Laws of the Empire

General Introduction

Laws are promulgated by the Senate, but only after receiving the personal authorization of the Emperor.

Laws are generally respected through the Empire, or at least they are commonly believed to be there for a reason, and that reason being the good of the people...or at least the good of the people from the Empire. They are often inspired by religion, but not always, in some rare cases religion and Law might not go totally hand in hand, and the authority of Inquisitors and Fatebinders has collided in the past.

Law Enforcers

The Law is enforced by Tribunals, consisting of a single judge, called an Adjudicator. The Adjudicator words are the Law, and constitute the ultimate decisions, who will be in like with the Overlord. The stories of a few Adjudicators who in the past went against the reasoning behind the Laws and the Words of the Overlord are told to many children, as well as their exemplary ends, as well as the end that their entire family, relatives, friends and town of origin would have met.

Adjudicators are also always, in all cases, priests of the Father. Though their rank in the Clergy might vary widely, nobody sane in their mind would every attempt to go against their word.

Hierarchy

Below Adjudicators, Fatebinders are the law, and together with them the Inquisitors, even if they have separate duties.

The local authorities are in charge of their own Territory (Town Mayor, Territory Governor), though they still can not administer Justice without a Fatebinder, unless in very minor cases. Local Authorities however are completely powerless outside of their own Territory.

Local Authorities can be named, and their powers similarly withdrawn only by a Fatebinder or someone bestowed by the direct authority of an Adjudicator.

In the absence of a Fatebinder, Inquisitors can take on their roles as they are after all, just specialized Fatebinders.

In the absence of both Fatebinders, Inquisitors, and local authorities, the higher ranks of the Army are in charge, starting form Centurions.

In the absence of even a Centurion, Justice must be brought up to the closest authorities, and the highest ranking of the Army is in charge of military decisions.

Knights or Nobles do not automatically hold official authority, but through their prestige and influence they are often natural leaders.

Under the Adjudicators stand the Fatebinders, figures that are nominated by the local Adjudicator to serve the interests of the local Tribunal, and serve as the hand that administers and brings justice. These people are believed to be just and loyal servants to the Empire, chosen for their qualities, and carry enough authority to arbiter most decision, even to matters of life and death to the common people, becoming in practice semi independent from the Adjudicators, who however do monitor their doings closely, calling them for reports, but at the same time being free to use their time for the important cases, such as some delicate disputes involving the nobility. Members of the Tribunal can be only Humans.

Included in the Tribunal system is the Inquisition, who has similar powers, but is specialized into monitoring deviancy, heresy and anything that would go against the Father and the New Gods, the one and only religion admitted in the Empire.

Inquisitors share de facto the same authority of Fatebinders, and since the Law is usually inspired and made not to be in contrast as much as possible with religious principles, the figures rarely collide and actually cooperate with matters are of greater interest for ways of the Faith.

Inquisitors and Adjudicators are in all cases also priests or priestesses of the Father, although any other member of the system of justice is still at least a faithful of Jhevoss and The Three.

Crime, Heresy, and Sin

So it was that the words of The Father became synonymous with Imperial Law. Speaking through the Emperor, the laws of man were established with divine authority. Sins against The Father are not just sins, but are breaches of the law.

Sins against The Son's or The Mother's teachings are however not treated with such severity and are not considered outright criminal actions. This does not alleviate them of punishments however: these ‘moral crimes’ are shunned by most people and punished by any member of one of the Churches of the Three, with some minor forms of punishment, such as prayer, fasting, caning, kneeling for a hours on dry beans, forced donations to one of the Churches, and in some worse cases, public pillory or some light flogging. It's the serious offences that might even be investigated and judged by The Inquisition or sometimes by other Fatebinders.

Sins against The Mother include but are not limited to adultery, sex before marriage, seduction of someone else’s spouse, being a terrible parent; using your spouse only for pleasure and not raising a family.

