537 réponses à ce sujet

[HellaciousHutch]

Knowing bioware there will probably be an ending where we just sort of... turn off... all the magic in Thedas through some weird supernatural, paranormal, green cupcake nonsense 

 

I see the opposite happening, if you put any weight behind Sandal's Prophecy.

 

Sandal saying that all the magic will comeback, in the same statement that he's seemingly describing the events of Dragon Age: Inquisition, leads me to believe that EVERYONE is going to have some degree of magic once this "Breach" event is over.

 

If everyone has magic, then, it's technically hard to be afraid and fearful of it anymore; of other people having it.

[Dean_the_Young]

I see the opposite happening, if you put any weight behind Sandal's Prophecy.

 

Sandal saying that all the magic will comeback, in the same statement that he's seemingly describing the events of Dragon Age: Inquisition, leads me to believe that EVERYONE is going to have some degree of magic once this "Breach" event is over.

 

If everyone has magic, then, it's technically hard to be afraid and fearful of it anymore; of other people having it.

 

Au contrair. Even very common things can be terrifying.

[Urazz]

I don't think everyone will have magic but it would probably cause there to be more mages than there currently is so it would probably make the Circle system obsolete.

[HellaciousHutch]

Au contrair. Even very common things can be terrifying.

 

That's true. But, if all the magic comes back, then, no one has an advantage over anyone else anymore, and pretty much everyone will have the same pros and cons as the next person; on a base level, anyway. People who originally didn't have magic abilities will begin to understand what it's like to have them, and to just understand what magic is, what it does etc. etc.

 

The fear of the unknown is the greatest fear there is, in my opinion. The fear of the unknown can lead people to do irrational things to each other (i.e. lock people away in towers) or even themselves (i.e. become addicted to lyrium in order to stand against those 'evil mages'), in both fictional worlds and the real world. If everyone had magical properties, then, magic really isn't an unknown anymore, and people will, overtime, probably (lol), become more accepting of each other, because they are no longer different from one another (another great fear of people).

[Dean_the_Young]

That's true. But, if all the magic comes back, then, no one has an advantage over anyone else anymore, and pretty much everyone will have the same pros and cons as the next person; on a base level, anyway. People who originally didn't have magic abilities will begin to understand what it's like to have them, and to just understand what magic is, what it does etc. etc.

 

The fear of the unknown is the greatest fear there is, in my opinion. The fear of the unknown can lead people to do irrational things to each other (i.e. lock people away in towers) or even themselves (i.e. become addicted to lyrium in order to stand against those 'evil mages'), in both fictional worlds and the real world. If everyone had magical properties, then, magic really isn't an unknown anymore, and people will, overtime, probably (lol), become more accepting of each other, because they are no longer different from one another (another great fear of people).

That's not quite correct. Magic isn't a uniform thing that can be understood and spread around to equalize everyone: there are mages who are strong, and those whose magic is weak, mages who manifest themselves in random ways, and those who are so strong they can't control it and are at exceptional risk of demon outbreaks. It remains a volatile thing, in and of itself, and remains quite capable of significant and random danger of unpredictable degrees. It's the randomness, rather than the death, that goes a long way in making magic terrifying.

 

Moreover, expanding the presence of magic to everyone doesn't mean everyone understands it like the Circles. Expanding the presence of magic to everyone breaks the Circle's understanding and approach to managing magic. The Circles, for all their flaws, are a structured, ordered, and enforced discipline towards the innate randomness of magic. Some people can't handle the enforced discipline: some break, or rebel, or try to escape, or are culled as unreliable and unsafe even by the judgement of their tiers, but the majority of mages are able to approach magic more safely as a result.

 

Breaking the magic minority is going to break the Circle discipline. Making everyone magical isn't making everyone a Circle Mage: making everyone magical is making everyone a hedge mage, untrained and with magic manifesting in various, unique, and unpredictable ways. And it is going to completely demolish the idea of making all mages self-disciplined: there won't be any possible systemic or methodical approach to guessing or ensuring some minimal standard of competence and rigor. And considering that magical safety, personal and public, is all about self-discipline and mental/emotional fortitude, you're going to see a lot more uncontrolled magical outbreaks, abomination and otherwise, as a result.

