Law of Eternity

"The Gap between a decillion years and infinity is still infinity. No finite sin, no matter how heinous, can be justifiably punished with infinite torment. Even against the most vile of tyrants I would not levy such punishment. Eternal torment doesn't stop after any condition. It doesn't cease after a sinner has made amends. It doesn't cease when the wounds of sin have healed. It will never cease even after the sin and those it hurt is naught by void. From this point on, the Weave forbids all punishment of eternal nature designed to inflict suffering."
Margus Lorn, Aedentide Councilor
The Law of Eternity refers to a decree and its equivalents forbidding eternal torment against any being.
== Origin ==
In most civilisations that have immortal inhabitants such as Transcends, Old Brethren and Shardbearers, extremely strong cultural taboos against eternal punishment tend to exist. Most such polities tend to have strong pragmatic reasons against instituting eternal punishment; eternal punishments require active monitoring and maintenance, presenting an ongoing opportunity cost in regards to the value that the offender and the resources spent on them. For criminals that may be rehabilitiated, eternal punishments negatively impact any motivation for correction and might provoke them to commit more serious offences. 
Imposition of ego death is the preferred option for the highest level of punishment as it doesn't present an opportunity cost to those handing it out. On a pragmatic level, wiping the personality and memories of an offender is a single time punishment that does not incur ongoing costs in monitoring and maintenance, while the new blank state of a being can be raised to be a contributing society member. 
Eternal confinement and imprisonment is only reserved for mindless indestructible forces and entities such as instances of the Silence and Tor blightlings, or for intelligent immortal entities that axiomatically cannot coexist with others. The latter, however, are very rarely in containment, as the vast majority can still be subverted or subjugated in some way; the presence of a mind allows the possibility of subversion and domination.
Category:Culture and Tradition
Category:Society and Law