Monday, March 29, 2010

William G. La Fleur BG (Ret.) 1942 - 2010

My father died last night.  He had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in September 2008, and after over a year of chemothearapy he had come home.  He had been being cared for by his family for six weeks before finally succumbing to the desease, surrounded by family and friends.

He had been a US Marine, retired Captain of the Chicago Police, retired Brigadier General in the Illinois Army National Guard, a Silver Beaver awarded Scoutmaster, Rochelle and Flagg Center Firefighter, son, brother, husband, father, and grandfather.

He is greatly missed.

He donated his body to science.

Visitation will be held on Friday April 9th from 3:00 to 6:45 p.m. at Unger-Horner Funeral Home, 400 N. 6th Street Rochelle, IL with a celebration of Life at 7:00 P.M. and Memorial Mass will be held at St Patrick Church on Saturday April 10, 2010 at 10:30 a.m. Memorials may go to donors choice.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Day 18b - Speculation and Society (Addendum)

LAW and LAW ENFORCEMENT
I pulled this out from within the questions from the previous post because I think it'll be a big topic.

MAGKLIK LAWS IN NOKKATLAD AND LADDAN.
Before there were Wizards the Klelryn Web held all power to use magklik and mag. It was unlawful for non-priestesses to collect or use mag, and all Sourcerers were to be turned into the Web. The Nobility backed this, but it was mostly regulated by the Web itself, much like the Church policed teachings in the Middle Ages.

With the advent of Wizards and wizarding use of mag and magklik the laws had to be changed, but since they were more like canon than laws it just meant a widening of the way in which the Klelryn Web controlled magklikal situations. By dogma only the Klelryn Web can make use of Sourcerers and only the Web is allowed to provide mag in its raw form to Wizards for their use.

There is a Klelryn Inquisition that is responsible for ensuring the control of Sourcerers and mag. All Sourcerers are considered property and chattel of the Web.

In terms of the story, smuggling Sourcerers out of the country is against the law and canon. Although pursuit and prosecution by the secular authorities is possible, the real danger is from the Klelryn Web and its Inquisition.

Magklik items (artifacts) are regulated by the Academies more as a quality regulation of the items and how they are provided. This is similar to guilds making sure the goods of their guilds are quality and sold for a fair price.

The Academies make no claim of ownership to any magklik artifacts unless they are actually property of the members of the Academy.

The Wizards police themselves and leave it to the secular authorities to police the rest of the populace. The Academies, unlike guilds, are less interested in making money or controlling production and are more interested in making sure any artifacts or services are of the highest quality and any new processes or methods are investigated and recorded.

For the most part there are no Wizard laws restricting, controlling, limiting or forbidding any use of mag, magklik or magklik artifacts. Of course it is criminal to use a magklik artifact in the commission of a crime and the secular authorities call upon the Wizards to aid them in pursuing, apprehending and prosecution criminals who use magklik.

In story terms, smuggling Sourcerers is of almost no concern to the Academies. The only real concern would be if it caused the Klelryn to restrict the supply of mag to them. By the time of the story this has not occurred, but is a possibility that has begun to occur to a few Chancellors. There has been no decision on which side the Academies will fall in this or if they will impose restrictions because of it.

At present, since no magklik or magklik artifacts are in question, the Academies have no legal stand on the issue. They are not even taking a stand of the conduct of there members. Wizards have been considered technicians and non-decision makers for so long that the Academies are taking the stand that their Wizards are merely technicians who are doing their jobs and not responsible for how their devices, items or services are being used by their customers, even if they are in active maintenance of those devices while they activities are going on.

DATING and MARRIAGE
Again, dating and social relationship building is a very big topic. In fact I think that reproductive relationships are probably the most powerful driving force in all life.

I discussed before that Klelryn Priestesses are encouraged to participate in sexual activities but are forbidden from marriage. Daughters are committed to the Priestesshood very early in life and it is much like sending a daughter off to a convent. Sexual activity and social interaction while in the Abbeys is very much like it would be in a convent, except that there is instruction in how to use sexual favors and acts in magklik.

Among the Golchin the strict social hierarchy controls who is allowed to socially interact with whom. Up and down one level is fine for social interaction, but inter-level marriage is rare and involves many requirements.

It most often occurs while a man is in military service because service includes a natural progression of capable soldiers and the stagnation of incompetent ones. A soldier can go up in status and class by talent, but cannot slide down. Likewise a soldier with potential may marry above his current station, with the expectation of greater things to come and perhaps even better soldier progeny.

While Golchin can get to higher rank by outdoing someone of higher rank (assassination, duel, etc.), they can not by marrying up

Marriages are conducted by the Klelryn Priestesshood, as they are the equivalent of clergy and they can enchant the couple to produce more children of better quality and bind the couple together. Even the lowest level Priestesses are thought to have this power (whether they do or not).

Divorce among the Golchin is relatively unheard of. In the fairly rare cases of infidelity it is more often that a Priestess is called in to enchant the couple once again and re-bind them.

Social interaction and dating is not regulated at all among the Fidchin. Marriage is conducted by the Academies because they maintain all records of everything. Some Fidchin have Klelryn marriages as well, but this is not common.

Divorce is not common, but holds no stigma. Records must be kept and an adjudicator is assigned by the Academy.
Sex is not treated as a taboo subject by either groups and pre-marital sex is very common. Once a couple is married they are expected to remain faithful to ensure that children are well taken care of and it is very clear who the parents are. For the Golchin this is important for social standing, for the Fidchin this is important because they want to know everything about everything.

BTW - that painting is Boris Vallejo, who also does art that matches the mood of my story, but very much of what he does is not safe for work.