The Golarion Gazette

Authorities in Absalom announced yesterday that the screening procedure known as “CAST”, or Cleric-Assisted Security Testing, will be implemented as planned across all border checkpoints beginning next week. The controversial measure calls for clerics of Sarenrae to be posted at all checkpoints, and everyone entering Absalom will be required to allow the cleric to cast Divine Lance on them. “Divine Lance is a spell that damages only evil creatures,” explained security chief Tomas Cantrell, a half-orc fighter, “so this will leave innocents unharmed while giving us the ability to keep the forces of evil out of our city.” Cantrell states that anyone who takes damage from the spell will be immediately provided healing and then turned away at the border.

The announcement garnered fierce backlash from advocacy groups including CAAD, the Citizens Against Alignment Detection, arguing that the spell is “inherently dangerous” and that citizens should have privacy in their alignment choices. They pointed out that it is possible that if used on a person with low constitution, the spell might kill them before they can be healed. Even if a perfect and safe alignment-detection spell did exist, though, advocates say it should never be used. “Alignment is a personal choice that the government should stay out of,” said elf wizard Ariella Artana of CAAD. “Nobody deserves to be denied entry to the city just because they identify as evil, if they haven’t actually done anything evil yet.”

Theological authorities have also entered the debate, noting that it is unclear whether there even exists an observer-independent morality that determines whether the spell works or whether the definition is just determined by Sarenrae’s judgment. “Sarenrae is known to have engaged in highly questionable acts, such as threatening to kill people unless they worship her,” said Saarina Brighthearth, a cleric of Pharasma. “So if that is her definition of good, I want no part of it.” Sarenrae herself could not be reached for comment.