 

You look at the mage-mundane divide as a case of fear of the unknown driving the danger and fear, and that if everyone has the magic the danger will be reduced because everyone will be sympathetic.

 

But if you compare the mage-mundane divide as a case of mages being people forced into magical suicide vests that may or may not go off at any time, with or without deliberate intent depending on emotional health and balance, forcing everyone into suicide vests isn't reassuring. It just makes you terrified of everyone, since now everyone can be an insane abomination. Or a blood mage. Or both.

 

Abominationhood is the real security threat of magic, and it's not one that becomes less scary by making it more common. And that's not even coming close to what the social expectations of the sanctity of the mind and freedom of thought will be like when everyone has access to as over-powered an option as blood magic.

 

Making everyone mages would be amping up the chaos of the world radically. Instead of a small minority of people both capable and victims of uncontrollable magics being successfully contained an a marginal threat, everyone would be a danger to themselves and everyone else for factors beyond any mages control.

[LobselVith8]

I don't think everyone will have magic but it would probably cause there to be more mages than there currently is so it would probably make the Circle system obsolete.

 

Perhaps not everyone; I think the only group of people who believe their ancestors all wielded magic is the Dalish. Sandal said, "One day the magic will come back. All of it. Everyone will be just like they were. The shadows will part, and the skies will open wide. When he rises, everyone will see." Sandal seems to be addressing the Breach, as well as someone who might be the antagonist.

 

Allegedly, there was a time before the veil, so that could be the goal with the Breach. Yavana, another daughter of Flemeth, talks about a time before the veil. She said (to Alistair), "Your heart beats with the old blood, as well. Where do you think it comes from? It sings of a time when dragons ruled the skies. A time before the Veil, before the mysteries were forgotten. Can you hear it?"

[Han Shot First]

Actually, Tevinter's government works fine, it's their slave-based economy and life-non-valuing culture that are the problems.

 

Tevinter is a tyranny of mages. Only magisters can rule. In Tevinter people without magical ability are an underclass, while in the rest of Thedas the reverse is true.

 

If there is a perfect solution, it hasn't been tried yet. Both Tevinter and the White Divine Chantry model are deeply flawed. The ideal would be a system where both mages and those without magical ability have equal rights as citizens. But how do you go about achieving that? 

[HellaciousHutch]

The thing is though, there is really no longer a Circle of Magi system in place any longer as of Dragon Age Inquisiton. At least, the ending of Dragon Age 2, and the brief glimpses we've seen of Dragon Age Inquisition in action, seem to indicate; it's either gone, or, extremely weakened. The system was flawed to begin with, and kinda-sorta reminded me of the American Justice system (the mages learn to control their powers yes, this is true, but they are never allowed to be part of society again, and are forever branded, and those who do escape are hunted to death, even if they are peaceful as peace can be).

 

The reason they are locked in the Circle of Magi is the fear that they become abominations, or, possibly, even the fear they may try to pull a Tevinter Imperium, enslaving those without magical abilities. They are locked up and persecuted by those who don't have magical abilities, and, who fear the unknown that is magic (unknown to them, anyway). Locking up people for life for events that might happen is just plain wrong. 

 

I'm not saying everyone gaining magical abilities would make everything equal or not be somewhat chaotic, I probably worded it...weird or wrong, but, that if everyone gained magical abilities, that, the discrimination that went on before the event wouldn't be as bad, and, it would possibly allow EVERYONE to look at magic in a new light, and let Thedas reorganize the system of how it trains magic users in the proper use of their abilities into a more fair, less abusive, and less racist and fear-mongering, less 'what if?' system.

[Milan92]

I'd love to give the mages more equel rights, but at the same time its very tricky.

[Han Shot First]

 

I'm not saying everyone gaining magical abilities would make everything equal or not be somewhat chaotic, I probably worded it...weird or wrong, but, that if everyone gained magical abilities, that, the discrimination that went on before the event wouldn't be as bad, and, it would possibly allow EVERYONE to look at magic in a new light, and let Thedas reorganize the system of how it trains magic users in the proper use of their abilities into a more fair, less abusive, and less racist and fear-mongering, less 'what if?' system.