Sins against The Son include but are not limited to failure of one’s duty to the Empire, being disloyal, dishonest, dishonorable, committing unjustified war crimes, being slothful, and of the greatest sins is to lie to The Tribunal or your superiors.

Adultery is one of the crimes that is both considered a crime against The Father, and a sin against The Mother. While the consensus is, that The Father’s idea of adultery is exclusively the conception of children and betraying the family unit, the Mothers teachings consider any form of extra marital sex to be sinful. Where the family unit and extra marital children are concerned, the Tribunal will usually deliver hefty punishments, lashings, brandings, imprisonment, forced labor, and rarely in outrageous cases even death.

The Tribunal itself otherwise typically tolerates extra-marital sex so long as it does not become an epidemic nor endangers the duty to and forming a family, or simply does not have the time to deal with such sinful behavior, leaving instead the duty to prospective Inquisitors, or to the followers of the Church of Minerva that may opt to punish such behaviour among commoners with the pillory, flogging, or fines.

However among some of the nobility, especially from Kheman, or some remote areas of the Empire, there is a certain tradition of mistresses and paramours that is considered a plague among that strata of society by the Church of The Mother. The behaviour can be overlooked as some see it as a necessity to ensure strong noble bloodlines (political marriages) and especially with Kheman, to maintain stability over the Imperial Province, as the nobility there is often content with a simple life of luxury and pleasures instead of being involved with politics.

Priests of Minerva would like nothing more to outlaw prostitution, mistresses, paramours and any form of non-reproductive sex.

Likewise the dereliction of duty, disloyalty to the Empire, breaching of contracts or worse breaching one’s oath is almost certain to draw punishment from Fatebinders and other members of The Tribunal, as they already fall under breaches of the Law.

It is common for such crimes to lead the person to becoming disgraced, shunned by society and treated like a leper. They often see their titles removed, their possessions confiscated, branded as oathbreakers, receive crippling amounts of lashing and in especially grave cases signs of heresy that can lead to exile or death.

Imperial Laws, as those ordained by The Father, are in general persecuted with much more vigour. Sins against the Empire’s structure and its society are served with great fines, public shamings, lashing and repeated offences are seen as signs of heresy that can lead to execution.

Laws Codex

Respect the 10 Laws (See: The Father, Jehvoss)
Conspiring against the Empire, the Gods and the Emperor is punished with death.
Interfering with a decision or refusing to acknowledge the authority of the Emperor or the representatives of the Law, is punished with a lifetime of forced labor, or in serious cases, death.
Insults or swearing against the Emperor, its Name, or the Gods, is punished with thirty lashed in a public place. A repeated or particularly serious offence, or repeated offences will result in the cutting of one's tongue, or extra punishments, if deemed fitting.
Thievery, also in the forms of scams, and excessive mercantile practices, is punished with months to years in forced labor, depending on the severity of the crime. For particularly serious crimes, the thief's right hand will be amputated in public square. Extra punishments can be administered if deemed fitting.

