Moral Dilemma

[LostOne]

A powerful corporation comes up with a very profitable method to generate unlimited free energy and spreads the necessary money around to get officials to look the other way.

The secret? They have abducted a mutant with the power Re-Channel and Expel Energy. They've done extensive brain surgery to remove his consciousness and keep him healthy using IVs for water and nourishment. Basically using computers wired to his brain and a small external power plant, they create an energy loop through the hero maintaining as much power as they need to keep going into him to maintain the amount of electricity the city/state they are contracted with needs. The small external power plant is used to start the mutant up. The simplicity of it is that if the power company needs to supply X amount of electricity, they work their way up to feeding X into the mutant, which doubles it. So the power company has 2X electricity, they feed half into the mutant to maintain that amount of power output and use the extra X to power the city/state.

Now for the dilemma. The group finds out about this. What has been done to the mutant is morally reprehensible, but it has been done. Unless they know a mutant with some major heal others powers, it can't be undone. But allowing it to continue is allowing the evil corporation to continue to gain vast amounts of pure profit from their customers. But if the group shuts the mutant-power-plant down by unplugging cables, then they leave millions of people without power, it could easilly take years to construct enough replacement power plants of a more conventional design.

If you want to make it worse, the mutant is still conscious and aware of what has been done to him, the brain surgery merely seperated his ability to control his mutant powers, he's effectively been paralyzed from the neck down and is slowly/quickly going insane.

Plus, if he is unplugged the wrong way, the last of the power will go into the mutant with nowhere to be safely drained away...boom.

[Stone Gargoyle]

The powers that be would grit their teeth but shut it down. Can you imagine the amount of public protest that would go on if such a thing were made known to the general public? And what of the mutant's family? Would their not be a resultant lawsuit? You lobotomized their baby. Not to mention the mutant rights activists that would come up in arms, as well as the anti-biotech movement which would see this as an unfair form of augmentation and threat to genetic purity by the corporation which might seek to create other powerful sources of energy in the future, avoiding a dangerous precedent. The lack of power would be a minor setback compared to the political and social issues which would snowball out of such an incident.

[Overlord Rikonius]

I've read enough comics to know this one! I'd kill the mutant and burn the corpse. Otherwise he's going to come back as a somehow amped up ****ed off demigod of destruction.

OK, serious answer, I'd shut the project down and try to get the mutant to a healer. Unless the mutant was a real bad guy beforehand, in which case I would merely force the company to properly lobotomize him.

I'd also try to get an analytical genius type to work up something where we could use some of his cells to grow power generating/rechanelling tissues that could be used without using a conscious being.

[Stone Gargoyle]

I've read enough comics to know this one! I'd kill the mutant and burn the corpse. Otherwise he's going to come back as a somehow amped up ****ed off demigod of destruction.

Only if it was X-Men.

[verdilak]

IMO its a hard moral dilemma. If you free him, and you should, he dies and millions lose power, which could cause numerous deaths. If you don't, he knows whats being done to him and he's being used to make free money. How about taking away his consciousness (since thats whats going to happen anyways if you free him. And if you realize that, can you really free him/kill him? Guess that depends on if he is in pain or not.) or linking up his consciousness to a transferred robot or to a normal computer so he can read and whatnot.

Very complex, I must say that I'm going to shamelessly use this scenario in my game. Thanks.

[Kesslan]

The sort of best case scenario I can see comming out of this is leaving the whole setup as is only long enough to arrange for power to come from elsewhere. Take it off line, then build a new local power plant.

Very costly but the result is quite similar to what happens today. For example the US buys ALOT of electricity from power plants in Canada. Equally various Provinces buy power from each other depending on what is deemed the most practical solution.

[Sir_Spirit]

I'd solve the dillema by Publicly Executing everyone who got power from him.
(HOW? you say? SEe MEchano:link power and the movie Wargames)
Boom, problem solved.

[Kesslan]

I'd solve the dillema by Publicly Executing everyone who got power from him.
(HOW? you say? SEe MEchano:link power and the movie Wargames)
Boom, problem solved.

So your going for the diabolic angle I take it? Wiping out an entire city and all....

Or did you mean just the people behind hooking the guy up? Which honestly isnt a whole lot better.

[Iczer]

no moral dilemna. He's a prisoner, being tortured and abused. probably without any real legal consent.

The dealing with it is a whole other story. technically, leave it to their alignments to deal with, just be aware that it's probably not cool to be using dead people as batteries, particularilly if they are responsible for his death (or worse, if he's not dead)

The best way to shut it down is to make it as public as possible. It's hard to bury somethings as it is without a huge public outcry.

And there is no real argument over whether he should be released or not either. there is nothing to say that the mutant isn't going to blow up under his own power or worse. just becuase some doctors and scientists have rigged him to work this way dosen't mean it can't break down. What if he gets a fever or other virus. What if someone from the astral plane starts to invade his body. What if his consciousness takes over the power grid? (comic book physics here guys). There is no guarentee that this mutant is necessarilly safe power.

so all in all, just disconnect him the correct way, and get him the treatment he deserves. The city needs power? what was it doing before this guy was caught? (and what were they planning on doing after he eventually expired of old age or illness) I can't imagine they were without a backup.

Batts


Batts

[MASTERMIND]

You beat me to it. Public electricity dates back to the 1890s. I would have to ask how old your city was and what it was doing for power before this mutant was rigged up. Locate those resources and bring them back online. Then free the mutant and end their misery.