 

I hope that never happens within the Dragon Age lore, as everyone having some magical abilities will kind of render the warrior & rogue specs pointless. I'd rather there was a clear division between gameplay classes. 

[Dean_the_Young]

The reason they are locked in the Circle of Magi is the fear that they become abominations, or, possibly, even the fear they may try to pull a Tevinter Imperium, enslaving those without magical abilities. They are locked up and persecuted by those who don't have magical abilities, and, who fear the unknown that is magic (unknown to them, anyway). Locking up people for life for events that might happen is just plain wrong. 

Commendable in abstract, often iffy and less than uniform in implementation and in the details.

 

Would you apply that towards life imprisonment for a serial killer, or capital punishment? There's no way to reverse the killings he's done in the past, so punishment doesn't rectify the harm, but any future killings are just hypotheticals that might happen until they do.

 

The common accepted answer to that is that it would be an appropriate function of justice- that the fact that the person has already harmed people warrants the punishment.

 

But what about someone who hasn't yet done so, but had the ability and intent? A would-be perpetrator who attempted a catastrophic act of terrorism? The idea of retributive punishment wouldn't even apply there, because there was no harm. Even though they had intent and capability, what is the moral and ethical basis for detainment for long periods of time, or effectively their life?

 

The obvious answer would be intent. But intent isn't always necessary to harm one's self and others. Sometimes simply capability is enough, when it can't be controlled and real harm is possible, yet not guaranteed. Which certainly applies to mages and magic, thanks to the involvement of spirits.

 

So the better question would be- would you apply that same viewpoint to the idea of a quarantine?

 

Right now there are people in Uganda who are literally being locked up for the rest of their unfortunately very short lives if they are found to have Ebola. There's fear, there is misunderstanding, and there are even resistance and subversion groups, friends and family who try to hide their loved ones and escape the quarantine. Is this wrong? Is this bad? The carriers of Ebola aren't malevolent. They aren't deliberate spreaders. They are, in every respect, the first victims. And most of them are now going to be locked up for the rest of their life on the basis of what might happen if they aren't.

 

 

The current outbreak of Ebola is a death toll well within the scope of an abomination outbreak in Dragon Age: slower, but they can be modeled in similar ways. Of course, there are limitations to this analogy as well. Ebola, as devastating as it is, either burns itself out or is survived. The few survivors are no longer potential carriers by the time they are allowed out of quarantine. Mages never stop being potential abominations- or, to apply the analogy, mages never stop carrying a latent stream of ebola that could come out in a period of emotional weakness.

 

Does that mean they shouldn't be quarantined, shouldn't be locked up for the rest of their life just on account of what might happen?

 

To some people, certainly. I imagine that the world would also survive an uncontrolled Ebola outbreak- though certainly not in any form that people who value that status quo would appreciate.

 

 

 

 

I'm not saying everyone gaining magical abilities would make everything equal or not be somewhat chaotic, I probably worded it...weird or wrong, but, that if everyone gained magical abilities, that, the discrimination that went on before the event wouldn't be as bad, and, it would possibly allow EVERYONE to look at magic in a new light, and let Thedas reorganize the system of how it trains magic users in the proper use of their abilities into a more fair, less abusive, and less racist and fear-mongering, less 'what if?' system.

 

That only applies if fear and chaos is just a result of misunderstanding and ignorance. Sometimes fear can be just as strongly rooted in the knowledge of what can be done and how. Guns and nuclear weapons are scary to quite a few people, even without superstition. Giving them to everyone doesn't make it any less frighting, especially if you are intelligent and well informed about what they can do and just how precarious they can be.

[HellaciousHutch]

I hope that never happens within the Dragon Age lore, as everyone having some magical abilities will kind of render the warrior & rogue specs pointless. I'd rather there was a clear division between gameplay classes. 

 

How would it render warrior and rogues useless? A smart developer, which I think BioWare is, would find a way NOT to make warriors and rogues useless if such a change happened, especially if numerous other RPG developers have done the very same.

[HellaciousHutch]

Commendable in abstract, often iffy and less than uniform in implementation and in the details.

 

Would you apply that towards life imprisonment for a serial killer, or capital punishment? There's no way to reverse the killings he's done in the past, so punishment doesn't rectify the harm, but any future killings are just hypotheticals that might happen until they do.

