Lands of Tyranny
Day 17 of The Centaur, Year 416
Laws of the Ilthir
While each Governorship and City State would have its set of local laws, on top of the single different traditions of each Cities and even noble House, the Ilthir nations did adopt an code of Laws that is respected through all of the Underworld, either in the form of an official Inter-State Codex, or in the forms of Laws phrased more or less in the same way in each City State.
The lawmakers and judges are females of noble families, often low in order of birth, that are sent to finish their studies in a Tribunal or Higher School, while in the smaller provinces the role of lawkeeper and judge is often held simply by the local governor, which often is also the House Matron. Most of the smaller Tribunals will refer to a High Tribunal, that is often of inter-state composition and that will handle the most delicate or urgent cases.
Sometimes, although rarely, the authority of Judge can be delegated to a noble male too, but their role is more often the one of law enforcer and executioner.
Slavery
While slaves have no rights as persons, they do actually have rights as objects, as the private property of each Ilthir is protected by laws against theft or abuse.
Each slave must be registered in person together with the owner by the local authorities (be it a Tribunal, a Governor Office, or else): a precise description of the slave as well as its purpose and main occupation, will added to the local registry and usually sent to the neighbouring regions as well, so that in case of theft or of a runaway, they will be recovered and brought back to their rightful owner, duty that usually falls in the hands of the Authority themselves as some form of 'welfare'.
Slaves are usually taxed for by the House who is in control of the region, even if the taxation is usually kept rather low so as not to cause discontent.
The possession of unregistered slaves besides an initial grace period of around one week is punished severely, often with the slave being seized by the Authorities to be either put on a public auction, or killed, with the owner receiving extra fines or more serious penalties depending on the magnitude of the violations.
The possession of particularly dangerous slaves, such as Beastkin, but even more Demons and Faefolk is regulated in a particularly strict way.
The abuse of a slave of another owner is essentially regarded as damaging the property of another Ilthir and can be severely punished with fines, public humiliations, or even severe corporal punishments and years of slave service.
Ilthir are aware of how many slaves are in their society and how dangerous revolts might be: to discourage slave revolts and conspirations to murder their own mistresses, every slave of a Household will be tortured and executed in case their mistress would be found murdered.
Raids
Any surface raid must be approved by the local Authority or in their absence by the House Matron. Penalties for this can vary greatly, often depending on the success of the raid or its potential consequences, but they can become severe, in case the raid would have turned out to be costly or potentially dangerous for the balance of the region.
Often districts, State or noble Houses may 'claim' or consider a region of the surface as their own region of influence and hunting grounds for slaves. When these claims are registered with the local authorities, other States and families hunting for slaves in these regions may often be accused of poaching and be brought in front of the local Tribunal. Or, in absence of clear claims, these matters sometimes end up settled with private agreements, or risk ending up in grudges and more open rivalries.
Laws about the Relations with other races
Officially, having any kind of relation with an inhabitant of the surface is considered a crime, unless such a relation -of strictly utilitarian nature- is authorized by a Tribunal or a local authority. Under no circumstance however, a free surfacer can be allowed to take part in Ilthir society.
Having an intimate relation with a surfacer, even a slave, is considered disgusting and while not openly sanctioned by the law, it is a disgraceful and immoral act that if known may become a scandal and put an entire family under a bad light, if not attract the attentions of the Church of Arachnea (the-weaver). What is instead directly sanctioned by the law instead is carrying sexual acts with a surfacer that can result in a possible pregnancy, as well as anything that may result in a corruption of the Ilthir bloodline.
Surprisingly, Tlatlacah (serpentmen) are granted almost all the same rights as Ilthir, although they aren’t allowed to occupy positions of political power.
Since Tlatlacah are not Ilthir, there is nothing in the law that forbids them from worshipping their deity, as long as their sanctuaries do not 'compete' with the ones of Arachnea. Some extremists in the Church of Arachnea are of course of the opinion that there should be no sanctuaries built at all, and that the serpentmen should practice only in their own houses, or even that they do not belong at all in the Underworld. However, this position is the one of a minority of the Church, with the vast majority of Ilthir, even more so the young ones, fully accepting the Tlatlacah among them.
Being Tlatlacah known as not being fertile with any other race, there are no racial mixing laws that apply to them for very practical reasons.
Religion and purity
Spreading of diseases or hiding the sick is considered a serious crime of willingly weakening the race, and the same goes for not denouncing those who perpetuate these crimes, or that do entertain relations with impure beings, promoting racial mixes (even between slaves).
While other cults are not officially sanctioned by laws, the state religion of every City State is the Church of Arachnea, and hosting a heretic or someone that openly worships another deity is considered scandalous at best, with these individuals being pushed into forced conversions, exiled, or sometimes simply conveniently made to disappear.
Authors: Rashan