Posted by Nepenthe(IMM) on November 30, 2000 at 11:36:33:
In Reply to: Health gear + ranking, plus another observation about Masters + Nature. posted by Isildur on November 29, 2000 at 20:20:00:
There are going to be many ways of looking at this, 'course. > As for the Masters thing...here's another thought. Masters view nature as an opposing force to magic. They are at war with it. Yet, the Warders have no problem with magic, unless it be conjuration or necromancy. So, in regards to invocation and transmutation, are those magical forces in opposition to nature or not? It would seem that either the Tower or the Glade is completely mistaken. Is there a way to get around this? I tend to think of Wardermagi as something like a dedicated modern environmentalist -- yet, one that's still not radical to the point of stupidity and can see the bigger picture. A guy who goes around giving talks and educating about how to screw up the environment less would probably still make use of cars, airplanes, and other things that are not strictly good for the environment. Does this make him a hypocrite? I'd say no, since he's probably overall doing more good than harm. While I'm on this analogy kick, another way to look at the Master cabal and why, if not necessarily actively hunting Sylvan, they probably wouldn't get along very well. Think of Masters as extremist scientists; the kind who are cloning sheep and probably working on humans while others are debating the ethics of it, or the psychologists who did all kinds of research in the early/mid 1900s that left the subjects scarred for life, or even (though I hesitate to bring it up) some of the Nazi doctors who did some experiments on humans that, while cruel and often fatal, yielded useful information. Would this take make all Masters evil? I'd say not necessarily so. What if I said we could do some research that would produce the cure for cancer, but the price is that the 100 test subjects will all die in excruciating pain? You'd be killing 100 humans, but you'd also be saving millions each year. Is that wrong? Maybe, but I don't think it's cut and dried. Would this take make every Master a mad scientist? Nope. The key thing is that they have to think it's not wrong. Anything done for the increase of magical knowledge is good, even if it's something that messes with the natural order of things in a bad way like coming up with a way to replace the normal way babies are concieved and born (think cloning, but also think Weis and Hickman's Darksword books) or enchanting a pack of wolves to never need to eat again.