Banot (Ban-knot)

Banot literally means "nation", "ethnic group", or "people" in the Azalen Language; something a little bigger than "community", a little more vague than "culture", and a little less biologized than "race". 
But a Banot, in everyday terms, is a very small nation indeed: the city of Asalay uses this word to refer to its self-governing religious neighborhoods. Each of Asalay's 28 city districts has a banot for every significant religious community. In diverse neighborhoods like Lastrow, the Lanes, and Templetown, that can mean a banot for every religious community in the world! In others, like Hightown, a few big banots dominate. 
A banot accepts the rule of the King, the General of the Peace, and the Eminence, but for the most part they self-rule on an incredibly local level. Each banot is ruled by a group of at least three people, including: a community leader, a priest, and a sheriff that is elected by the most established families in that neighborhood (or supplied by the Azalen government if such an election fails to satisfy the population). Additional neighborhood leaders can sit on the council as well, ideally including at least one lawyer, one merchant, and one major guild artisan if the banot is large.
Each banot makes its own local rules and regulations, which mostly apply to their own residents but can apply to visitors. To enforce these laws, most banots have their own tiny courts, often connected to temples or community centers. Banots do not have the authority to execute or torture without approval, and harsh punishments against someone from outside the banot requires the convicted person's banot to approve - if the convicted' s home banot does not agree with the punishment, they can request a city representative intervene and mediate. 

How the Courts Work

For example, let's say someone - let's name them Lila - in the Line's Halikvar banot violates the law of blood by publicly slaughtering hogs, roasting their meat, and selling pork sandwiches. The sheriff hears about this, and moves to arrest them. The sheriff deputizes several residents and the group arrives at Lila's door and drags her off to the small jail; then, once the Alkoa is ready, Lila is taken to the court. The Alkoa finds her guilty and she is severely fined and sentenced to a severe public beating and humiliation, one day of suffering per hog. The neighborhood a street over - the Zihari banot - gawks as this is carried out. Lila, unable to afford the fines and now struggling to work given the trauma of the punishment, enters debt to the banot - trapping her in financial bondage to the Banot leaders. If Lila flees, she could probably change her name and hide in another neighborhood, but if she is recognized in another Banot and they decide to hand her over for political reasons, she is sure to be dragged back. 
But let's say Lila was not Halikvar - let's say she was a Sumoxan commoner who entered the Halikvar banot to kill those pigs and sell their bacon for her ill-advised barbeque buffet idea. If she was well-liked and came from a good family back in the Sumoxan Lines banot, she could request their mediation and they might send someone over to try and mitigate the sentencing; she only ends up paying a (reduced) fine and being banned from selling goods in this banot.
Let's say that Lila was a Pratasam banot resident, in much the same situation as the Sumoxan example. Lila has to pay fines to the Halikvar banot and then is charged with the same crime back in her home banot - Pratasa also has pork-meat taboos, but is less fixated on corporal punishment and punishes you less if you aren't a druid or noble. The Pratasa fines are just enough to cover the mediator's fees, but she is forced to ritually purify herself and is put on community probation for a year.
Alternatively, if Lila was an agnostic newcomer with no Banot affiliation, in much the same situation as the above examples, she could call on a public defender to mediate for her. This public defender would be underpaid and overworked, but would be well-versed in this enough to get her out of the corporal punishment and shaming; she would still likely be hit with a small mountain of fines, though.
And let's say Lila actually was a Zihari convert who lived in that neighboring banot, and she killed those hogs according to Zihari animal-rites in a common area used by both banots. The common area turns out to be owned by the Halikvar banot (in joint ownership with a major Ishkibite landowner), so the sheriff feels emboldened to set an ambush and arrest Lila the next time she kills a hog on the land. She is dragged off to Halikvar jail, but the Zihari banot is furious - this is shared land. The Zihari banot hires a royal mediator to delay her sentencing while they file a case with the city courts. Lila is let out of jail and a fierce legal battle between the banots ensues. While the Halikvar banot is bigger and richer and typically would win this case and have Lila fined (but not beaten), the Zihari banot is able to leverage the Ishkibite judge and lawyer's disdain for the Halikvar (and political interest in containing their banot) and is able to win the case after a year in the courts. The land is re-adjusted so that each banot has their holy laws apply there for their residents. 

Inter-Banot Politics

Each Banot is not only in competition with the other religions, but with other banots of their religion. Part of this is top-down sectarian competition, and part of this is bottom-up class tension. Each banot has the chance to swing any direction in terms of which sect is in charge; a Kivishta banot could be Reverent Path, Liberated Path, or led by a council that includes both, for example. So each banot's leadership sees the other banots of their religion as theological competitors and potential heretics, rather than as allies. Among the commonfolk (for whom sectarian disagreements might not matter as much), the other banots represent neighborhoods of different social classes with different needs and demands: newcomers, naturalized 2nd-3rd generation families, longtime residents, merchants, workers, clerks, and elites all have fundamentally different perspectives. So there is a class/generational divide that stokes competition as well.
This isn't to say that banots of the same religion don't band together; on the contrary, there are mechanisms for each religion's banots to meet annually to hammer out basic legal standards among themselves. The Azalen crown wants the banots just close enough together that they can create some consistency and stability, but not so close that they form a religious faction. Each religion here has their own level of banot unity, which fluctuates wildly over time.
A few examples include:

• The Kamada banots have factionalized into three groups: Isolationists who want to preserve bubbles of their old culture and to withdraw from having local power (tied to the Literalists and Academics), Assimilationists who want to cuddle up to the local corporations (tied to the Mysticists and Centrists), and New-Pathers who want to carve out a hybrid space that allows lower and middle class established families to lead (tied to the Kintecists). Most Kamadan banots associate with one of these three factions.
• The Ayshan banots are immensely decentralized in a free-for-all. They once were part of one unified faction, but after that was crushed the banots all turned on each other
• The Elemeer banots have all unified to a degree that is making the Ishkibite Temple uncomfortable. This is due in large part to a rising celebrity: Makova Seadaughter, a selkie convert to Elemeer and powerful Dhampire, has become a celebrity of sorts after her adventuring party found a massive treasure cache and become wildly famous when their adventures were published. Makova is deeply religious and very interested in uniting the Elemeer banots, and the Temple is keeping tabs on her; but while she remains neutral politically and her unity movement is tied to her temporary celebrity status, they are letting it burn itself out. 

But people organize for more than just religion; inter-banot alliances and rivalries that ignore religion entirely are common as well. Two banots with similar work demographics might compete for jobs, or might unite to try and force better wages; banots that have helped each other historically might be tied together by intermarriage.

Type

Civic, Law

Source of Authority

The Grace of the Monarch

Related Locations

• Asalay

Related Organizations

• Kingdom of Asalay