 

The common accepted answer to that is that it would be an appropriate function of justice- that the fact that the person has already harmed people warrants the punishment.

 

But what about someone who hasn't yet done so, but had the ability and intent? A would-be perpetrator who attempted a catastrophic act of terrorism? The idea of retributive punishment wouldn't even apply there, because there was no harm. Even though they had intent and capability, what is the moral and ethical basis for detainment for long periods of time, or effectively their life?

 

The obvious answer would be intent. But intent isn't always necessary to harm one's self and others. Sometimes simply capability is enough, when it can't be controlled and real harm is possible, yet not guaranteed. Which certainly applies to mages and magic, thanks to the involvement of spirits.

 

So the better question would be- would you apply that same viewpoint to the idea of a quarantine?

 

Right now there are people in Uganda who are literally being locked up for the rest of their unfortunately very short lives if they are found to have Ebola. There's fear, there is misunderstanding, and there are even resistance and subversion groups, friends and family who try to hide their loved ones and escape the quarantine. Is this wrong? Is this bad? The carriers of Ebola aren't malevolent. They aren't deliberate spreaders. They are, in every respect, the first victims. And most of them are now going to be locked up for the rest of their life on the basis of what might happen if they aren't.

 

 

The current outbreak of Ebola is a death toll well within the scope of an abomination outbreak in Dragon Age: slower, but they can be modeled in similar ways. Of course, there are limitations to this analogy as well. Ebola, as devastating as it is, either burns itself out or is survived. The few survivors are no longer potential carriers by the time they are allowed out of quarantine. Mages never stop being potential abominations- or, to apply the analogy, mages never stop carrying a latent stream of ebola that could come out in a period of emotional weakness.

 

Does that mean they shouldn't be quarantined, shouldn't be locked up for the rest of their life just on account of what might happen?

 

To some people, certainly. I imagine that the world would also survive an uncontrolled Ebola outbreak- though certainly not in any form that people who value that status quo would appreciate.

 

The thing is, you're talking in extremes. Most of the mages (some are though, just like any population) in Dragon Age aren't...murderers, serial killers, crazy, or any sort of terrorist (they are stripped away from their homes at a young age, sometimes without consent), and magic also isn't a contagious disease (though I can somewhat understand where you are coming from with this argument), well...it can spread, for lack of a better term, if you have sex and have offspring with someone who has magical abilities. But even then though, the child may or may not have any magical abilities when born. 

[Dean_the_Young]

I hope that never happens within the Dragon Age lore, as everyone having some magical abilities will kind of render the warrior & rogue specs pointless. I'd rather there was a clear division between gameplay classes. 

 

Eh. I'm a fan enough of giant robot shows that I wouldn't raise much of an eyebrow if they just called their swords and shields magic and kept carrying on with it.

[Mike3207]

Total freedom. I don't think the Circle/Templar system necessarily would see a connection in lowering the number of abominations.

[Dean_the_Young]

How would it render warrior and rogues useless? A smart developer, which I think BioWare is, would find a way NOT to make warriors and rogues useless if such a change happened, especially if numerous other RPG developers have done the very same.

 

In the lore, mages trump just about everything except anti-magic, and even then with blood magic. There's nothing that a warrior or rogue can do that can't be done just as good or better by a mage who cared to learn. There's no innate reason why a mage couldn't dual-track as a warrior or thief and be better than pure warriors or rogues.

[Xilizhra]

But what about someone who hasn't yet done so, but had the ability and intent? A would-be perpetrator who attempted a catastrophic act of terrorism? The idea of retributive punishment wouldn't even apply there, because there was no harm. Even though they had intent and capability, what is the moral and ethical basis for detainment for long periods of time, or effectively their life?

Actually, conspiracy would still apply as an actual crime in that case, as would things like threats or attempting to illegally gather information on the site. To arrest someone solely for intent, you'd need legal, court-admissible telepathy or precognition, and then we enter Minority Report.

