In theory, all alchemists are expected to adhere to the principle of "be thou for the people" - in other words, alchemy is to be used for the benefit and not the detriment of mankind. However, there's some contention over exactly what that entails.
The unit I'm referring to is a group of alchemists that are hired by the government; they're given a moderately high ranking in the military, and are given funding for all of their research. In exchange, they're bound to serve that military and follow the government's orders, no matter what those orders may happen to be.
The argument in favor of joining the military as a State Alchemist is that doing so enables one to protect one's country, benefiting the people by defending them. And there is some merit to that, given that alchemists ended a war that had been raging for years in a matter of weeks. However, that way of looking at it gets into a bit of a grey area once the abovementioned orders to commit genocide get involved; the majority of alchemists in my country believe that "be thou for the people" requires a pacifistic stance, and basically see us as contract killers.
no subject
The unit I'm referring to is a group of alchemists that are hired by the government; they're given a moderately high ranking in the military, and are given funding for all of their research. In exchange, they're bound to serve that military and follow the government's orders, no matter what those orders may happen to be.
The argument in favor of joining the military as a State Alchemist is that doing so enables one to protect one's country, benefiting the people by defending them. And there is some merit to that, given that alchemists ended a war that had been raging for years in a matter of weeks. However, that way of looking at it gets into a bit of a grey area once the abovementioned orders to commit genocide get involved; the majority of alchemists in my country believe that "be thou for the people" requires a pacifistic stance, and basically see us as contract killers.