As with all good stories, it took me days to discover a response and I think I have found my angle:
Switching Dreameril from a medical treatment to a magical one creates an intriguing twist, we accept scientific "miracles" uncritically while viewing the same effects from metaphysical forces with suspicion.
Through this lens, the story enables an uncomfortable examination of life in a community where virtue is magically enforced, the fate of those resistant to the spell, and the gods such a society might spawn.
(The sudden introduction of a “god of insurance” is a nice side quest. As a modern addition to the pantheon, there is would be much mythologizing needed to flesh it out. What sort of hymns would be sung to it? What are its favoured sacrifices? Is it male or female?)
In the end, the magical angle to New Haven left me with these currently unresolved questions:
If the choice were a wizard’s spell instead of a pill, would you submit to it? How would you determine whether to trust the caster?
I found this story to be very gripping. It’s like if Borges considered Ozempic. Also I love the use of the tree as a symbol.
I'm a big Borges fan so probably influenced unconsciously
As with all good stories, it took me days to discover a response and I think I have found my angle:
Switching Dreameril from a medical treatment to a magical one creates an intriguing twist, we accept scientific "miracles" uncritically while viewing the same effects from metaphysical forces with suspicion.
Through this lens, the story enables an uncomfortable examination of life in a community where virtue is magically enforced, the fate of those resistant to the spell, and the gods such a society might spawn.
(The sudden introduction of a “god of insurance” is a nice side quest. As a modern addition to the pantheon, there is would be much mythologizing needed to flesh it out. What sort of hymns would be sung to it? What are its favoured sacrifices? Is it male or female?)
In the end, the magical angle to New Haven left me with these currently unresolved questions:
If the choice were a wizard’s spell instead of a pill, would you submit to it? How would you determine whether to trust the caster?
That's an interesting prompt, has a Ballardian quality to it, may be you can write that version