The third one just doesn't have a heading. I'm undecided, should we have the headings or just let it flow? I only put headings into mine because it showed the bits I was typing up from MK's original post.
Also, I think we should get rid of the 'by general consensus' bit from the intro. I don't think the sentence "So, creating more coercers is actually not necessary. They already exist." should really be in there, because the topic is abou creating more coercers. If we say this, it's like we're ignoring the topic. Do you see what I mean?
I've made those changes (and a couple of others, but not much), and put some of the italics back in. I'm not trying to say any of it was bad though!!
Speaker: *bounds up to the soap box*
Coercing Team: Woo! *clap loudly*
Everyone: *turn to look at them*
Speaker: Good morning ladies and gentleman, misfits and gypsies…
Beasts: *glare at speaker*
Speaker: And beasts
Speaker: The coercing team believes that that this topic is about what would happen if we could make more people; of the entire population of the Land; coercers. Coercing is the power to control the mind; your own mind as well as others. We believe from the books it is already a rather common talent and we recognise there are faults with coercion, but, there are also benefits.
In the character list at the back of
The Stone Key, more characters are listed as coercers (with or without having or being a secondary talent) than any other talent, although we accept that not all characters and members of Obernewtyn are listed. In fact, we believe it is an even more common talent than this listing leads us to believe - we believe natural mind-shields and mind sensitivity are actually evidence of latent or just untrained coercive ability.
We know there are people with great talents who simply cannot access them, these talents are latent.
...Rushton regretted his inability to use the Misfit power locked in his mind. He could be used as a focusing agent only if someone with coercive ability tapped his mind. He had no conscious access to it at all. -Ashling, p35
Mind-sensitives and people with a natural shield are on the increase.
'It's true that there are a lot more people with natural shields than there were, but I doubt we are the cause. If so, that would put paid to the theory that we are the next step in human evolution. It would mean we are simply one strand in human evolution and the unTalents are another. That practically brings us back to the Herder theory that we are mutations from true humanity.' -Ashling, p35-36
Elspeth says the reason is unclear., however, we submit that these are Talents with latent, weak or unrecognised power. Which brings us to the question - but what Talent is it?
Coercing, of course! Other talents would have no need to create a mind-shield, and indeed many people with other talents do not have effective shields. (Case in point: all the healers hear Maruman's gibberish, but Elspeth does not as her shield is up.)
So, what about farseeking?
...Ceriwan could easily have run a mental probe over my mind to catch the inevitable leakage of sub-vocal thought. -The Keeping Place, p48
So, if even Elspeth doesn't usually keep this in check, how come she can't do this to all the mind-sensitive’s and people with natural mind-shields? The reason - they're coercers.
Coercing has a bad reputation. It doesn't sound good and Elspeth sure isn't much good at advertising it.
Coercing is the ability to enter and manipulate other minds. -Ashling, pxiv
Sounds pretty scary. But, is that really it? Do coercers go around entering other people's minds for the fun of it and manipulating them?
Coercing is, like anything else, able to be abused. Practically everything is. If you work out and get fit you can inflict serious damage if you decided to hit someone, but that doesn't mean you
will.
We shouldn't tar coercing with the fact that just because it appears to be inevitable to be abused, it most definitely will. Besides, who's to say that the other Talents can't be abused too?
I made a sign to Kella to put her back to sleep. -Elspeth gets sick of talking to Iriny, Ashling p 152
In fact, surely if there were more coercers and thus less stigma against it, it would actually be less likely to be abused. Think about it, if there are more of them then there are more people to train young coercers, and more young coercers will step forward and own up to being a misfit (as opposed to hiding and abusing their Talent on their family and other people who annoy them).
Clearly, young coercers need training. The best way of doing this is to have more coercers; to make being a coercer relatively normal, like being quite athletic or good at maths. Only if lots of people have your Talent are you willing to stand up and be trained to develop it.
Coercing does have enormous potential to manipulate the mind. As we are quite aware, Elspeth’s coercing abilities have time and again saved her from sticky situations but we present the true potential that lies behind having a coercing talent: Organisation of the mind.
Imagine if you could organise your thoughts: and I mean really organising your thoughts. Picture the ability of Coercers to sort through memories and ideas in a person's mind the same way we sort through papers and documents on a desk. Now, apply that same sort of organizing to your own minds. As long as you knew where to look in your mind – you could find any thought, any memory. Theoretically, you would never forget anything again.
With a little organising in your physical life, you can get a lot done, so in applying that principle to your mind. In essence, people would be one step closer in fully achieving their other talents (e.g. 'simple' things like learning, cooking, drawing, building etc.).
Furthermore, we see Elspeth make use of her coercing a net to stop physical pain. This way, she can concentrate with the task at hand, and deal with the pain at a time that's more convenient for her. Again, take that on another level, say you have a huge order of gypsy-ware to get done but you also have a million other little worries as well. With a little coercing Talent, you would have the ability to rearrange your thoughts so that all that is in the front of your mind is the task at hand – and then, you can deal with those other little problems, one at a time, later.
So open your mind – well perhaps not literally and see that Coercing is the way to full unlock our potential!
Speaker: *is satisfied with her speech*
Everyone: *claps*
Speaker:*drops her cue cards* Oops!
Everyone: *gasps*
Coercing team: Woo! *high fives*
I'll put this up later if no one has any other corrections to make or no one else has done it. If someone else does want to do it, click the quote button. When you're in the new screen, copy all the bit you want and then paste it in the reply section of the other thread. That way all the tags and stuff go with it.