[Stone Gargoyle]

Mutant slavery is an apealing idea, but you have to do it at a locatiion where all their rights have already been stripped away, like the old X-men's Genosha.

[Mech-Viper Prime]

lets my hero group in HU

would launch an PR attack, with a hostile take over bid and launch an full out assault on the complex using it's mutant and hi-tech troops. Lucky the heroes are backed by a mega-corporation.

[rebis]

(and what were they planning on doing after he eventually expired of old age or illness) I can't imagine they were without a backup.

Batts


Batts

Maybe the company used a cloning to make a group of mutants all with the same power so when that mutant dies of disease or old age they just replace him like a pack of batteries.

[GhostKnight]

If he can be healed then heal him.

If he can't then make it public in such a way that the money is returned to those that paid it, the people in charge thrown in jail, and that the future power only be paid at price.

[Natalya]

This is a no-win scenario. Flat-out.

You leave the guy, and you've done bad. He is a tortured prisoner whom you could have freed, and you looked the other way.

You free the guy, and later on another city has the following news report - "Word just received in from 'Z' city...the blackout that has taken the whole city by surprise is responsible for the deaths of hundreds. Several babies expected to recover in the neo-natal intensive care unit died when electricity to the machines keeping them warm and medicated failed. Riots have broken out, and our witness saw several mass beatings and gunfire at stores with generators. Additional details following this commercial break..."

[shiiv-a]

one thing you should do first ....

HACK the system ... find their accounts ... and then transfer the full amounts out and into YOUR private account. ALL super groups need a cash baske for things like ... equipment .. buildings for their group .. security and other things like that. after all ... not every government is gonna be 'Meta-friendly' even if they HAVE to appear that way on camera.

so once you remove the cash .. and stick in into an offshore account or into the swiss accounts .. it can't be touched by others. the power company now CAN'T afford a fancy lawyer ... then SUE the company big time ... [or better yet ... use the money to pay for he lawyer for YOU and for the 'power source' .. against the company.

thus the question arises .. WHO is the biggest criminal? ... you for taking the company to court? .. the mutant who's voiceless? .. the power company? ... the hacker? or the government?

[Rimmer]

You guys seem to be forgeting that in order to generate 2X level power, the mutant needs to be fed on X power, X power being the cities requirements in the first place, so once you free him the company will just have to go back to supplying power the old fashioned way.

Well, maybe not after the huge lawsuit

[shiiv-a]

*raises hand*

'i'm not with them. they wanna nitpic the backstory. i was just trying to embezzle the funds for my own selfish reasons'

*runs away with the accounts and passwords

[Stone Gargoyle]

*raises hand*

'i'm not with them. they wanna nitpic the backstory. i was just trying to embezzle the funds for my own selfish reasons'

*runs away with the accounts and passwords

[LostOne]

You beat me to it. Public electricity dates back to the 1890s. I would have to ask how old your city was and what it was doing for power before this mutant was rigged up. Locate those resources and bring them back online. Then free the mutant and end their misery.

I really wouldn't know. When a new nuclear power plant comes online do cities keep the old coal burning (or whatever power system they had before) intact? Or do they convert the building to something else, or even tear it down or sell it to a private corporation? I have no idea how to even find out about how that is handled in real-world situations.

What if the mutant has been the city's power source for 30 years (or longer, maybe he has immortality)? Suddenly those old systems (if they're still around) wouldn't be able to provide enough power for a city that has greatly expanded.

Maybe the company used a cloning to make a group of mutants all with the same power so when that mutant dies of disease or old age they just replace him like a pack of batteries.

I could easily see a corporation that gets their claws on this guy being willing to break cloning laws. They can expand to power the entire planet with enough clones, gain a world-wide monopoly on cheap renewable environmentally friendly power.

[Spectre]

I've seen something similar to this, the exception being the scales are different.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ones_W ... rom_Omelas

I would disconnect him. One suffering does not balance out with pleasure for many.

You free the guy, and later on another city has the following news report - "Word just received in from 'Z' city...the blackout that has taken the whole city by surprise is responsible for the deaths of hundreds. Several babies expected to recover in the neo-natal intensive care unit died when electricity to the machines keeping them warm and medicated failed.

Most hospitals keep backups in case somthing like this happens.

[shiiv-a]

*raises hand*

'i'm not with them. they wanna nitpic the backstory. i was just trying to embezzle the funds for my own selfish reasons'

*runs away with the accounts and passwords

heehee ... well ... at least ONE person caught the joke ...

now ... does this mean i gotta share the funds? ... cause ... unless you saw me do more than just say the words .. i'm still innocent ...

[Ice Dragon]

Great scenario.

From the first look, it is a no-win situation. On the second one, a great opportunity for a campain. Find a new solution for the energy problem (research a new way, the metor the supervillain stole from the museum can power the generator, ...).

[Stone Gargoyle]

Great scenario.

From the first look, it is a no-win situation. On the second one, a great opportunity for a campain. Find a new solution for the energy problem (research a new way, the metor the supervillain stole from the museum can power the generator, ...).

That's so crazy, it just might work.

[Stone Gargoyle]

*raises hand*

'i'm not with them. they wanna nitpic the backstory. i was just trying to embezzle the funds for my own selfish reasons'

*runs away with the accounts and passwords

heehee ... well ... at least ONE person caught the joke ...

now ... does this mean i gotta share the funds? ... cause ... unless you saw me do more than just say the words .. i'm still innocent ...

Um, no comment.

[dragon_blaze_99]

bumped up so some of the new player could see a different side of HU then the pure combat