 

 

The current outbreak of Ebola is a death toll well within the scope of an abomination outbreak in Dragon Age: slower, but they can be modeled in similar ways. Of course, there are limitations to this analogy as well. Ebola, as devastating as it is, either burns itself out or is survived. The few survivors are no longer potential carriers by the time they are allowed out of quarantine. Mages never stop being potential abominations- or, to apply the analogy, mages never stop carrying a latent stream of ebola that could come out in a period of emotional weakness.

 

Does that mean they shouldn't be quarantined, shouldn't be locked up for the rest of their life just on account of what might happen?

 

To some people, certainly. I imagine that the world would also survive an uncontrolled Ebola outbreak- though certainly not in any form that people who value that status quo would appreciate.

The proper analogy for locking up people with Ebola is locking up actual abominations. Mages are just those who have the potential for the Ebola analogy--and unlike that disease, whose spread is dependent solely on physical factors, abominationhood is largely dependent on mental ones, and resistance to it can be trained.

 

If the Circle is to exist, it must exist primarily as a means for cutting down on abominations. Mages can be monitored for risk factors in becoming possessed by demons (though we currently have no evidence to suggest that this is possible outside of certain areas with a damaged Veil, or through deliberate demon summoning), but the Circle's mission was frequently too muddled by attempts to keep mages imprisoned for what they might do of their own free will, without demons, and that goes into unfortunate territory.

 

But really, I think odds are decent that none of this is going to matter after the next game. One way or another.

[HellaciousHutch]

In the lore, mages trump just about everything except anti-magic, and even then with blood magic. There's nothing that a warrior or rogue can do that can't be done just as good or better by a mage who cared to learn. There's no innate reason why a mage couldn't dual-track as a warrior or thief and be better than pure warriors or rogues.

 

The thing is though, having magical warriors, magical rogues, and magical...mages wouldn't screw up the gameplay aspects of the game or the mechanical aspects of it either, especially if the developer is smart when it comes to game design. I'm not talking about it lore wise, I'm talking gameplay wise. It's very easy to do (i.e. give certain skill trees to classes and lock the same skill trees off for others), and doesn't bring down anything.

[Hazegurl]

I see the opposite happening, if you put any weight behind Sandal's Prophecy.

 

Sandal saying that all the magic will comeback, in the same statement that he's seemingly describing the events of Dragon Age: Inquisition, leads me to believe that EVERYONE is going to have some degree of magic once this "Breach" event is over.

 

If everyone has magic, then, it's technically hard to be afraid and fearful of it anymore; of other people having it.

I will not be happy with a magical synthesis .

 

Although a devious part of me wonders how fans would react if we got this ending:

 

Flemeth: It is inevitable that those with power will rebel

Inquisitor: What should I do?

 

Flemeth: Pick your color

Blue: Turn off all the magic in the world and forever cut off the connection with the fade. Mages will become tranquil including the Mage inquisitor.

Red: Control the Fade creatures and rule the world.

Green: Magic synthesis where everyone gets powers

 

[HellaciousHutch]

I will not be happy with a magical synthesis .

 

Although a devious part of me wonders how fans would react if we got this ending:

 

Flemeth: It is inevitable that those with power will rebel

Inquisitor: What should I do?

 

Flemeth: Pick your color

Blue: Turn off all the magic in the world and forever cut off the connection with the fade. Mages will become tranquil including the Mage inquisitor.

Red: Control the Fade creatures and rule the world.

Green: Magic synthesis where everyone gets powers

 

 

It's not really magical synthesis perse, and to be honest, it sure as hell makes a lot more sense than what happened in Mass Effect 3. 

[Mistic]

Tevinter is a tyranny of mages. Only magisters can rule. In Tevinter people without magical ability are an underclass, while in the rest of Thedas the reverse is true.

 

I suppose it was 'government in a medieval setting'. Because let's be honest, Thedas is a horrible place to live in. I mean, nobility is still the rule in most of the other countries, and their claim to rule is because one of their ancestors did something to be rewarded, nothing more. In countries like Orlais people without noble ancestry are an underclass, while in Tevinter even a child from slave parents can become a noble if they happen to be a mage.

 

The thing is, Tevinter nobility is more dangerous because apart from common noble privileges, their magic makes them more powerful.

