Corrosion of the Soul

[Grey]

I had a thought - what if there was a setting where murder really, measurably diminished some vital part of you? Where it is known to be fact by the characters that killing another sentient being actually corrodes your soul, making you less human?


And if there were visible signs of this corruption as it progressed?


Tie it into the deities of the setting and you've got some interesting options for magic and redemption.


You do force the Joker Dilemma, though - knowingly damage yourself in killing a villain to ensure they don't try again, or try to be better than that and just capture them.


I was thinking that since players tend to resolve matters with violence, having another means by which to punish that would be interesting.

 

[Ayl]

It's a great idea. I'm curious to how would one go about "redeeming" himself. Just by doing good deeds seems a bore to me. One should be expected to go through rather extreme hardships to redeem something as important as a splinter of his soul. In my opinion, the redeeming act should be something that balances out his crime. After all, taking a life is considered a capital sin.


Edit: Also, a part of the whole redemption should be the discovery of how one could redeem himself. Simply being told how by the deities or whatever grand force there would be is uninteresting.

 

[Bone2pick]

You do force the Joker Dilemma, though - knowingly damage yourself in killing a villain to ensure they don't try again, or try to be better than that and just capture them.
I was thinking that since players tend to resolve matters with violence, having another means by which to punish that would be interesting.

Are you trying to limit players to a Batman/Superman aka code against killing level of violence, or are you just hoping for less violence in general?

 

[Grey]

I had no state goal, really - I was just curious to see how players might react, but also how a setting where this is a known fact would develop.

 

[Jarkov Malachai]

Hmm... that is true, natural human reaction to opposition seems to be either beat it with a stick, get a larger stick, or KILL IT WITH FIRE! Hence the reason a lot of fighting goes down in rps. Which, when one guy gets their butt handed to them by a superior character or strategist... Leads to more fighting and grudges. Its an interesting idea, one where fighting mayhaps has a harsher punishment than simply broken bones or a dead character which you never liked in the first place... Hmm... this needs thought.

 

[Shining Lotus Sage]

So this puts me in mind of the Baby Eaters, as most difficult ethical paradigm crises do. And I think the amoebic species has something to offer, on the topic.


Now, this is grossly inchoate; please take it for brainstorm fuel at most. But if all are ultimately one (paging Dr. Bronner) then every loss is universal. So to human-scale things and avoid having each player taking the part of a gestalt organism/organization, there needs to be a way to represent the contribution of all to the life of one.


And only now, I realize that I'm actually going for a crypto-communist dystopia where the whole species is under siege (probably in the Last City) and some mystical quality based on the adult population is all that keeps the wolves from the door.


I don't think that's what you wanted, but it does seem easier to explain death marking those nearest than murder carrying ontological weight. And that means that the front-line soldiers are all tainted when their squadmates inevitably cork it. So... I'm abstracting PTSD?

 

[Silvertongued]

Well, does this include hurting people? I mean, you're going to have a bunch of expertly maimed or comatose assholes if it becomes a known fact, and people are going to get REAL good at leaving someone alive but in no serviceable state to do anything.


It also comes down to direct or indirect deaths matter? I shoot Benny in the heart, he dies, I am lessened, but I shoot Benny in the knee, and while it hurts like a motherfucker, it don't kill him and I walk away. Then exposure kills the poor bastard. Am I still lessened?


Does it lessen animals? If it does, do they care? Does that mean most execution is by animal? A better question, does it count for killing animals as well? I know you said sentient, but some animals are pretty close to that. Is meat going to become one of those things that only the depraved and wealthy consume?


I mean, then there's the social aspect of it. Murder gets really easy to identify when you have visual signs of it written all over your body. Murder would become even more of a taboo than it is now. A lot of people only murder because they think they can get away with it, or they'll get no punishment. this is real, visible proof that there is a very obvious punishment for it. There'd be one hell of a drop in murders.... or a rise in murders by fanatics who get the whole old school absolution before the act kind of thing.


It's definitely an interesting concept, but a lot of the developmental stuff really depends on the world it's been dropped into. It could turn a modern, realistic world into... something surreal, I'll give you that. A rise in religion for one. Definitive proof on the abortion debate. Less American cops being trigger happy. You drop that into something like Mad Max on the other hand, and you get some really polarizing shit. People who'd do anything to survive, and so become monsters, and those who value their pride and integrity as human being over survival.

 

[Shining Lotus Sage]

I like the idea of a world where the death penalty is common, but always performed by putting someone in a vulnerable place around dangerous animals.

 

[spiderlegs]

Definitely interesting. I agree with silvertongued--this could actually get even uglier, even faster, depending on the exact letter of the law. I also think a lot of roleplayers would go straight for the dehumanized killer, taking their past crimes as justification for further violence. On the other hand, if you made this the basis of your rp and set redemption as the goal . . .


Redemption would be a tricky business as well, of course. In the mythos of the rp, it could be a very mystical thing, shrouded in tales of epic quests, heroic deeds, etc. I think the most poignant cure, however, would be simply that the killer first acknowledges their crime in its entirety--grasping the full extent of the loss--and then comes to earnestly regret the act in its entirety. No buts. Of course, for those who believe that the murder of some criminal/villain was truly and fundamentally justified, this would put the cure out of their reach. Which I think provides an ounce of tragic irony, while also pointing out that, like other killers, the supposed-hero cannot or refuses to view their victim/antagonist as a person.


Stepping back (even further) from the dynamics of roleplay (as most people appear to have done), this divine law could easily give rise to a caste of killers: executioners, soldiers, (law) enforcers, maybe even doctors (since depending on the available technology, doctors often kill their patients by accident or in mercy). Whether this would mark them out as half-demonic, half-divine, or both depends on the context.