Forums » Elder Scrolls

Video Game Powers: Becoming a Hero

    • 177 posts
    December 20, 2015 3:40 AM EST

    Hm, this is a very thought provoking discussion Edana! I always am sucker for "What super power would you have" questions! But, after some thought, I'm going to have to go with alchemy! If you think about it, Elder Scrolls alchemy is powerful stuff. Out of some plants I can make a drink that just, Y'know, cures all disease. Not to mention the potions that can seal up wounds and heal them immediately, or the ones that let you levitate, or the ones that turn you invisible or Skooma! And the best part about alchemy, is that it could be taught once I learned it! I could organize a group of alchemists, and basically eradicate disease and pain. And, on a slightly darker note,  alchemy would also allow you to make poisons unlike any on Earth. Unfortunately, some people just need a concoction of Wisp Stalks and Nirn Root in their morning coffee... 

    • 393 posts
    December 20, 2015 3:44 AM EST

    The humanity is the way it is, there's no point to like it or dislike it, it's just the same as that to dislike the fact that the Earth is a globe or that the sky is blue. All the guys you bring as examples here would be bound to turn into mindless fanatics with their wish to change the world, and if they had superpowers... oh, thank goodness they don't. 

    Changind the world is illusion, it will always return to it's nature, no matter what you do, superpowers and all.

    • 288 posts
    December 20, 2015 3:50 AM EST

    Again, according to Nietzsche, your way of thinking is a "slave mentality".

    The slave accepts reality and his powerlessness, the master enforces his will or dies trying (but refuses to live as a slave, even to reality).

    Come to think of it, back in time there was a caveman that wanted to go outside the cave, build some tools, build a house, plant some plants in a garden; and another cavemen who told him "humanity is the way it is, changing it is an illusion, we are meant to live in caves and nothing ever will change that"

    It's the masters that change the world. Because they never accept that they can't.

    • 393 posts
    December 20, 2015 4:56 AM EST

    No, my way of thinking is not slave mentality.

    I never said that one should try to change anything, only that trying to change the nature of the humanity is pointless.

    One living in the cave can sit there all his life and die in the cave, or he can invent a TV and watch it until he dies in the cave, or he can try to dig a hole in the wall, at which he may succeed, if he is lucky and the wall is thin, otherwise he will die in the cave and only hope that his children will continue digging (and they probably will just sit in the cave and tell each other what a hero their ancestor was as he was trying to exit the cave), or he can just think a bit and realize, that that white wall on the other side of the cave is not really a wall, and then go and exit the cave.

    The only human you can change is yourself, and the only way the humanity can change is if everyone realizes it and starts changing themselves instead of trying to change others.

    One who dies trying is not a master, he is just a more difficult kind of slave. The master is the one who knows what is worth trying.

    • 43 posts
    December 20, 2015 9:58 AM EST

    That's what i was going to say TES alchemy could be used to cure all the diseases in the world, but it is a double edged sword as you mentioned alchemy could do a lot of harm as well a good. Personally I would prefer the cure disease and poison spell from Morrowind or Oblivion, that way there would not be the potential for harm or the temptation to use your power to harm others.

    • 113 posts
    December 20, 2015 10:54 AM EST
    The ability to "Cleanse Minds", kinda like calm but a permanent version of it. I would use on every enemy I see, even draugrs and dragons to make them return to sleep and not harm the men/mer/beasts respectively. The elder scrolls world is enough corrupt already, no more deaths needed. Although I always have to unsheathe my blade when things get rough, against the sheer force of will.
    • 1217 posts
    December 20, 2015 11:58 AM EST
    Let's be fair; that only matters if we accept Nietzsche's word as law. Is there any reason to do that?
    • 393 posts
    December 20, 2015 12:08 PM EST

    No. I don't think anyone's word is law. Everyone only sees their own part of the big picture, no one sees all, even Nietzshe.

    • 98 posts
    December 20, 2015 4:55 PM EST

    Very interesting answer. I totally see what you mean.

    • 177 posts
    December 20, 2015 6:00 PM EST

    Well, not to shoot down your idea or anything Vlad, but I question the overall effect of your theoretical actions in this situation. Would you really be changing things? Okay, your plan is too pull the strings behind the scenes, and essentially use economic eugenics, and prevent large-scale national alliances. Would this really be too much of a change or improvement? Essentially killing the poor and shooting down alliances is already being done in many places, why would you need to do that? And as for the improvements of the situation, I think you are generalizing the poor a bit. Many people go on welfare because they have no other option, and they may have brilliant minds. What if the next Issac Newton was from a welfare family? You may be doing the world a great disservice in the long run. Yes I will admit that many just go on welfare to feed a drug habit and live in their Mom's basement, but that's not true for everyone on it. And as for shooting down alliances, I won't get into that. I personally like the idea of a government that can help everyone some day, but that's a matter of personal opinion. 

