Excerpts From Nonexistent Books

With the repeal of Sonox v. Charleston by Graves v. Sapient Services, the rights afforded to non-human sapients immediately became an open question. The previous case law, Griffith v. Eldryth from 1915, stated that only male human citizens were subject to constitutional protections as envisaged by the Framers, and while precedent since then had gradually extended further protections and rights to female human citizens and children, the Graves decision essentially kicked the ball back into the individual states.

South Carolina, Mississippi, Montana, and Florida had all passed “trigger laws” which went into effect as soon as Sonox was overturned, broadly restricting the rights of non-human sapients–and, indeed, refusing to acknowledge any other sapients at all. The “theoretical” basis for these laws, the Florida statute written by the Liberty 4 All Foundation, was that human beings were the only sapient beings in the world, and that anything else that appeared to be sapient was either “otherworldly” or “possessed.”

Sapients deemed “otherworldly”–the Florida Right To Sapience Act refers to them as “demons”–were stripped of all rights and could not own property, engage in employment, vote, or possess currency. All such property and currency passed to whomever had previously held it, or the state government if no such person could be identified. For instance, a satyr named Owpun, declared “otherworldly,” saw his property revert to the ancestors of the family he had purchased it from. Another, involving a centaur known as Oates, saw a network of stables and animal husbandry education programs seized by the state–Oates had created them, therefore there was no prior owner.

On the other hand, Sapients deemed “possessed” were deemed to have rights and could own property and engage in employment once the state had “exorcised” them to its satisfaction. For instance, a number of elves were allowed to keep their homes and businesses in Billings once they submitted to an exorcism ritual and clipped their ears with the assistance of a local cosmetic surgeon. The existence of short-statured humans made it unenforceable to require Dwarves were required to undergo an exorcism, shave their beards, clip their ears, and even then it was generally accepted that only those above 4’8″ in height would ever be accepted.