I have a metaphysics question. I just listened to ep6 of the Bloodletters AP (still Six Towers Gang back then), to tell you where this question’s coming from. The Dunville Masquerade.
So you’re a Whisper, and you buy the whole Church of Ecstasy of the Flesh party line. Spirits aren’t really people, they’re just echoes of what a person was, and it’s totally okay to rip them out of a dead body, mix them up with Leviathan blood and use them to power the grid. Because spirit=bad, electricity=good.
But, how do you reconcile that with Hollows? As a Whisper you know the spirit can be taken out before the guy’s even dead, his body will survive, but he’ll be in this weird half-living totally docile state.
Where do you draw the line between person and not-person?
Spirit in original body = person. Once you split the two they’re basically parts. Like farm animals!
Hey, as long as it’s nobody you know, right?
Yeah dude, not cool to point out the inherent hypocrisy of the society. At the end of the day they’re living in an end-of-the-world society and they need resources. A Hollow is a perfectly adequate source of manual labour, it’s not even technically slavery because they can’t object!
Yeah, man. It’s like… if you tear off a person’s head, the head is no longer a person, and the body is no longer a person either, right? Taking out the so-called “spirit” is basically the metaphysical equivalent of doing that. It’s a destructive reading of their mind to gain the information needed to create the echo in question.
(As one potential justification for it)
Where you draw the line between person and not-person is only of interest to two groups; the courts, and the philosophers. We can easily dismiss the philosophers as effete baggage whose only function is to amuse the wealthy. That leaves the courts.
Where you draw a line on what is a person and what is not is heavily reliant on the wealth and influence of the person in question. Precedent can easily be rendered malleable by differing circumstances, with the support of the church and the wardens. If you’re rich, then your “personhood” covers a LOT more territory. If you’re poor, you’re barely a person anyway, and who gives a damn what happens to you. No one with any influence, that’s for sure.
If you’re a whisper, then the center of gravity that pulls at your world is to see everyone, living and dead and all stops along the way, as a resource to be used. Drain them. Twist them. Push them. Have your way with them, as best you can, because if you do not, you know you cannot expect mercy in return.
Andrew Shields Dude yes. GIVE IN TO THE DARK SIDE
As a body without spirit, hollows are actually the embodiment of the best a person can be. Unraging, uncomplaining, reliable, as opposed to the worst things outside – and inside – the lightning barriers. People do not feel horror or shame when they witness them at work, no, they feel pride and joy in seeing the wonderful results of the Church at work. Not everyone can quite to commit to such a beautiful but deeply demanding life, but those who do feel a deeply ecstatic calmness about their fates.
Some of the church hierarchy are likely hollows, going through the motions of their sermons with enviable precision and calm, and some true believers, even among the nobility and the wealthy traders, go through the hollowing process willingly. Despite their lowly origins, it is however the poor who most easily and most often manage to reach the highest peak the doctrine of the Church can offer.
Can I interest you in a pamphlet, brother? I see the weight behind your eyes, a soul is such a sorry burden. We can help you find peace.
A secondary question then. Why not render all of the prisoners in Iron Hook Prison into Hollows?
It’s a process with particular costs and consequences and if I understand correctly, one that is not particularly reversible. Easier perhaps to invest in the known: good locks, paid guards, and the minimum level of slop for survival. Keep the notion of Hollowing in reserve for those that need it.
(What is special about Northhook?)
I meant Iron Hook prison, sorry if I wasn’t clear. Somehow mixed it up with North Hook, oops.
Kris Green because though hollowing may be considered a blessing by some in the Church of the Ecstacy of the Flesh, it remains highly illegal nonetheless. Check out my take further in my score: The Apex. dropbox.com – The Score – The Apex.pdf
I get the feeling it may be seen as and have much the same results as the classical frontal lobotomy. Something seen as being better than constant distress. As well as being something wholely disturbing to people who knew the subjects beforehand. I’d have been a canidate for it back then and it invokes a fear of self that’s just enough removed to be put in a fun context.
You are going to do horrific things as a whisper. Why question this specific thing, it will only drive you to madness. Is this your OBSESSION? Does it keep you up at night and slow your hand (for some sweet sweet XP)?
Yes I did just gamify morality. Judge me if you must, but I’m about to get an advance.