<Posting on behalf of Shy -MH>
Several Members of town approach the tavern’s announcement board, and in the center of the board pin an announcement. Torrin of the Knightly Order of White Wolves, at the head of the group which includes Theron of the Knights Transcendent, Baph, Maevis, Iskander, Silas, Narook of the Crow Company, Joeseph of Lowtown, and Saren of the Iron Wolves, places a red journal down at the table below. The words “Low Town Ledger” written across the first page as it is left open. Everyone disperses after leaving the notice up. (OOG: The individuals above will not be interacting within this forum post. If you desire RP with these individuals to ask questions about this particular post, please PM them)
The posted flyer reads:
“Dear Town:
We, a group of individuals seeking to improve our overall community, have decided to hold a town meeting on Friday Evening of the next New Moon. This gathering is for those who consider themselves members of Lowtown, or anyone who would like to listen to a plan to create some form of law and order within the confines of Lowtown. This law and order, however, is not limited to Lowtown individuals. Anyone who wishes to adhere to, improve upon, or seeks out the establishment of the following ledger may attend.
The idea behind this stems from the chaos that this community is subjected to on a regular basis. Throughout the past several years, many individuals of New Haven have expressed interest in having laws. However, many within the community are afraid of others gaining power, through a held position in a governing body, or through a severely bias individual being in charge or law-making or within a trial system. People in the community also have different ideas in the way law should be handled, or differences in what consequences should be had. Therefore, the attempt at creating law has been fruitless.
This has led to many taking the ‘law’, which until now there has been no official law, into their own hands through manipulation, the use of their own personal, or past, laws, or might-makes-right tactics. The word ‘lawless territory’ is commonly used to describe New Haven, and while that may seem like a good thing, as we have seen in the past, it leads to misunderstanding, and more often than not, death.
The articles below contain a small set of laws, a description of a trial procedure, and the consequences that could be given. These are meant to be as unbiased as possible. No position, except the Alcelde, is a permanent position. The Alcelde’s duties are also listed and not meant to be a ‘power-holding’ position. The ‘governing body’ is, in essence, the town itself and meant to be self-sufficient and easy to understand. The ‘governing body’ is also meant to maintain the power of the individual to act in a way that suits them without impeding the individual rights of others to live, learn, and pursue their own happiness.
The document is posted below. If someone has questions before the meeting is held please contact Torrin Penderghast.”
The ‘LowTown Ledger” is open to the first page and this is what is written (Please note that there are OOG notes in this document, that is on purpose):
The Governing Body of Low Town
Members
There are several types of people to consider in this document.
1. Alcelde: Current ‘leader’ of Lowtown, responsible for delegating ambassadors, signing alliance contracts, posting information, holding trials, and taking responsibility for town’s actions.
2. Ambassador: a member of Lowtown who has been assigned to communicate with and be the speaker for town in reference to a group of contracted allies. (ie. 1 or 2 people can be an ambassador for Blackwater and all communication goes through those people in reference to the alliance)
3. Member of Lowtown: A person who has agreed to uphold the laws and values of Lowtown and work to create a positive reputation for Lowtown and all those who reside within/ally themselves with Lowtown. These people do not need to live in Lowtown to be a member.
4. Resident of Lowtown: A person living in Lowtown, while in Lowtown they are required to recognize the laws and abide by them, but they do not represent Lowtown outside of the borders of Lowtown.
5. OOC sleeper: Someone who sleeps in Lowtown OOC (usually someone exiled from town) This person can choose to either ‘be sneaky’ and sleep their IC or state that they are OOC in the cabin and show the OOC symbol until they are outside of the town lines. (OOG: This allows people who want to be in the heated cabins but not be a part of lowtown to still do so in any means they wish)
6. Ally: Those in New Haven who wish to see Lowtown succeed and align with their goals, or outside of New Haven, who ally themselves with Lowtown through contract.
Laws
Law 1: You shall not murder a known member of the community.
Known members of the community can be identified by those wearing LowTown sigil’s or those whose names are written in the Member’s book found in LowTown tavern.