Public indecency if punished according to the case, the punishment ranging from ten lashes in a public place to the neutralization of the genitals, or extra punishments, if deemed fitting.
Prostitution is allowed only after proper registration at the census office and is only allowed to non-convicts.
Willingly consorting with or giving shelter to humanoids other than Elves and Dwarves, is punished with the seizing of all the material possessions of the person, the stripping of any citizenship rights, exile, and in case of dangerous, criminal, humanoids, the amputation of thumbs.
Willingly consorting with or giving shelter to monsters will aggravate the punishment and may considered directly threatening to the community. Wild beasts can be employed as work animals by the Authorities under strict surveillance and after having been rendered innocuous by the Authorities as labor.
Physical offence against a member of the Imperial Army is to be punished as deemed fitting. Physical, armed aggression can be punished with the breaking of legs or amputation of the thumbs, to neutralize future potential offences.
The worship of the False Gods in any form, or the manifestation of their powers, is forbidden. The extirpation of the false faiths and other heresies is duty of the Inquisition.
The ownership of forbidden items or unregulated knowledge, is punished according to the gravity of the infraction. Offences such as the use of drugs, are punished with fines, floggings, short periods of forced labor, and other similar relatively soft sentences ranging in case of serious or repeated occasions to the requisition of all of the person's properties. However, other offences of a more serious nature, such as the owning of forbidden text or spreading of forbidden knowledge might be punished much more harshly, with extreme cases reaching punishments such as a lifetime of forced labor, or death. Spreading false knowledge about the powers and nature of Demons and other imaginary supernatural creatures is forbidden, and punishable accordingly by the Inquisition.
More specifically about drugs, their possession, use and even more so their production, including the one of 'raw', 'natural' drugs, is forbidden, with the sole exception of licensed possession as intermediate materials for the creation of other products.
Slavery is forbidden in any forms. Anyone within reasonable doubt of being involved into the slavery of a man or woman is sentenced to a lifetime of forced labor or if deemed unfitting, to death.
Forced Labor is managed by the Imperial Army and the Fatebinders. Citizens can request the rental of a 'worker', even for extended periods of time. The Empire will grant the safety of both the employer and the worker, and take care of potential escaped 'workers'. Forced Labor must be for the benefit of the community.
The Laws of the Black Dome
- The role of this assembly is to assign and confirm fiefs. The assembly has no other power.
- During the assembly, a division of Fiefs will be proposed and each Noble will be granted a vote depending on their rank: 1 vote to Unlanded Nobles, 2 votes to Baron, 3 to a Viscount, 5 to a Count.
- Only a maximum of 1 Fief might remain unclaimed, with a proper justification, until the next assembly.
- The final proposal must be approved by a Fatebinder to be legal.
- A fief can not be granted to Unlanded Nobles without the approval of a Fatebinder, and only in case no other Noble is present and able to govern the land: in this case, the fief is held temporarily until a new assembly is called.
- An assembly can be called by any Landed Noble anytime there is a valid reason to do so. In case of absence of agreement within two weeks (~4RL days), a Fatebinder is allowed to assign the fiefs as they see fit.
  
  Laws for to the Black Dome
In the Black Dome Peninsula, Nobles are assumed to be responsible for their actions and finding a suitable resolution to their own issues.
Their holdings are to be legitimized during an assembly of all the nobles of the Province. (OOC Note: in our case, this refers to all the Nobles present in game!).
Provincial Assembly of Nobles
- The role of this assembly is to assign and confirm fiefs. The assembly has no other power.
- During the assembly, a division of Fiefs will be proposed and each Noble will be granted a vote depending on their rank: 1 vote to Unlanded Nobles, 2 votes to Baron, 3 to a Viscount.
- Only a maximum of 1 Fief might remain unclaimed, with a proper justification, until the next assembly.
- The final proposal must be approved by a Fatebinder to be legal.
- A fief can not be granted to Unlanded Nobles without the approval of a Fatebinder, and only in case no other Noble is present and able to govern the land: in this case, the fief is held temporarily until a new assembly is called.
- An assembly can be called by any Landed Noble anytime there is a valid reason to do so. In case of absence of agreement within two weeks (~4RL days), a Fatebinder is allowed to assign the fiefs as they see fit.
- A Noble has the power to name a representative to cast their vote in their name, during the Assembly.
  The Imperial Army is not to intervene in an
- minor squabble that might happen between nobles in the region while on duty and representing the Empire, without prior authorization from a Fatebinder, who will report the necessity to the Adjudicator.
- Nobles are allowed to apply the Laws of the Empire to all non-citizens within their fiefs as they see fit, as long as they do not contradict the principles of The Three and Imperial Law. A Fatebinder should be called whenever there is a delicate case involving Imperial citizens, and they are always allowed to overrule any judgment by a local authority.

OOC Note: Why the laws are as they are?

