• Member Since 5th Nov, 2013
  • offline last seen April 16th

Wellwater


Voracious reader of fanfics for canons I haven't seen, sometime proofreader, and quiet Luna fan.

More Blog Posts4

  • 416 weeks
    Why attempts at wedging heliocentrism into Equestria don't actually work

    There are some stories that have the plot point that Celestia and Luna do not actually have the control over their respective heavenly bodies that everypony believes they do — that they are merely pretending to raise and lower them, while natural causes are really responsible. Sometimes this is done in an attempt to make Equestria more realistic and believable, with the nasty character

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    6 comments · 749 views
  • 439 weeks
    Robust societal changeling integration without yellow stars

    There are a number of fics that explore the consequences of integrating friendly changelings into Equestrian society en masse. One of the obvious problems is that of unrestricted disguises and the ever-present possibility that creates that anyone might be, or have been, a changeling, meaning that anyone now has a (theoretically) plausible alibi ("It was a changeling taking my shape, I

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    0 comments · 307 views
  • 452 weeks
    A Question of Proper Terminology

    If Applejack grew chiefly maize, would we call her a corn pone?

    0 comments · 365 views
  • 498 weeks
    My Bookshelf Arrangements

    I have the faint hope that this writing may either suggest organization methods to others, or explain my own system more perfectly to authors and other readers alike. Perhaps even both. Also, my OCD called and I could not but heed. If you want a quick reference to how to most efficiently use my shelves, just start at the top-left of my library and go from there. The first shelf in which a

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    0 comments · 592 views
Dec
5th
2015

Robust societal changeling integration without yellow stars · 10:03pm Dec 5th, 2015

There are a number of fics that explore the consequences of integrating friendly changelings into Equestrian society en masse. One of the obvious problems is that of unrestricted disguises and the ever-present possibility that creates that anyone might be, or have been, a changeling, meaning that anyone now has a (theoretically) plausible alibi ("It was a changeling taking my shape, I swear!"), even other changelings. Bad as allowing arbitrary accused criminals to escape justice is, it would be still worse to simply disregard that defense entirely, since that would then allow any changeling to send anyone they wanted to jail.

Some fics solve this problem (at least in part) by having "changeling lamps" put above various public buildings and along streets at intervals to reveal any changeling within their light. Aside from the cost of implementing this solution, there's also the problem that a number of perfectly reasonable things to have productive changeling members of society do can get messed up by these, things like being an actor standin to deal with fans, a performer in their own right, or simply a citizen who won't be discriminated against in public.

Others solve this by requiring all legal changelings to wear a special hoofband at all times that's enchanted to be undisguisable. This is arguably even worse as far as discrimination goes, and is nastily reminiscent of a number of discriminatory measures in history.

But here's an idea I have not seen, or rather a set of related ideas. Every legal changeling can register one (or more) legal identities, and receive ID paperwork for them which they can present as normal... without, in most cases, having to reveal that they are a changeling. They also have ID for their changeling self with a list of registered identities. They must all wear a hoofband … but this one will detect if they're in one of their registered disguises and if so, conceal itself. To guard against hostile infiltration, the lamp solution can be retained as well (perhaps mostly around the borders or the edges of cities), as long as the hoofbands have a magic marker that instructs the lamps not to strip off the disguise. (This would not be an immunity to disguise-stripping spells, however.) This system preserves civil liberty and protects against frivolous alibis and framing both.

Not sure I'll ever be able to work this into a fic, but it's food for thought.

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