I
'm very interested in moral corruption -- in how one falls into making bad decisions, usually without realizing how it occurs. I don't like dealing with facile treatments of corruption, however. The endlessly ambiguous word "power" gets dandied about way too much in our modern narratives -- "Turn to the dark side, and you will get so much POWER!" It's dull, and has nothing to do with how people are actually motivated. For sure, people desire power, but power is always instantiated, and, at least at first, is for particular reasons. For example, someone could desire enough votes to get elected, to attempt to pass an important piece of legislation; or, one could desire physical strength to win a boxing competition; or, one could desire money to pay for a loved one's medical treatment. Strength would not help the politician, money would not help the boxer achieve their goals (at least directly), and votes would not avail the medicine-seeker -- yet all of these are examples of power. Power does corrupt, but power needs context to mean anything.
Another facet of corruption is that it nearly always starts small. We make one little irresponsible or malicious or deceitful action, that by itself might hardly qualify as even truly "bad". But taking this step expands our horizon of what we think of as "acceptable actions" for ourselves -- and the next bad step feels easier than the last. Without a certain measure of self-awareness and moral regard, a soul can be utterly lost without ever feeling that they've committed more than minor misdemeanors. Or, by the time they realize what they've become and are capable of, it may be too late. I find this kind of series of self-deceiving actions fascinating, as it has the potential to indict any one of us. Unfortunately, most "power corrupts" narratives in our stories these days involve already morally suspect people making big, obvious devil's bargains for (weirdly) combat-related power. Hardly likely to spur an examination of the conscience.
All this is to say -- I'm thinking about playing around with a story, set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe, because I'm a nerd. Warhammer is highly concerned with corruption, in a very literal, demonic sense; and I'd like to play in the space of what it could mean to be tricked by demons in a meaningful way. I may very well attempt to use this blog as a place to turn some ideas over.