The laws are formulated in such a way to deliberately allow LARGE room for interpretation. Who interprets the law are Fatebinders, and secondary, but especially in the Black Dome, nobles and local administrators. Since some things are subtle, what these laws actually allow to do might be missed by some. Here are some examples:

"Nobles in the peninsula of the Black Dome are assumed to be responsible for their actions, and are responsible for finding a suitable resolution to their own issues" What the "suitable resolution" might be is deliberately not specified, and it might be argued that if a noble has the resources to forcefully impose on others, and pacify the area, that is certainly a 'suitable resolution'.
While the imperial army is forbidden to intervene in "minor squabbles" between nobles, at the same time, the law says "while on duty and representing the Empire", which means that in practice, a character might, while not on duty and not using any equipment provided by the Empire, fight for a certain noble.
"Nobles are allowed to apply the Laws of the Empire to all non-citizens within their fiefs as they see fit", especially together with "Citizenship is granted to all Humans that live under the sun", means that if to consider non-humans citizens of the empire or not, is essentially up to each single noble. Essentially, this says that if some nobles decide, non-humans have no rights whatsoever in their own fief.
"The enslavement of any citizen of the Empire who lives under the sun, is forbidden." This law might be interpreted as 'slavery of non-citizens' meaning in some cases 'non-humans' is allowed.
The formula often used of "who lives under the sun" is also very interpretable across all laws, and one might argue that for instance, if someone lives in a cave, they are not a citizen of the empire, despite even being a human. This formula is also used elsewhere at times, as a subtle claim to the surface, but not the underworld.

Ultimately, these laws are to be interpreted and applied by Fatebinders, and by Nobles within their own fiefs.

Prostitution within the Empire

While sex and sexual relations are a taboo topic within The Empire, prostitution is still a debated but mostly accepted or tolerated phenomenon.

However, prostitution as most things within The Empire is heavily regulated and overseen by The Tribunal. If someone wants to become a prostitute, then they have to register with the local Tribunal, but this registration comes with various caveats.

While it offers freedom from being persecuted for sexual acts, and leads to some freedom to offer ones sexual services freely, prostitutes are barred from holding titles and any public office, as well as being Landowners, or owning ships, and even horses (they can however permanently rent a horse, or own a donkey, or camel). Titles, offices or these possessions would immediately be confiscated by the Empire upon registration. A person that decides to take this step and become a sex worker, can at best aim to have a better but still humble job in their life, and perhaps to one day own a house and an inn or a small shop.

The social status of a prostitute would be the lowest of free person: prostitutes are not allowed to marry, and their status is final. In some cases, the tribunal will even opt to neuter the prostitute, to make sure no children can come from them.

Prostitutes are commonly seen in noble run brothels, or in Taverns and inns that received a license that allows the practice. Indeed, prostitution on the street is illegal as it is widely believed to be a malpractice that might poison the minds of proper citizens, but this sometimes does not prevent prostitutes, even unregistered ones, from practicing to avoid having to pay some due to the local brothel or tavern, but often having to offer some service in exchange to some corrupted soldier or officer. While using a prostitutes services is not against the law unless going against the principles of marriage and family, having children in such affairs can lead to hefty fines, imprisonment, exile, amputation of the genitals and death, especially if the children are of mixed race.

This difficulties for prostitutes, and the fact that many are of Elven descent, means that they are often chastised and attacked on regular basis, and that usually those who do use prostitutes services are often either of doubtful morals, or disgraced by their peers and families for it.

It is only in recent years that new laws have been passed on prostitution, making it fully illegal for humans first in the city of Annoria, then in many other of the regional capitals across the Empire. Even if the law does officially specify only the city of Annoria, other local laws often followed across the Empire, and being a human prostitute is currently being seen as something borderline illegal, the word prostitute quickly becoming almost synonym of Elf prostitute.

In other words, it seems left to the local authorities if to enforce further restrictions on prostitution, and if to allow only non-humans to practice it, or how.

Authors: Rashan, Maya

Lands of Tyranny

Day 16 of The Overlord, Year 416