Law in the Daedlands
Who enforces the law?
- Law in the Daedlands is separate from law in any other nation, as it is still upheld by the necromatic creations of the old Elven Empire. These monsters still patrol the countryside between the ruins of old settlements, holding all they come across to their ancient laws.
- The human settlements vary from city state to city state, but most law is carried out by a sheriff and posse, wild west style. Judgement is handed out by a roving court of traveling judges, usually leading to excessive wait times for hearing.
- The Elves of the coast carry out the old traditions of law and order being upheld by the Rangers Guild. Including monitoring poaching and game stocks and scouting the borders, they are given deputized status to bring in any wrongdoer, no matter how slight the crime.
- The dwarves often rely on the military to deal with any and all legal dispute, placing honor of service above all else.
- The old elven guard are a special case. In the old empire, once convicted of a crime and executed, the body of a wrongdoer was considered property of the state, and could be used as they see fit. Much of this old necromatic machinery is still functional, automatically enchanting the corpses of the recently deceased as new guard. Much of their equipment is based on what the deceased was carrying at the time, varying wildly from case to case, even if that equipment would be rendered useless now to the user.
- Human Sheriffs are issued a Helm of Office, but many of the human city states are too dysfunctional to have any set of training in place. Often when one sheriff is killed, it is up to the roving judges to elect another. To combat this, they often have four or five candidates singled out in advance.
- Part of being a Ranger for the elves is dedication to law and order, and they receive extensive training on non-lethal combat. The office is symbolized by a enchanted banded tattoo around both the right and left arms, that seems to move on it's own accord.
- A good part of dwarven life is to serve. All citizens are required to spend time on the wall, and endless personal hours are served drilling and training. The benefits of this is an almost Utopian socialist state, where the craft and harvesting of ores and food are split equally.
- The necromatic creations of the Old Elven Empire are both shunned and feared, but most just leave them be. If not in violation of a law, they keep to themselves, and tend to be far away from many of the new strongholds.
- Humans often are allowed a take of the trial fees that every citizen must pay into, for their time serving. This leads to much corruption and bullying in some of the wealthier cities.
- Rangers are often the awe of elven lands, and it is considered a honor to have one choose your home to bed for the night. It is compulsory for citizens to share food and drink with them, as well as compulsory for the guest to share any kills or confiscations with their hosts.
- Serving Dwarven Militia get no special privileges.
- There are two specialized groups who operate throughout the lands, The Dwarven Crest Knighthood and the Elven Pitchpool.
- The Crest Knighthood is a organization formed by the Dwarves after the destruction of the Old Elven Empire to capture or destroy any of the remaining troublesome artifacts from that time. Phobic of magic to the extreme, these knights travel wherever there is rumor of trouble and go to almost insurmountable lengths to try and recover and secure any artifact back in the Quartz Halls.
- Pitchpool is a group of hunters primarily focused on summoners and necromancers. While this group does not approve of the Old Elven Guard, they do not war with them and generally avoid them when possible. They travel through the countryside in small bands, investigating any disturbance or report of undeath.
- Most law is very much city-state to city-state. While the humans have the roving trial judges and the elves the Rangers, the deforestation caused by the constant expansion of the Daedlands has forced many settlements to abandon even the hope of semi-permanence. Many are hastily set up forts, which are stripped once the land becomes to bare. The only exception to this are the Dwarven States, but these rarely leave the mountains.
- Pitchpool will do SOME bounty work, but usually only as a means to an end, and the Crest despise mercenary work of any kind.
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