[Dean_the_Young]

The thing is, you're talking in extremes. Most of the mages (some are though, just like any population) in Dragon Age aren't...murderers, serial killers, crazy, or any sort of terrorist (they are stripped away from their homes at a young age, sometimes without consent), and magic also isn't a contagious disease (though I can somewhat understand where you are coming from with this argument), well...it can spread, for lack of a better term, if you have sex and have offspring with someone who has magical abilities. But even then though, the child may or may not have any magical abilities when born. 

I think you misunderstood the analogy. I was arguing against the comparisons of mages as murderers, serial killers, crazy, or any sort of terrorist, while pointing out that there were conditions in which locking people up on the basis of future consequences is quite accepted. The argument wasn't that mages are extremists: it was against your very broad stroke about the justness of detainment on the basis of future consequence.

 

Diseases, however aren't extremists. They are quite natural, and occur regardless of moral character and have implications independent of free will. The consequences of diseases, especially violent ones, are quite useful for considerations of mages (who should not be judged on the basis of any presumed moral strength or failing).

 

Most mages aren't murderers, serial killers, or crazy. All mages have the potential to instantly become superpowered murderers, serial killers, and crazy as a result of one failed will throw. That's what abominations are: mentally-imbalanced people with superpowers, and an extremely high propensity for violence. It doesn't require malevolence, hostile intent, or even willingness: becoming an abomination can be a deliberate action or an accident or falling victim to a trick or making a desperate bargain under stress or being coerced into accepting.

 

Abomination outbreaks can be modeled off of contagious diseases as well- it doesn't spread through the traditional means, but its effects certainly do spread. The symptoms of an abomination outbreak are demons and more abominations and quite often quite a bit of death. When an abomination emerges, it can convert other people into carriers (turning mages into more abominations, or stuff demons into mundanes), it can increase it's numbers and spread by other forms that aren't necessarily suited for infecting others (summoning more demons, placing spirits into corpses for the undead), and of course it can burn through much of its potential host population in short order (the people who are killed).

 

When an Abomination outbreak occurs, it generally spreads until it is contained. The normal reason an abomination outbreak ends is because it has burned through most of the immediate population and the carriers have died off in the process or are killed before they can spread anymore (usually with a Templar sword or dozen in the corpse). This is also how most extreme disease outbreaks occur: the hosts die quicker than the outbreak can spread, and occassionally other groups are inclined to help it along. Any disease that kills faster than it spread suffers the same fate.

 

Magic isn't a communicable disease, but that really doesn't matter for the purposes of analogy. There are non-communicable disorders as well- genetic disorders, for example, and while magic in Thedas isn't strictly a genetic trait it does have parallels to positive and passive trait expression. But magic isn't the disease of concern here: abominations are. There are diseases which can be in remission or suppressed and yet never leave the body, and abominationhood is always present. Freedom and knowledge and fear don't change that.

 

Any person who has a positive expression of magic also has the latent potential to produce the equivalent of Thedasian Ebola. It may never manifest in their lives- or it may come out tomorrow, or a week from now, or a decade after passing their harrowing. Not because they are murderers or serial killers or any sort of terrorist, but because they are, through winning the psuedo-genetic lottery of fate, carriers.

 

Does that mean they deserve to be segregated from society? Plenty of people say no, and have many fine and moral reasons for it. Sometimes we should just expect people to live with the consequences of others.

 

But for anyone who doesn't want potential Patient Zero of the next Ebola outbreak to live in their neighborhood... well, I have quite a bit of sympathy for them, and think there is a bit more than fear from ignorance and superstition behind their concerns.

[Dean_the_Young]

Actually, conspiracy would still apply as an actual crime in that case, as would things like threats or attempting to illegally gather information on the site. To arrest someone solely for intent, you'd need legal, court-admissible telepathy or precognition, and then we enter Minority Report.

 

Conspiracy is a crime of potential future consequence, not past harm.

 

 

 

 

The proper analogy for locking up people with Ebola is locking up actual abominations. Mages are just those who have the potential for the Ebola analogy--and unlike that disease, whose spread is dependent solely on physical factors, abominationhood is largely dependent on mental ones, and resistance to it can be trained.

 

 

People who potentially have Ebola can get locked up as well, and are locked up for a good period of time after the disease has run its course (on the off-chance that it hasn't). Quarantines are both for the currently infected and for those who are believed to be at a high risk of being infected, even if they aren't (yet).

