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Post by frankthetriviaman on Jan 7, 2019 1:34:18 GMT -5
Although morality is a subjective construct, in the world of magic it is treated with a great deal of objectivity. The discovery of the "black stuff" that builds up in one's soul as they commit evil or wicked actions (as determined by motivation and consequence) allowed for something never thought possible: an actual measure of how good or evil a magic user was. Over the centuries, enormous amounts of evidence surfaced that showed that it was a very valid system... evil mages were shown to have large amounts of black stuff in their hearts while good mages had little to no black stuff in their hearts. The Corrupted Heart Standard has its critics, of course, but even they are not so foolish as to deny the enormous body of evidence showing that it at least has some degree of validity (they aren't flat earthers ). Much of the evidence for the Corrupted Heart Standard up until the 15th century was compiled in a multi-volume work by Conroy Criddleton, the 12th Man In Gold. His work, The Accursed Black Stuff: First Hand Testimony and Witnesses compiled much of the evidence for how the Black Stuff worked up until that point. The work covered many incidents showing the validity of the Corrupted Heart Standard, though most mages only familiarize themselves with the two dozen or so most significant stories from the work- the recollections are still taught even today, offering much-needed warnings to up and coming mages about the dangers of "the accursed black stuff" (Stories to follow when I am not tired )
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Post by Toz76 on Jan 7, 2019 1:41:02 GMT -5
I know I've railed about this before, but this concept makes me uncomfortable for a number of reasons. For one, one can commit a single horrible act but otherwise live a life of virtue, and vice versa. Even then, what is good and bad is very subjective. I'd rather just have someone who's evil be evil because of their actions, and not some nebulous "evil juice". It feels like a copout.
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Post by Biblically Accurate Angel on Jan 13, 2019 20:50:18 GMT -5
Okay, how about this: Conroy Criddleton was a fraud who used faulty information to create the whole "black stuff" thing in an attempt to harm the reputations of people he didn't like. It was finally disproven in the 1990s, after years of using it to frame innocent people, which all came to a head in the '70s and '80s. However, thanks to how widespread his idea was, many people still believe it works.
It would be a cool way to incorporate stuff like the concepts that drove the witch trials and the Satanic panics into our story.
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Post by frankthetriviaman on Jan 13, 2019 21:16:04 GMT -5
Guys I'll be honest with you
I made that initial post very late at night and I hadn't really thought it through as well as I should have. The black stuff dates back well before the Colormen- don't get me wrong, they did NOT discover nor invent it. I need to rework this a bit because I realize I was a bit too... forceful with this; so just give me some time so I can fix it.
(While a good idea on paper- I'm afraid it doesn't work in the context of the story- Colormen are sworn to never write anything fraudulent)
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Post by Biblically Accurate Angel on Jan 13, 2019 21:17:41 GMT -5
But bad Colormen can do what they like, I thought. Make Criddleton a bad Colorman.
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Post by frankthetriviaman on Jan 13, 2019 21:25:37 GMT -5
There were no Bad Colormen in the First Era- Bad Colormen as we know them did not exist until the Dark era (1657)
Like I said- there will be a reworking. just need some time to work on it
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Post by Toz76 on Jan 13, 2019 21:46:09 GMT -5
The implications that this has on free will in our universe is frankly disturbing. I like stories where a single person is corrupted by dark powers and goes from being virtuous and good to evil and malicious (go watch Equestria Girls: Friendship Games for a great example of how to do this trope correctly), but the idea that every evil act ever is caused by a corrupting force is just... horrifying. Plus, it puts an inherent moral weight on every action, which is how you get religious fundementalism and video game morality systems.
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Post by frankthetriviaman on Jan 13, 2019 22:02:31 GMT -5
Which is exactly why I need time to rework this
Remember- the point of introducing the concept of Black stuff was explain why people always seem to treat evil as a "corrupting force," yes, people have free will, but rest assured, once I develop this, this is not the end.
Remember when I said that the Black Stuff was not fully understood? There's a reason why I left some ambiguities after all
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Post by Biblically Accurate Angel on Jan 13, 2019 22:11:39 GMT -5
Then if the concept of the Black Stuff stem from a fraud and have Conroy unwittingly fall for it. I'd quite like to read that multi-volume work BTW.
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Post by frankthetriviaman on Jan 13, 2019 22:32:41 GMT -5
It's not so much a fraud as it is a misunderstanding; can't spoil it now, but once the lore is built up all will become clear
(At this rate I'll need to put a separate thread for the stories)
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Post by Biblically Accurate Angel on Jan 13, 2019 22:42:15 GMT -5
Do you have plans for writing out Criddletonโs work?
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Post by frankthetriviaman on Jan 13, 2019 23:01:51 GMT -5
yes- the "highlights" of the accounts were, in fact, going to be written; but now I'll need a separate thread for it since I'm not fond of discussion posts spacing out story posts
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Post by Biblically Accurate Angel on Jan 13, 2019 23:11:12 GMT -5
Gotcha, I look forward to seeing it.
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