    • 558 posts
    December 21, 2015 12:38 AM EST

    I wouldn't completely abolish welfare, but severely limit it. Figuring out exactly what parts of it to limit would take time, but I have time with vampirism. I would definitely keep military veterans on welfare, they shouldn't have to work after serving their countries. I believe in retirement, as well. If you have kids with someone and you split, instead of keeping the kids with just the mom (as it usually is), I would give the kids to the most financially stable parent. There's one program knocked off.

    My plan would be to creating an opposite world of the one in the book 1984. Everyone is poor, on drugs, culture-less, hateful, and ignorant in that book. In an extremely capitalist society, if you want to eat, you have to work. So if you don't want to work, you and your family starve (incentive, much?). In this circumstance, most people would be very prideful of working like the 1920's in the US. You would also want to keep your job, and you would work very hard so you won't get fired. If you don't want to do your job, someone else off the street gladly will. Hopefully brilliant people could get out of terrible situations they were born into, the system isn't against them. It's just against people who don't want to work.

    I just can't support the idea of world peace. Multiple governments can't coexist peacefully, because once one country lacks what another country has, expect a conflict. It's not just resources (resource wars would happen in a world peace scenario because of overpopulation), it's also religion, political views, want of land, threat of WMDs, etc. But you already knew that, because that's the world we live in now. There have been wars since civilization started, does anyone think it could ever change? Not only that, but

    Ancient Rome is what peace is. Many indigenous cultures were erased (if you don't value other cultures then you might not understand why this is bad) by the Ancient Romans, but they established a thousand year golden age of "peace". If you are ignorant, then you won't understand how screwed up the place you're living in really is (wonder where George Orwell got the idea from). If I had vampirism, the EU or the UN would be the first to go... That would be a pretty big change.

    My problem with large-scale alliances is that no few people need that much power. I for one am not comfortable with any number of people ruling the world. We don't need a country monopoly (aka UN).

    • 288 posts
    December 21, 2015 2:31 AM EST

    Lol, somehow you look more suited for a supervillain than a superhero.

    • 743 posts
    December 21, 2015 10:51 AM EST
    Nah, he's the most realilistic hero I've seen on this thread so far.
    • 694 posts
    December 21, 2015 11:50 AM EST

    This is an interesting answer. As powerful as anyone might be with some sort of ability, there has to be a DESIRE and willingness to act too. Having the power is just one half of the equation, as we've seen a little bit here. Well played, Lazy. 

    • 694 posts
    December 21, 2015 12:19 PM EST

    This. This. This. I seriously couldn't have said it better myself, Pinkie. +1 from me.  I think it would be a disastrous mistake to over-generalize poverty in such a way, especially when disadvantage and privilege used to be built into "the system," (and still is a myriad of ways) is a root cause of present day inequality to begin with.

    Steezy: I take your point about overpopulation, resource wars, and cultural integrity. I just don't think that's the best way to solve those issues. But I won't delete your comment. It may be a little political, but I think my question leaves that aspect open a little, even though it wasn't my intent.  Since this is your honest answer, you're not doing it to provoke anyone, and no one seems to take offense (even if they disagree), in my view, it can stay. It's an honest answer with honest engagement that isn't spamming the feed or upsetting anyone. If any of my co-hosts disagree they can send me a PM about it. 

    On that note-- keep it civil folks, and pleeease don't make me regret that call. 

    • 743 posts
    December 21, 2015 12:29 PM EST
    Leave it to Edana to be the most professional host.
    • 694 posts
    December 21, 2015 12:41 PM EST

    Good answers! The idea of a "mortal" hero really appeals to me as well. But to be fair, Batman had a ton of dough for fancy gadgets and a secret lair. I'm sure most of us aren't as lucky as that. 

    • 743 posts
    December 21, 2015 12:44 PM EST
    This
    • 694 posts
    December 21, 2015 12:46 PM EST

    Bend Will and illusion spells are interesting... they may stop any immediate violence, but is it really a lasting solution? Plus that gets a little sticky in terms of morality, because then you start messing with free will. The illusion school has always felt unethical to me in that regard. Now obviously, I don't want to see hundreds of thousands of people die... but I also think there's an argument to be made for mind control, especially on a massive scale, being flat out immoral. Which is worse at the end of the day?