 

Of course, people who potentially have Ebola sometimes end up murdered or have their houses burned, sometimes with them and their family still in it.

 

 

If the Circle is to exist, it must exist primarily as a means for cutting down on abominations. Mages can be monitored for risk factors in becoming possessed by demons (though we currently have no evidence to suggest that this is possible outside of certain areas with a damaged Veil, or through deliberate demon summoning), but the Circle's mission was frequently too muddled by attempts to keep mages imprisoned for what they might do of their own free will, without demons, and that goes into unfortunate territory.

 

Yes, yes, if we discard everything else about the lore of abominations and presented in the games in favor of your own headcanon of the same lack of standing, abominations are not possible outside of the places abominations are possible, which conveniently tends to be only the places we have yet to see abominations. I get it.

 

There is no 'must' about it. 'Must' is an obligation- there is no obligation to protect against abominations at all, just as there is no obligation to reality to defend the 21st century liberal human rights of a superpowered minority.

 

On the other hand, plenty of people wouldn't be content with cutting down on abominations occurrences alone. They'd also want abominations to occur elsewhere as well- NIMBY applies to potential outbreak sites as well as anything else. Fewer abomination outbreaks over a wider area isn't necessarily as tolerable as fewer outbreaks in a more contained area.

 

For anyone who puts their own security over the freedoms of others (which is, when you get down to it, pretty much everyone who wants their own freedoms secured when in conflict with others), the Circle system can have another expectation: to keep identified Abomination risks away from unacceptable areas, and to have a containment squad on hand to deal with an outbreak.

 

For that, and any competent monitoring system, mage enclaves are the practical implementation.

[Dean_the_Young]

I suppose it was 'government in a medieval setting'. Because let's be honest, Thedas is a horrible place to live in. I mean, nobility is still the rule in most of the other countries, and their claim to rule is because one of their ancestors did something to be rewarded, nothing more. In countries like Orlais people without noble ancestry are an underclass, while in Tevinter even a child from slave parents can become a noble if they happen to be a mage.

 

The thing is, Tevinter nobility is more dangerous because apart from common noble privileges, their magic makes them more powerful.

 

On the other hand, no one seems to really care about the gender of who you sleep with in Thedas.

 

Progress!

[Xilizhra]

People who potentially have Ebola can get locked up as well, and are locked up for a good period of time after the disease has run its course (on the off-chance that it hasn't). Quarantines are both for the currently infected and for those who are believed to be at a high risk of being infected, even if they aren't (yet).

Literally anyone can potentially have Ebola (unless you can develop an immunity to it, I don't actually know). Abominationhood is just a disease that a surprisingly small amount of the population is vulnerable to. Locking up everyone who might potentially contract the disease would be utterly insane and logistically impossible.

 

 

On the other hand, plenty of people wouldn't be content with cutting down on abominations occurrences alone. They'd also want abominations to occur elsewhere as well- NIMBY applies to potential outbreak sites as well as anything else. Fewer abomination outbreaks over a wider area isn't necessarily as tolerable as fewer outbreaks in a more contained area.

 

For anyone who puts their own security over the freedoms of others (which is, when you get down to it, pretty much everyone who wants their own freedoms secured when in conflict with others), the Circle system can have another expectation: to keep identified Abomination risks away from unacceptable areas, and to have a containment squad on hand to deal with an outbreak.

 

For that, and any competent monitoring system, mage enclaves are the practical implementation.

And it's here that I would say that national governments who are demanding that all magical defense of their nations be handled by the Chantry are shirking their responsibility to their own citizens and placing the burden of defense on keeping mages imprisoned... but I would prefer not to go into detail on that because the end of the Circle system would seem to make it rather moot. Though perhaps the Inquisition, if it takes over the responsibility for mages in Andrastian Thedas, will be able to answer these questions in-game, with rather more context and information than we have here.

 

 

On the other hand, no one seems to really care about the gender of who you sleep with in Thedas.

 

Progress!

It may be useful to remember, indeed, that while Thedas is terrible in many ways, it's also substantially better in many ways than our own Europe was at a similar level of technological development.