People can be Cursed

[Infected Mushroom]

I would like to discuss a hypothetical society where people can place Curses on one another.

People all over the world start discovering that they have the power to place Curses on other individuals. To Curse another individual, all a person has to do is visualise the person's face (to a sufficient degree of clarity) in their head, and say out loud "Curse [the person's name]" three consecutive times. For the purposes of the Curse, the name uttered can be any one of many names the person uses so long as it is a name that he/she has used in the past (so it doesn't have to be their passport name or actual birth name); it is also sufficient to just say a first name for example. This makes it relatively easy for any one person to place a curse on someone they dislike, bear a grudge against, or believe the world would be better off without.

To be specific, there is only one Curse that an individual can place on another using the above method. A given individual can Curse as many people as they want to (theoretically). If someone is already Cursed and gets Cursed again, nothing happens as a result of the second Curse but the first Curse will continue to operate.

If someone is afflicted by a Curse, they will be be hit by a fatal in-curable supernatural illness that ends in death. The Curse has three stages:

Stage 1: the person becomes paralysed from waist down...
Stage 2: the person experiences extremely high fevers, nausea, dizziness, vomiting, episodes of tremors...
Stage 3: Sudden heart attack and death.

Typically it would take anywhere from 1 week to a full month for a person who has been Cursed to completely die depending on a variety of factors related to the individual's health and stamina.

...

So then what happens now? Please speculate.

Let's discuss this.

The world exists as it does now. STARTING TOMORROW, people start realising that this power exists and at least some people start to place Curses on other people. What happens next (socially, politically, economically)?

I predict that within a month or so (if not weeks), all the major politicians of the world would be dead (because at least some people will hate them and they are the most visible targets). The authorities will struggle to enforce the law and many people all over the world would be murdered (I expect a lot of office managers would be gone). The world economy will be thrown into chaos as people live in fear. Many will go into hiding out of fear of being Cursed (but it will do you no good if you've already majorly pissed off someone).

Eventually new governments will emerge. These new governments will rule from the shadows (democracy won't work anymore because visible people will just be Cursed by their opponents and no one would dare run) and will essentially be police/military dictatorships. The leaders will sit on some Shadow Council and no one except the most high up generals would know the identity of the ruling council. The world would be placed under heavy martial law where all the soldiers and policemen wear masks (so they can't be visualised). They will look like Call of Duty soldiers with masks on and they will execute anyone suspected of uttering a Curse on someone else. The new military government would pass a new law (which people would flock to) whereby names are eliminated and people are instead assigned random number sequences by the government. This is to "protect the people from Curses" but in actuality it will mean that the government can control the entire population by threatening to Curse them (since they alone, would know their real names). This new law would only apply to newborn babies who will be required to be registered. It will only be partially successful because many babies will be raised outside (illegally) of the official registration system.

The upside to all of this is that people (who are not masked government stormtroopers) will be nicer, more polite to each other, and generally be more reserved. The whole go-getter hyper aggressive hyper social capitalist ethos will be replaced with a more result-focused, less status obsessed, but fear dominated work culture. Managers will also be nicer because if they are not... it could cost them their lives.

[Rusozak]

Global purge of all the people that can't handle themselves as they kill and die in that order as other's catch on and (what's left) of society embraces peace and cooperation realizing the power everyone had. Would probably evolve into a pseudo-fascist "emotions are the enemy" dystopia.

[Infected Mushroom]

Global purge of all the people that can't handle themselves as they kill and die in that order as other's catch on and (what's left) of society embraces peace and cooperation realizing the power everyone had. Would probably evolve into a pseudo-fascist "emotions are the enemy" dystopia.

Doesn't sound so bad...

[Kenmoria]

The Earth's population would suddenly suffer massive reducement. Since there must be at least one person all the engineers on a nuclear power plant have annoyed, there would be nuclear explosions all over the world, killing most, if not all, of humanity.

[Infected Mushroom]

The Earth's population would suddenly suffer massive reducement. Since there must be at least one person all the engineers on a nuclear power plant have annoyed, there would be nuclear explosions all over the world, killing most, if not all, of humanity.

to the degree that those people would want them to die though?

[Kenmoria]

The Earth's population would suddenly suffer massive reducement. Since there must be at least one person all the engineers on a nuclear power plant have annoyed, there would be nuclear explosions all over the world, killing most, if not all, of humanity.

to the degree that those people would want them to die though?

