Can evil be measured? The question appears simple only until one attempts to define the unit. Is evil counted by lives taken, suffering caused, intentions harbored, or opportunities for mercy refused? Does a cruel act committed in ignorance weigh the same as one performed with perfect understanding? And if remorse changes the person who acted, does it also alter the measure of what was done?
Esriella insists that only the gods can judge such things properly. Mortals, she says, see fragments: the deed without the whole life, the consequence without every intention that led to it. Her answer is compassionate, though perhaps too convenient. To surrender judgment entirely to the divine risks excusing our own failure to recognize cruelty when it stands before us.
Isha once told me evil could be measured quite easily. Calculated, even. When I asked by what method, she declined to elaborate, as usual. I suspect her arithmetic is personal. She speaks of wrongdoing as though every act leaves a specific, scientific number behind, and it is as if she has spent centuries keeping a detailed tally of them.
Levak’s answer was stranger still. He said evil clings to a person “like a rain-soaked cloak,” growing heavier with every step until even the wearer forgets what it felt like to stand unburdened. He would explain no further. I have long suspected that Levak perceives more of a person’s past than ordinary sight should permit, though whether he sees deeds, guilt, or some residue left upon the soul, I cannot say.
Perhaps evil can be measured, but not by any instrument I possess; I know I have caused my fair share, despite living the best life possible. Perhaps the true difficulty is not determining how much darkness a person carries, but deciding whether they are still willing to set it down.
— from the research notes of Zyr’Magi Tes’Lothen, Magi “the Blade”, high-aelv scholar, mage, and swordsman
