A proposal for the reform of the Chelish justice system, for the purpose of denying souls to the lower planes:

Stop executing people! 

Everyone says half the truth and then stops there! All the damned are consigned to evils no one should ever suffer - yes! Many of them decline the Final Blade wrongly - yes! Also many of them aren't offered it! To put men to death for their crimes is the work of Asmodeus! Civilized countries do not do it! Instead they teach mercy and repentence and then assign wrongdoers to service so that they can through labor become Neutral or even Good, and repent of their crimes at their leisure! Even murderers can make a Good afterlife, if they spend the rest of their life at labor in the service of the Good! We should redeem people, not kill them!

Viricanilla continues to suspect that eventually Pharasma is going to register a quite vehement objection to mortals interfering with Her system of soul-sorting with their final blades, and that when She does, everybody in the blast radius is going to regret Margaery San Trayne ever invented them.

In the meantime, she hopes that either "eventually" is at least a few decades away, or the blast radius won't include her shop.

Simplicio: Redemption is Good.

Fiducia: Indeed, Simplicio, though I admit I Despair to think of where you are Going with this.

Simplicio: Redemption is Good, therefore we should Redeem Murderers.

Fiducia: Do you mean the practice of Lastwall, where Murderers are given the counsel of Wise Priests, Generous of Spirit even towards Vile Evildoers, that before they are Executed they might Repent?

Simplicio: No. We shouldn't execute Murderers at all.

Fiducia: Pray tell, Simplicio, what is it that you wish to be done with Murderers instead?

Simplicio: They should be Told to Repent, and having been Told they should be given Good Works. This will make them Good.

Fiducia: And what if they do not Repent? Shall we condemn Innocent Men to be Slain, in the hopes that perhaps we can save the Souls of Murderers from a Damnation they brought upon themselves?

Simplicio: They will Repent, because otherwise they will be Damned.

Fiducia: Simplicio, we are talking about Murderers, who chose already to Cut Down other men, knowing that they will be cast into the Abyss for it.

Simplicio: Perhaps they are Very Stupid.

Fiducia: But not so Stupid that they refuse to Repent a second time?

Simplicio: Yes.

Fiducia: Are you aware of Any Country which has implemented such a Policy without bringing Innocent People to Ruin?

Simplicio: Yes. All Good Countries have such a Policy.

Fiducia: All Good Countries? It is not so in Lastwall, for Lastwall Executes men for crimes far lighter than those which merit Execution in Cheliax, lest the Virtue of their Kingdom be Corrupted. Nor is it so in Mendev, which though in rare cases has granted Clemency to men who might be Useful at the Worldwound does so only in Unusual Circumstances. Tell me, which Good Countries do you speak of, which let Murderers go Free to do Good Labor and so Save their Souls?

Simplicio: I have heard it is so in Gebland, where Men are Raised as Skeletons and put to work for the Harvest. Our Queen has shown her Favor to Gebland, and so it must be a Good Country.

Fiducia: ...I have decided to renounce Abadar and worship Cayden Cailean.

An addendum to A proposal for the reform of the Chelish justice system, for the purpose of denying souls to the lower planes

In response to my pamphlet, certain persons have claimed that this end may be better achieved by halting executions altogether, arguing that they are the work of vile Asmodeus, and that evildoers should be allowed to atone for their crimes by working for the benefit of the state. This is a noble sentiment, but suffers from a few difficulties of implementation.

Firstly, it fails to achieve even its own end. For most of the evildoers whom Her Majesty’s courts condemn, they have done so much evil that a lifetime of enslavement to the state will not suffice to expunge it. It is said, I know not whether it is true, that Pharasma accounts deeds of virtue which are coerced by another as lesser goods than those done of a soul’s own free will, but even if she does not, and gives the soul full credit for its later good deeds, even then whatever murder or treason the criminal has committed will likely be so great that, at the end of their lives, they will still be considered evil, and thus, far from saving them, denying them the final blade will have merely served to ensure their damnation. 

Secondly, many of those who Her Majesty will put to death are adventurers of great strength, and to enslave them would be a task of great difficulty, for no ordinary soldiers could guard them, and those greater servants of the queen who could are needed elsewhere, and cannot be spared for such trivial matters. 

Finally, even if a soul could, through slavery to the state, earn its salvation and even if this were practicable for the state, it would undermine the purpose for which the queen has held these trials in the first place— the maintenance of public order. Let the queen put criminals to death surely and swiftly, and the people of Westcrown will learn to fear to contravene her law. But let them be seen living lives of service to the crown, as far as anyone can see alive and well cared for, and the people will scoff at the law, for they will believe that the queen is weak and will not seriously harm them if they continue to engage in lawless sedition. 

Certain other persons have claimed that my judicious proposal would not work, for it involves a spell which Pharasma alone knows, and will not share with the other gods. I say that that is not so, for surely if Pharasma knew the spell, then Nethys, who knows all secrets of magic, would also know it and would bequeath it to his followers, or Abadar, the great trader, would have bought it from her. 

Yet if this be the case, and if there are not enough Pharasmans willing to aid this noble endeavor, then let Her Majesty’s government purchase a wand of early judgment forged by a priest of Pharasma, and by that means save the souls of criminals from the lower planes. 

The View of Heaven on Executing Criminals

Be warned! A pamphlet has been spreading the false and pernicious doctrine that executing the evil for their crimes is the work to Asmodeus!

Be it known that, in fact, the execution of criminals is holy work in service of the Empyreal Lord Dammerich, the Weighted Swing, a Lawful and Good Archon of Iudica, the Sixth Heaven. There, behind Dammerich's residence in the Courts of Accord, stands the Red Rotunda, a magnificent amphitheater built around an executioner's block of red marble, where the lives of evildoers are ended.

So, who, when Heaven itself has an executioner's block, dares say that executions are not carried out in civilized countries? Who, when a deity of Heaven oversees executions, dares claim such acts are the work of Asmodeus? Can it be anyone other than a deliberately blaspheming diabolist or demon cultist?

People of Cheliax, newly won to the service of good! Do not tolerate among you those who still willingly serve the forces of evil! When you discover among you someone speaking out against the death penalty, know that you have discovered a servant of the Lower Planes! Report any such immediately to the loyal servants of the Queen!