Introduction to Ethics in a Post-Magic World

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for Sam Anders to do nothing. The first day of Sam's new life hasn't been off to a smashing success. Sure, getting to walk again was nice and all, but being told that Earth was destroyed a hundred years ago and that humanity had to flee to a new reality in order to survive made it really hard to be happy about getting a perfect body. Unfortunately, the bad news didn't stop there. Humanity, and the new worlds it was now inhabiting were still under threat, facing down an existential war the likes of which you only get in the classic fantasy novels—where the good guys are good and the bad guys are bad and deserve everything that's coming to them. Fortunately for Sam, persecuting wars is the business of soldiers, not serially anxious twenty-two-years-olds like him. Unfortunately for Sam, the next piece of information he learns before the day's over makes it clear that he might have a moral obligation to take up arms in defense of liberty. As the only Taken and Thread-Weaver in the history of the Web, he has a clear-cut path towards reaching the pinnacle of magical strength and thus, the ability to affect the state of the war with his own hands. So, obviously, he had a moral conundrum before him. What should he do? What ought he do? He was just in the middle of debating that question using Kant's categorical imperative when a voice sounded in his head and told him that he was brought here from the past because he was the last hope for the people of the Web to survive. Leaving Sam with the simple goal: Become strong enough to do his duty while hopefully not dying in the process, or even worse, losing his sense of humor.