Rot-Soul

'Rot-Soul' is a swear word as much as it is a title. It indicates that the terrible sins the person has committed in life can only have been done by someone with a rotten soul.

As part of the Aesean Empire's system of justice, trial by combat is a fairly common form of publically humilating criminals. Whenever a person is sentenced to death, they are given the opportunity to fight for their life, to die with honor, or to publically show their remorse in a showdown. Winning the pit fights is not a way to prove one's innocence.
An criminal that chooses to try their hand at the trial has to go up against another humanoid in a battle to the death. Every person that has been harmed by said criminal is then given the chance to step up and fight to take revenge. If there is no one available, or no one willing to risk their life in the pit, there are professional executioner champions who can take the ring for a decent sum of money.
The person who is fighting the criminal is always given the choice of equipment and handicap for both participants. Usually, they either end up choosing the same for both in an attempt at equality, or the personal belongings are handed to each. But other cases, such as the criminal being shackled for the fight, have also existed.
Once the equipment is handed out, the criminal is generally expected to fight - though rarely they also take this as a last opportunity to apologize.
The fight has three possible endings: 1. If the champion kills the criminal, it is considered justice served. 2. If the champion can not kill the criminal for whatever reason and the criminal is unwilling to kill the champion (which is very rare) they are sent to Carceri, to serve their penance. 3. If the criminal is willing and able to kill the champion, doing so gives them the title of Rot-Soul. They are shunned from society and have three burn marks seared into their skins: One on each of their palms and one on their chest, right above their heart - marking them as the worst kind of sinner for everyone to see.

Length of Term

Lifetime