Okay, might as well set up some initial plan drafts so there can at least be some discussion.
[ ] Plan Equivalent Exchange
-[ ][Training] Complete the Champions project through…intensive training [-6 Morale]
-[ ][Reform] Power of Law
-[ ][Practices] Brought to Deadtown and…(choose as many suboptions as wanted)
--[ ] Subjected to the lesser Rite of Eternal Repose (bindings and amulets) OR
--[ ] Subjected to the Rite of Awakenings beforehands
-[ ][Executor] The Winter Kin of the Deceased (extended family unit/defensive clan/neighborhood)
-[ ][Veto] The Captain
-[ ][Punishment] 20 lashes, expulsion from the Council if they are on it with a barring from Council candidacy for a period of two years, and a temporary expulsion from the Assembly for a period of one year.
[ ] Plan Maximize Morale
-[ ][Training] not, let them rest. They will need all the strength they can in Winter.
-[ ][Reform] Power of Law
-[ ][Practices] Brought to Deadtown and…(choose as many suboptions as wanted)
--[ ] Subjected to the lesser Rite of Eternal Repose (bindings and amulets) OR
--[ ] Subjected to the Rite of Awakenings beforehands
-[ ][Executor] The Winter Kin of the Deceased (extended family unit/defensive clan/neighborhood)
-[ ][Veto] The Captain
-[ ][Punishment] 20 lashes, expulsion from the Council if they are on it with a barring from Council candidacy for a period of two years, and a temporary expulsion from the Assembly for a period of one year.
[ ] Plan Power of Decision
-[ ][Training] not, let them rest. They will need all the strength they can in Winter.
-[ ][Reform] Power of Decision
-[ ][Practices] Brought to Deadtown and…(choose as many suboptions as wanted)
--[ ] Subjected to the lesser Rite of Eternal Repose (bindings and amulets) OR
--[ ] Subjected to the Rite of Awakenings beforehands
-[ ][Executor] The Winter Kin of the Deceased (extended family unit/defensive clan/neighborhood)
-[ ][Veto] The Captain
-[ ][Punishment] 20 lashes, expulsion from the Council if they are on it with a barring from Council candidacy for a period of two years, and a temporary expulsion from the Assembly for a period of one year.
Okay, so I assume that we're gonna decide on one way to treat our dead that won't change no matter our decision for Training or Reform, so here's 3 Plans that are just variations of that. One where we do a full-complete of Champions and Power of Law to make up for the Morale cost, one where we do Power of Law and leaving Champions uncompleted to maximize morale, and one where we only do the Power of Decision level. Though I suppose I could also do a 4th Plan of just giving the Power of Veto, but I feel like we can trust the Assembly with more power than that, and a part of me would honestly rather that an action be forbidden from the start rather than us finding out it's Veto'd partway through the plan and so the dice put on it end up being wasted.
Now to justify my Funerary Rites Choices:
So, up until now, we've been making sure all the Dead are brought to Deadtown. The initial Colonist and Native dead were the ones who eventually formed Deadtown. What dead happened afterwards were also brought to Deadtown. The Unchained dead were also taken to Deadtown (and we did that despite a -5 Morale penalty.) We've already set up a precedent that our Dead go to Deadtown, no exceptions. So I say we ought to continue that, and regardless of which rite is chosen, they go to Deadtown.
Now, whenever they're sent, they obviously shouldn't be sent unprotected (or at least, that's how I feel.) They can either go through the Rite of Eternal Repose to sleep away until some later date under the protection of their awake compatriots, or have been subjected to the Rite of Awakenings so they can be among the rest of the Freed (
@OldShadow at the moment I'm assuming that most of the Freed who aren't sleeping under the Eternal Repose or equivalents can be considered "Awake." Am I right on this?)
Which decision is made is a choice to be made by the Winter Kin of the Deceased. The Winter Kin are the support network and defensive group during Winter, which is the most likely cause of death and the reason we have to deal with this mess in the first place. You might have the closest blood ties to Summer Kin, but Winter Kin are the people who you'll be struggling, fighting, and
dying alongside. So it feels fitting that they are the ones who handle your Funerary Rites.
The alternative would be the Deceased themselves translated through a Death-Singer, but our knowledge of Death-Singing is still imperfect, and it puts a lot of power in the hands of the Death-Singers that they would have the potential to misinterpret, and would lack the personal connection to the deceased that the Winter Kin would have, so right now I'm leaning on the Winter Kin.
Veto Power I, after a lot of back and forthing and angst, eventually decided to give to the Captain. Vetoing the Funerary Rites of someone is not something to be done lightly, and I eventually decided it should be the Captain's decision if given at all. Sara Smith, as the first Captain, has already set a precedent of being the middleman(well, woman) between Union and the supernatural. Sara was the first one to commune with the dead and found the Mourners, Sara is the one who negotiated with the Eyeless Lord, Sara is the one who we're advised to send to negotiate with the Mistmen when the time comes, etc. The Captain, it seems, is most likely to be the go-between for Union of the (more or less) mundane humans and Union of the Supernatural, and so is the best suited to decide when a certain Funerary Rite would cause significant problems and so requires a veto.
Punishment is something I've spent the past half-hour banging my head against a wall. Expulsion from the Council if they're on it ended up being pretty easy to decide. Councilors did swear that oath that they're supposed to serve impartially, and I'd say that oath is violated if not in letter, then at least in spirit if they go against the laws and rites of Union like that. Corporeal punishment in a public setting was also a common punishment in early Colonial America, and given how important relations between the Dead and Living are for Union, I do want to make sure that Union is taking Funerary practices dead (pardon the pun) seriously. But I'm not completely sure on the exact form that should take. I would definitely appreciate any feedback on the point here.
