Extinction

Extinction. The very word strikes terror in the heart of any citizen of the Lachendon Empire. This terrible magic is the ultimate form of execution, and is only possible within the Great Ward of the Empire with the direction of the Grand Magister of The Great Council. When the authorities prescribe Extinction as the punishment for a crime a further investigation is undertaken by The Great Council to explore the circumstances of the crime commited, as well as to find and document all family history, associates, and associates of those associates. The results of that investigation, powered by the divination magics of several archmagi, is incredibly thorough and often requires a month or more to complete. Upon completion of the investigation, the council meets in full, and discusses the crime, the results of the investigation, and the wisdom of the sentence applied. These deliberations last for weeks, and often result in further investigations and subsequent further deliberation. Upon completion of the discussion and argument, a poll of the members is taken, with no less than eighty percent of the total council membership required to be present for this secret poll. The results of the poll must be unanimous, or the deliberations begin anew. The final result, thus, may not be found for a year or more, during this entire time the accused is kept in a state of magical suspension, unaware of the passage of time and unable to act. If the council find the punishment unwise, the sentence is commuted to simple execution, and the suspended body is burned to ash in the presence of the council and Grand Magister. If the council finds the sentence wise, then the Grand Magister and no less than one hundred archmagi retire to the chamber of extinction with the accused and begin the ritual.

Effect

When a creature is made Extinct, the magic reaches into their past, and executes that creature prior to conception, preventing the creation of the soul and the creature associated with that soul. In effect that individual never existed. All actions they undertook are rewritten or erased, at the direction of the archmagi participating in the ritual. In effect their criminal or evil, or even merely improper, actions never happened, and any beneficial actions completed remain, performed by others. In this form the ritual of Extinction requires a full week of long grueling days as the archmagi work, in shifts, to find and adjudicate every act of an individual life.

Side/Secondary Effects

There is a worse form of the ritual, however. Secondary and Tertiary Extinction are meted out for only the most terrible crimes against the living; necromancy, seeking or accepting a Warlock pact, or seeking the power of Lichdom.

Secondary Extinction makes the offender extinct, but then continues and makes their parents, grandparents, great grandparents, great great grandparents, and great great great grandparents extinct as well. A full five generations covering 32 individuals directly and possibly thousands of their descendants.

Tertiary Extinction, the most terrible of all, imposes Secondary Extinction upon the offender. The punishment extends further, however and imposes Secondary extinction on all known associates of the offender, and finally imposes simple Extinction upon all known associates of those associates. In all this form might erase over fifty thousand individuals from history, and is the most severe form of punishment available in the Empire.

In these more extreme cases, the ritual takes even longer. Secondary extinction is known to take no less than two full years of work. The one documented case of Tertiary Extinction required over a century of continuous effort, with several generations of archmagi participating in the work.