    • 694 posts
    December 21, 2015 12:57 PM EST

    I like the idea of alchemy too, but on the other side of the coin you also have all the unintended consequences of this. So if you could concoct an all-powerful potion that would feasibly cure every disease, I would think it falling into the hands of a pharmaceutical company could be potentially really dangerous. How much would they charge for such a thing? Would only the incredibly wealthy be able to afford it? Especially if the ingredients were hard to find or in limited supply. If the ingredients all plant-based, and you could find a way to cultivate and harvest them, what about deforestation and destruction of natural habitat?

    What if it was widely available and anyone could access it? This circles back to Steezy's point about overpopulation and resource wars. I'm not saying I disagree, or that I don't love this answer (because I totally do), I just think there are a zillion ways for this to go sideways and am trying to tease out more discussion about this fabulous idea. 

    • 558 posts
    December 21, 2015 1:12 PM EST

    I just think that in a perfect country, a huge incentive (ie. you and your family starving) to work is necessary. I would keep some welfare programs, but I think most would be gone.

    Also lol I failed to erase that part at the end of the third paragraph.

    • 694 posts
    December 21, 2015 1:30 PM EST

    Nahhh.  You give me too much credit, sir. I think anyone else would make the same call.

  • December 21, 2015 2:15 PM EST

    Is CHIM on the table? I'll just screw around with that. Start up a little world peace, maybe. Not like it would be difficult. Unlimited free energy, solving world hunger, etc. Alright so maybe CHIM kind of simplifies the moral quandaries you were hoping to see. I'll pick a different one.

    Obviously Bend Will is the power with the most potential for truly changing things. But I've never been one for power-lusting and I'm not delusional enough to think I could solve the world's problems if I was the one in-charge, so I'm going with Voice of the Emperor. It doesn't make people my allies, but it makes them sit their asses down. It can easily diffuse hostile situations. Break up arguments in political hearings and meetings so stuff might actually get done. It also gets around the morality issue, in my opinion, since it only targets violent and aggressive reactions (in a peaceful situation, Voice of the Emperor doesn't really do anything).

    Lot of potential, I think. But people always overlook Voice of the Emperor, even in-game. To paraphrase Mason, "That's a Master-level spell, children..."

    • 177 posts
    December 21, 2015 2:36 PM EST

    Welllll Vlad, I agree that a culture-less, hateful and ignorant society would be a terrible thing, but I don't think that would necessarily be the result of world peace. I can defiantly see your point about multiple governments not being able to agree on everything, but in my mind an aspect of world peace is a single government. Yes, yes I know you may cite Rome as an example of what a single "peaceful" government is, a xenophobic, tyrannical pit of ignorance, but I have to disagree. I would not cite Rome as "peace" because, to me at least, a part of world peace is an accepting, open-minded society. If you have a Warhammer 40k style Imperium or something ruling over everything, then yes it's peaceful text-book wise, but in all reality it's not, because a society built on intolerance can never be truly peaceful. But, I feel, that if a fair system were put in place it could be handled rather well, and would erase all the needles suffering in the world, which I think should be humanities ultimate goal. And as for your economic idea, I feel that are are giving capitalism way too much credit, and treating it as if it's really fair. And not to make everything about me, but I can tell you from personal experience that capitalism is a system that can screw over someone just because of their parents birth station. Like, to use my mom as an example, if you are born to a criminal and have a strong urge to work yourself, your not always accepted. If you walk into a gas station, filthy because your parents cant provide you a shower, beat up from said parents and looking like an overall hobo, you're not going to be hired. It does not matter how you truly feel or how much you want to work, sometimes people are going judge a book by it's cover and turn you away. All in all, you have a few good points but I just feel that this plan would create a society where anyone without a semi-good birth station, regardless of how their parents got to that station, would be ultimately doomed after a generation or two. 

    • 177 posts
    December 21, 2015 3:05 PM EST

    Those are.....some very good points Edana! I hadn't really considered other people trying to take it, but I can defiantly see that happening, greed is a powerful thing! I would probably try to get the recipes circulating as quickly as possible, and I certainly would never sell them! If I could make the ingredients, and could teach other people, I would be running it as a charity basically, even if it meant driving myself into poverty again. As for  the deforestation, I think that if they could be cultivated it should be in already ravaged areas, like the Amazon Rain Forest, to give them a new life for a good cause. As for resource wars and overpopulation, hopefully lack of disease and a cure for any wounds available at a moments notice would bring people together a little, but if not something UN-esque could be made to regulate the potions. I would love for the potions to be able to help everyone, but that may not be possible with some of the....crazy people out there.