Changing the Medieval Paradigm: Healing as a tool of punishment

Healing magic is probably the most highly sought out magic in Scarterra.   Military commanders, physicians, midwives, adventurers and royal courts all want to get in the good books of Healing theurgists or else they will try to stockpile healing potions, healing powders, and healing scrolls.   Healing magic is the main reason why compared to historical Earth fewer Scarterran women die in child birth and fewer wounded Scarterran soldiers die of infections.   In Scarterra, healers capable of dealing with common battlefield or everyday accidents are relatively common. There are more powerful healers too. Almost anything short of death itself can be magically healed. Healers capable of regrowing amputated limbs, replace missing teeth, or reversing horrific scars are very rare, but they do exist.   Healing is viewed as a benevolent force but it can be used as weapon of cruelty.  

The "Chevell Treatment"

  The core concept of all torture is to inflict as much pain and discomfort as possible without killing the victim or in some cases, without scarring or maiming the victim.   Healing magic can let a torture victim be made "good as new" so they can get a fresh round of torture allowing them to be hurt all over again. This called the "Chevell treatment" after a ancient legend known as "The Wrath of Jacawn" in which a man named Chevell is brutally tortured by a king name Jacawn. This may or may not be based on a real event, but most Scarterrans have heard the tale nonetheless.   Most constitutional monarchies in Scarterra have a written law forbidding use "the Chevell Treatment". Most absolute monarchies in Scarterra have a tradition or guidelines barring the Chevell treatment. In both cases, it can and often does still happen under the table.   Sometimes, even the implied the threat of the Chevell Treatment is enough to make a even a strong-willed prisoner break.  

Reversible Corporal Punishments

  Historically, crime and punishment is harsh on Earth. Thieves can have a hand chopped off, rapists can have genitals removed, and criminals of all sorts can be branded.   I a condemned criminal is merely whipped or flogged, a relatively low level healer theurgist can fix them up good as new. A guru level healing theurgist can regrow amputated body parts or remove brands and tattoos. Unfortunately, the magical healing process at this level is quite painful, almost as bad as when they received the injury in the first place. Most people are willing to endure this pain to get their body restored to its prior condition but some argue that this opens the door for more "Chevell treatment".   Guru level healers are hard to find, but the fact that they exist at all means that a Scarterran lawgiver can chop off a criminal's hand and then have a healer regrow it back later. The same goes for any other "permanent" body mutilation. It doesn't have to be permanent.   In a very bleak way, this means that Scarterran rulers are MORE prone to use bodily mutilation as a punishment than historical Earth rulers.   Often, a person is sentenced to have a mutilation for a set period of time, such as six months, a year, five years, or until some act of contrition is completed. Though a criminal thusly can theoretically find a guru level healer outside the ruler's purview and get the mutilation reversed without the ruler's permission but traditionally if the ruler finds out, they will punish the criminal again.   Some rulers find reversible mutilation a good tool of enforcing the law and others find it morally abhorent. That said, if a king or other ruler is okay with using reversible mutiliation as part of his justice system, he might not might not find a guru level healer willing to cooperate with him.   On average, less than 1% of Scarterrans are theurgists. Only about 10% of theurgists learn any healing magic at all. Only a tiny percentage of magical healers reach the guru level of casting. Not all of these rare individuals are willing to participate in this form of justice.   Mera is the goddess of medicine, so it makes sense that a majority of Scarterra's guru-level healers are members of the Mera Tenders or at the very least they received some medical training from the Tenders in their early apprenticeship days. So it surprises no one that the most vigorous debates on the morality of reversible mutilations is between Tenders.  

-Beslyfle the gnome, matriarch of the Fumayan Tenders

 

"So called 'reversible mutilations' are a cruel perversion of Mera's divine gift of healing. No worthy healer should participate in such a vile act.   Even if a horrific physical injury can be cured without leaving a visible scar, the experience still leaves an emotional scar. It also leaves a spiritual scar on the person inflicting the injury. A healer that is complicit with this form of torture is just as guilty as the one physically inflicting the damage.   The seeming temporary aspect of horrific injuries is a slippery slope to corruption and callousness.

  Once a king or queen gets used to the idea that 'My acts of cruelty can be reversed if they are proven to be in error' then he or she will be readily use cruelty as a solution to future problems. Until such point a king or queen stops seeking merciful solutions to problems altogether and becomes an iron fisted tyrant.

 

by Eron12 with Hero Forge

-Daana, defender of the hearth, member of Mera's Paladins

 

"Reversible mutilations are not a perversion of Mera's mercy, they are an extension of Mera's mercy. Carefully implemented, this practice can alleviate much suffering. A healer that is able to help with this form of justice and refuses to do so is essentially condeming dozens if not hundreds of salavageable people to an execution or a life of unending crime.   Rulers and their trusted agents do not inflict punishments on criminals out of cruelty or malice, but out of a sense of justice. We can let the Guardians and Keepers talk about 'justice' and 'honor' as abstract concepts, but the true purpose of justice is to make good people's lives' better.

  Punishments are intended as a deterrent so criminals don't commit crimes in the future. Ideally a punishment will not only deter a criminal but committing crimes in the future but the example of their suffering will deter many would-be criminals from committing crimes in the future as well.   If you don't use reversible mutilations, rulers only have two real options to punish criminals. A light slap on the wrist or a full execution. A slap on the wrist doesn't act as a good deterrent, and an execution does not allow a criminal to make restitution for his crimes. Beyond this, public executions may act as a deterrent in the short term to onlookers, but eventually the memory of an execution will be pushed to the back of the mind.   A person walking around with a gruesome brand or missing hand is an ongoing reminder to all onlookers of what the punishment for lawbreaking is. Once healed, the recidivism rate for former criminals who were once mutilated is very low because they will never forget what may happen if they misstep."