Scrapyard Station worldbuilding
Feb. 13th, 2022 04:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
The first murder case involving a Scholar swarm was an absolute shitshow.
The swarm was married to a Nomad, and by all accounts, they seemed to love each other. Unfortunately, the Nomad had its species’ equivalent of a heart condition, which went undiagnosed and completely beneath notice until it collapsed on the floor of their house and expired.
The swarm’s defense was that they just wanted to preserve their spouse’s memories. Decay sets in quickly, so they needed to eat the Nomad’s brain fast in order to avoid losing anything important. There were no signs of foul play, the autopsy revealed the heart condition, and the Nomad’s memories and personality were still active within the Scholar swarm, defending its spouse. No associated party wanted to push the case, but the Nomad in charge of the government’s prosecution insisted on making an example of the “alien.”
After multiple appeals, the highest relevant court rejected the case, letting a lower court’s guilty ruling stand. Since the swarm had their spouse’s memories, this was arguably a case in which the victim went to prison for a crime against itself. The only upside of this mess was that it encouraged other Scholars’ loved ones to write living wills.
The swarm was married to a Nomad, and by all accounts, they seemed to love each other. Unfortunately, the Nomad had its species’ equivalent of a heart condition, which went undiagnosed and completely beneath notice until it collapsed on the floor of their house and expired.
The swarm’s defense was that they just wanted to preserve their spouse’s memories. Decay sets in quickly, so they needed to eat the Nomad’s brain fast in order to avoid losing anything important. There were no signs of foul play, the autopsy revealed the heart condition, and the Nomad’s memories and personality were still active within the Scholar swarm, defending its spouse. No associated party wanted to push the case, but the Nomad in charge of the government’s prosecution insisted on making an example of the “alien.”
After multiple appeals, the highest relevant court rejected the case, letting a lower court’s guilty ruling stand. Since the swarm had their spouse’s memories, this was arguably a case in which the victim went to prison for a crime against itself. The only upside of this mess was that it encouraged other Scholars’ loved ones to write living wills.