Eco-terrorists might.

[Infected Mushroom]

to the degree that those people would want them to die though?

Eco-terrorists might.

you could simply replace the dead engineers with a new batch

there are people who could be trained to do the job on the job with the science background

[Greater vakolicci haven]

This sounds like a good rp start. Where is the application?

[Tinhampton]

Typically it would take anywhere from 1 week to a full month for a person who has been Cursed to completely die

Given the amount of anger and hatred that would be bandied about in this case from completely random people who can happen to match names to faces, it would probably take that "full month" for the world to have a population of zero (0) human beings.

[Purpelia]

A whole month? I bet you I can get it done faster.

[Minoa]

I place a curse where on 1 February 2018, the world will be overrun by Mini Squid Girls, and that there shall be enough Mini Squid Girls for everyone in the world to cuddle!

And yes, Squid Girl is a thing on NS.

[Catalonya]

People would find ways around the curse, either to lift it or prevent it
Hiding their face, the mask industry would become the main world leading industry in production and profit
Shapeshifting would develop, folks would make secret societies and curse each other with shapeshifting curse to escape and save each other

Baptism would be abandoned so names can't be used in the curse. Illusionists would use psychic powers to affect the way others see them, confusing their face with their own. The cursing ones would see their own face in their psychic warded targets, and curse themselves and suicide by ignorance

Cults would crop up, more or less neutral vying for world dominance or other unifying objective, the cruelest one would dominate the mainstream
The other ones would unite against it, leading to several magical wars, until one or several cults is defeated and fades away. A new social order emerges, each decade as this new society molds around the survival requirements of the individuals and masses

Dishonored meets Death Note

[Purpelia]

I predict that within a month that the world will be overrun by Mini Squid Girls, and that there shall be enough Mini Squid Girls for everyone in the world to cuddle!

And yes, Squid Girl is a thing on NS.

What is this squid girl and what are her primary interests?

[The Derpy Democratic Republic Of Herp]

Every controversial political leader (ie: all political leaders) would die.

This would leave governments in disarray as they scramble for leadership.

Democracy would die as candidates would hide there faces and there names, leading to disinterest in politics for the general populous.

Wars would spring up as opportunists would charge into other countries in this moment of weakness.

The world as we know it would end. A new world filled with only anonymous leaders would start.

[Purpelia]

And than you have people like yours truly who would open up facebook and start looking up everyone who has ever wronged me. And by wronged me I mean everything from violence to having an annoyingly large amount of goods whilst standing in front of me in line in the supermarket.

[Minoa]

I predict that within a month that the world will be overrun by Mini Squid Girls, and that there shall be enough Mini Squid Girls for everyone in the world to cuddle!

And yes, Squid Girl is a thing on NS.

What is this squid girl and what are her primary interests?

I was trying to lampoon the effectiveness of curses in real life, with a parody curse with Squid Girl. The miniature version has a standalone cult following in Japan.

[Purpelia]

What is this squid girl and what are her primary interests?

I was trying to lampoon the effectiveness of curses in real life, with a parody curse.

Oh, I thought you were referencing an obscure form of anime female character that I have not yet heard off.

[Big Jim P]

Curses already work.

[Big Jim P]

I place a curse where on 1 February 2018, the world will be overrun by Mini Squid Girls, and that there shall be enough Mini Squid Girls for everyone in the world to cuddle!

And yes, Squid Girl is a thing on NS.

I ahven't actually cursed someone in decades.

[Internationalist Bastard]

We'd all be dead. That's really it

[Catalonya]

We'd all be dead. That's really it

The Faceless Ones would endure

[Hammer Britannia]

We'd all be dead. That's really it

^^^

None would survive, we'd later be replaced by intelligent Apes because someone cursed a guy to be beaten to death by talking, intelligent, apes

[Kenmoria]

We'd all be dead. That's really it

I expect a few hermits to survive. Obi-Wan Kenobi, you are our only hope!

[Ifreann]

I have some amulets here that can block curses, just €99.99!

[The Derpy Democratic Republic Of Herp]

Curses already work.

Tell that to an atheist.

I have some amulets here that can block curses, just €99.99!

Ifreann, are you an EA executive?