The Severing
The man hung shivering, draped in rags, and adored with manacles and chains, shacked to a pillory in the middle of the judicial chambers. He pleads with the Council of Judges to spare him from the Severing. The court scribe announces the charges of the accused. The man pleads his case, that murder of his family was an accident, though his voice tones no remorse when speaking of their deaths. His voice only quivers when talk of the Severing is brought up. The Volitate is just as we believe a harbinger of evil, who would use his power to destroy to control and terrorize. The judges discuss the for a few moments before banging their gavel and handing down their judgment. As expected, this man is to be Severed and scream and struggles in fear as the verdict is passed down.
Severing is a procedure in which the Otemus Arcanium cut someone off from the source of Aether. This is done for multiple reasons, but the primary function is as a punishment for aether sensitive person who refuses to be trained in the control and safety of their own abilities. The person becomes considered a threat to the safety and peace of Rinas and for the better of all, that person must be severed. Other cases that mean lead to severing:
An academy student that fails to learn to control their power by end of their two years of Inductee training is considered a failure. They are considered untrainable at this point and for the safety of all, the Inductee is severed and returned to their family.
Those who volunteer to be severed from the aether. This usually happens to those afraid of their own powers or who don't wish to be part of the Arcanium.
Punishment for captured Volitate who are brought back to the academy.
Symptoms
Those who have been severed lose all connection to the Aether and the Aether Lines. The severed can still see and sense aether but can no longer access or manipulate the arcane in any form. Reports have stated that those Severed feel as though they have lost a part of themselves like having a limb taken away. Severed are known to be distant, melancholy, and quiet. Some have been known to have a normal life by finding the strength to find a new purpose, but unfortunately, most cases end in suicide as depression and hopelessness destroy the severed person.
History
The act of severing began a few years after The Watchful Eye and its rules were agreed upon during the Great Hope Treaty. It is a heavily guarded secret of the Arcanium how the procedure of severing is performed, and no other person or group has been able to replicate the effect of the Severing on an arcanist.
Cultural Reception
Culture reception seems to vary based on the user opinion of the arcanist and the arcane. Those who support the free use of arcane power, vehemently oppose the act of severing and protest sometimes to a point of violence. There have been cases of radicals attempting to free captured Volitate from the authority or hide them from away. Citizens who have been known to oppose the use of the arcane are quite opposite, they have been known to report any arcanist for anything they deem to be a crime or violation, whether what was committed is or not a punishable offense. They believe all arcanists should be severed as soon as they come of age to end the threat of magic that lingers in the memory of most races. The majority of folks fall under a more neutral stance. They accept the Severing as a nessarary control for those who break the law and see it as a fair trade for their security. Those who have been Severed, tend to be pitied by most of society, but left alone for the most part. The more radical factions' reception leans toward putting them out of their misery or ridiculing them into their own destruction.
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