thebastion | [Day 336, backdated, Amulet] A message!

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azula

[Day 336, backdated, Amulet] A message!

Who: Megaera, anyone in Amulet range
Open: Yes!
When: Day 336, afternoon. (Backdated!)
Where: Anywhere, via amulet, or meet Megaera near the Library
What: Some critical information comes out!
Format: Action preferred.
Warnings: Plot!

---

Okay, so! Talking to one of the prisoners got me... A lot of useful information.

A big one is this: They're seeking cores to power a device that they claim is capable of reviving the dead. Where I'm from, that's doable, if expensive, but... It can also go horribly wrong. So it's something to be cautious of.

That said, it is a basis for some negotiation... Or at least for knowledge of what's going on, from their perspective.

---

Megaera was simply on her way home to the Library by now, and seemed to be in a better mood than before. She'd done something that, hopefully, would be useful.

Bother her? Talk about the ethical considerations of what she did? Thank her? Something else? Your call.

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[The events of the day have not put Zuko in a good mood. ~~Thanks forever, Colin.~~ And now this news?

She doesn't respond over the amulets, that's too strange to her, instead she seeks Megaera out in person.]

Did I hear that right? They want to raise the dead?

[There's no excitement or hope in that question. She's appalled.]

[Right now, he can't really be bothered to make an in-person appearance. Too much to do, too little time, and way too many worries..]

You've got to be kidding me. They're trying to revive the dead?

Why would they need cores for that? ... Is this another Mancer project? Nathan, do you know anything about something like this?

That's their idea, yes.

There are, needless to say, insane numbers of questions about it... But I will state that, where I'm from, it's possible enough to be a regular thing.

Where I'm from, reviving the dead is a divine spell - requiring, more or less, the approval of a god or other sufficiently powerful figure - and requires a very large diamond.

Logically, the core would sub in for both. Assuming it works, which I'm not assuming.

Never mind the fact that with no defense mechanism, it's questionable how useful it is to do so at all. They think that, with sufficient numbers, defense will be trivial, but I'm not at all certain I agree.

Never mind it possibly being a Mancer project.

There's no question. It shouldn't be done.

Likewise. It requires the will of a god, the approval of the soul involved, and quite a bit of material sacrifice. Assuming you're doing it in a way that doesn't intend to cheat anyone.

If this is a project to rip people back to life, they're going to be pissing off gods, psychopomps, the DEAD THEMSELVES left and right. It's easy to steal fire from the gods if you don't realize that the gods only need to wait a few moments of their time to take eternal revenge.

But yeah, this is not good... Not good at all.

[...it's a long while before she answers. Perhaps long enough that you've found yourself doing something else by the time you do get a ping- but eventually, there it is.]

What will do?

May I ask what leads you to that conclusion?

I need thinking here, because I know my world's point of view on this, but not anyone else's, and their views might reveal something important.

[In other words: This isn't a moral debate, this is about planning.]

Very possibly. That's if it's forced resurrection, which 'Red' didn't seem to sure about.

Never mind that we don't even know if there are gods here at all....

... For now, share the data, use it to develop our plan. This is either thrillingly exciting, or absolutely terrifying in it's implications.

I don't think we'd have gotten this if not for my efforts.

What kind of going wrong are we talking about?

Well, that depends. I can't know what she doesn't know about how the thing works, but she did specify "not zombies", so that's good at least.

Of course, if it's not divinely powered, it could go wrong in all sorts of other horrifying ways.

[Sorry, this is about morals first for Zuko.]

It's not our place to change what happens to someone after they've gone. What if they've reincarnated? Or found peace in between?

Where I'm from, that's the last prerequisite - you cannot revive those who do not wish to be revived. They know who is trying and can refuse it.

There's some legendary stories about that.

[After the letter today and the discussions that stemmed from it, Rob is busy brewing up a stockpile of Resist potions in case their next encounter with the Reservoir Dogs is via another electrical trap. Or a fire trap. Or a poison trap. Or a frost trap. Or... well if they're using technology he's guessing that a magical trap isn't likely, but he'll brew some Resist Magic potions if he has time after all the others just in case.

In any case, he's not taking time away from the laboratory right now, so he's responding via amulet.]

Reviving the dead is firmly in the realm of fiction where I come from unless it's only been a few minutes since death, and even that's not guaranteed. Then again, a ton of what I've seen here'd be considered outright impossible in my world, so I can't really rule anything out at this point. But generally in fiction, unless the resurrection is done by a higher power it'll either fail or come out horribly wrong, and purely mortal attempts at it are usually considered against the laws of nature by the story. Ending up with a zombie or some other abomination is a pretty common result. Do they know for sure it'll work as intended? And what happens if the person being revived isn't actually dead? Do you end up with a duplicate of the original? Need more information to know what to think.

That seems to be a recurring thread. They seem confident it will work as intended, but that says very little indeed...

I'm not interested.

Saying "everything will work out perfectly" is basically an engraved invitation for the opposite to happen.

But I'm not outright opposed to the idea; my preconceptions are heavily based on fiction in this case, which isn't exactly a strong foundation. I think we're morally obligated to try and save as many people as possible, especially if it can be done safely, but more information is definitely needed to be sure about that. It also still operates under the assumption that our worlds have in fact been destroyed and everyone in them is dead, which we don't actually have any evidence for.

True enough, but... I can't help but think that the 'more to it' is a lot more complicated than 'the revives go wrong' somehow.

Edited 2015-08-12 17:44 (UTC)

Fair enough. Just...

Well, there's more to worry about, besides the nature of resurrections from an ethical standpoint. I can see all sorts of worrying possibilities, and without more information, it's hard to know what to do.

What we do is track these people down and prevent them from using the device.

[It's very simple if you're 100% against resurrection. The only difference from before is that the stakes are higher if they fail.]

There are. You weren't here for it, but they've shown themselves before.

Micia is definitely still watching over this place, and Pyth definitely has an interest in us. I've done favors for him and pissed him off, at different times.

I'm also pretty sure that Olak and I have a bit of a competition running to see whose luck runs out first.

There's also Yudrig, Acobi, Garmuth, Hense, Lemaign, Jevel, and Roathus. All of them have shown some of their presence, and I'm sure there's a few more that even the Caelondians and the Ura don't know about.

You might want to stop by the shrine if you've got a moment, you might find an answer to some of your questions there.

And if it's a forced rez... well, I think that I wouldn't want to be those guys when they try it. If we can't stop it.

[No response. "Thrillingly exciting or absolutely terrifying," indeed - this poor kid's still stuck not knowing what to think of it.]

And if they've used it already? Odds are they have at least one core.... We could be facing a small army then.

That's true.

I'll go ask the Shrine some questions when time allows, sure.

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[Day 336, backdated, Amulet] A message!

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