experiments have shown, there are few things more effective at turning people into monsters than to give them permanent institutionalized power over others.
Let's see if I can take a stab at the morality of the whole thing from the pro-templar perspective:
The problem is not that mages are different from non-mages, it's that, where it counts, they're not. Anything a non-mage is capable of doing, a mage is too. They will be just as prone to commit abuses intentionally, unintentionally or as last resorts as anyone else is.
There is a expression:
opportunity makes the thief, that is very relevant for the whole discussion. Since it's the core premise of the pro-templar side essentially. The basic idea is that the easier it is to commit a crime and get away with it, the more likely it is that someone would.
Consider an apple tree standing unattended somewhere. It is rather likely that on ocassion someone would grab a ripe apple from it. They're hungry and there's free food. As it happens, I might own this tree and thus the apples are mine. Technically these people are stealing from me, but given that I neither inform the passersby nor protect the apples, the opportunity to intentionally or not, commit a crime is great.
Should I put up a sign, less people will steal apples. But the tree is still unguarded and unwatched, so plenty of opportunity still exist to do and more than a few will seize upon it.
I really do have to put up a guard to prevent it from happening alltogether. And even then, there might be a few that take a chance when my guard looks away.
So when an opportunity exist many people may become the thief. How is this relevant? The root issue is that non-mages have precious little means to defend against magic.
A mage and a swordsman both are dangerous, but to counter the danger of a swordsman I can ask him to disarm himself or practise with the sword myself until we are equals in skill. I am at no point forced to trust his intentions since I can minimize the threat he poses to me. With mages, I do not have this ability. I cannot ask them to disarm themselves, since they cannot put their powers away. I cannot teach myself to be their equal, since power only manifests in a select few.
I am, always, at an disadvantage We are not equals and we never will be. I can threaten him, sure. But never deal with him as an equal. The mage always have power over me.
And as you pointed out yourself. Holding permanent power over another works as opportunity. It's not that everyone in such a position will abuse their powers, it's that it lends itself extremely well to doing so. It's not that all mages will use their advantage to force me to do as they demand, it's that when they do there's precious little I can do about it. I can gather a bunch of mates and at considerable risk to myself beat the mage up, sure. But I cannot safeguard myself.
Now, this is a excellent argument for law enforcement but not isolation one might object. And indeed, it's a very valid argument. The possibility of crime does not warrant such an extreme measure. However, now we hit another problem.
Southern Thedas is a rural culture. At it's core it's a culture of villages and farms, not trade and cities. It's a culture of dependancies. On good weather, on good land and on enough people to gather the harvest before it rots. Small isolated communities. Not much connection between them and usually only a handful of warriors to protect them.
A mage forcing his will on such a community is positively trivial. He can hold the farms hostage, threatening to burn the harvest if they do not please him. He can use his magic to crush their protectors and take their place. And the isolation of this community means that there's very little they can do to contact any relevant authorities and when they do, the perpetrator can be long gone.
Both Connor and the Baroness neatly demonstrate the disatrous repercussion this can have.
Law enforcement can be a preventive measure, but the distances and speed of communications means you'd have to put templars in every single village in southern thedas to build enough of a grid to have a decent level of protection. Swordsmen are capable of this as well, of course. But with swordsmen, non-mages can have parity. The basic level of protection exist there already, but with mages this is not so.
Now, not all mages are these dominating flowers ready to bloom as soon as they're exposed to the first unprotected village down the road. And even then there's probably a fair few that would be rather benevolent overlords, considerably better than many of the warriors (nobles) currently ruling.
Now we encounter the second phrase that's relevant:
The road to hell is paved with good intentions. That you do not intend any harm does not mean you won't cause it. How many atrocities are commited for a greater purpose? To stave of starvation? For love? To fight for ideas (including politcs and religion)?
Mages are not worse than non-mages, but they certainly are not better either. And they do have an advantage.
The on top of that we have abominations and blood magic. The former only really become issues under severe emotional stress or when you make deals with them. The latter is "easily dealt with" using education. In theory, it's entirely possible to educate mages ot the level they won't ever relent to a demon (probably easier said than done though). But emotional stress.... does not the world contain enough tragedy to make that at the very least concering?
The latter, is rare, but increases the disparity between non-mage and mage. Moreover, with mindcontrol it has extremely efficient means of hiding said atrocities. Taking away the only means of control there'd be. Since a crime cannot be punished if it's not reported.
All in all, there is great opportunity of abuse and very little means of prevention. Society can punish, but not prevent these. And ultimately, law is as much about prevention as it is about punishment.
Isolation is a preventive measure. Isolate the mage population and keep them under guard. It's not a good solution. Perhaps not even a desireable one. But there's precious few other options.
Allowing a mage nobility is one. But for historical, cultural and religious reasons that one is going to be a very hard sell to southern Thedas.
Putting circles under control of mages and lessening the restrictions placed upon them risks undermining the idea of isolating mages in the first place as well. Since once more it asks non-mages to trust mages, and that this is the only recourse they really have.
Which is the very reason circles exist in the first place. Since the southern cultures refused to do so.
Modifié par Sir JK, 24 juin 2013 - 11:16 .
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