Law 2: Blood magic shall be considered dangerous and members who wish to perform blood magic should have atleast 6 members of the community sign off on it’s use and a public notice needs to be placed in the tavern 5 hours in advance so that members of the community have a chance to discuss the use of the blood magic with those wishing to use it.
This includes, but is not limited to, becoming a Nohrat. The location of the blood ritual also needs to be specified.
Law 3: Necromancy shall be allowed as long as it is not performed on citizens of Lowtown without their consent. This consent would obviously have to be given previously. The only exception to this rule would be to remove the body out of a Soul-Eater’s or Immortals way should the intention of said individual be to eat said person’s soul. This law may be amended should it be determined, after extensive research, that necromancy is harmful to the soul and/or body of the individual it is performed upon.
Law 4: Members of the community should not hold discussions with, meet with, trade with, or have any interaction with the Drow of their own free will.
Deputies are partially responsible for helping to uphold the law. A minimum of 3 deputies should be assigned at all times. Deputies are selected from a list of those wishing to participate in enacting the town’s justice. The deputies are chosen every month (OOC: every game) at random. Deputies are responsible for reporting any known law-breaking and the parties responsible. Deputies are also responsible for keeping track of an accused person within the community. Secondary deputies will be chosen for short periods of time when the deputies cannot perform their duties (OOC: NPC shifts)
If New Laws need to be added than the community will be given a chance to meet and laws will be put forward, those who choose to be present will vote and a majority of members are needed to have it pass.
The Trial
A trial shall take place when a member of the community has broken the above laws OR has committed an egregious act against the community, or another member of the community, that warrants a trial.
Trials can be held no sooner than 5 hours after the accusation has taken place (OOC: This allows for a full NPC shift to take place)
The accusation must be presented to the public, through the posting on the tavern board, to allow those who wish to take part in the trial enough notice to do so. The accusation can also be brought to the Alcelde of the community (or acting Alcelde) and they can post the trial information for the parties involved.
A roster will be posted where members of the community can sign up to participate in the trial as a witness, someone with proof (for or against), and to volunteer as a juror and/or moderator and/or scribe. If a person wants to participate in the trial they may put their name in for multiple positions, but can only hold one position per trial which will be the first that their name is called for.
The Juror’s (1 or 3) and Moderator will be chosen at random from that list by the Alcelde (or acting Alcelde) for each new trial. If the accused is a member of a guild, the members of that guild may not participate as a juror or moderator. Direct relatives of the accused cannot act as a juror or moderator. The prosecutor can not act as a juror or moderator. This helps to eliminate bias within the trial.
The Moderator runs the trial by calling on the witnesses listed, asks for the proof to be brought forward and explained and states the verdict that the jury has chosen.
The scribe writes down a summary of statements made, a list of the witnesses, a list of the proof provided, and the juror’s verdict in the LowTown records.
All members of the community are welcome to witness the trial but only those who have put forth their name for witness, proof, or member of the trial committee may speak during the processions. Those who come late with proof/evidence/ statements must wait until the end of the trial to comment and only the jury and moderator may choose to accept their statement and provide their information to the court.
Consequences
Death penalty
It has been determined that ‘an eye for an eye’ is an ineffective and wasteful strategy for dealing with lawbreakers. The death penalty will only be used under the direst circumstances and duress (OOC: Player accepts this death out of game, player given the death penalty is probably a mass murderer or traitor). This may be reconsidered at a later date when the death of a person does not aide both the Immortals and the Blood-fae. The death penalty can also deter unification, leads to more killing, and can result in civil duress and war.
Community Service
Community Service will be the most used form of justice. Community service means anything done to serve the community for the better. If a member of the community goes against the community in a manner that harms it, then that member is responsible for rectifying the situation to the best of their ability and in a timely manner. (OOG: Example- If someone were found guilty of giving an important item to the Orc’s then it would be their sole responsibility to come up with a plan to retrieve that item, or make that item insignificant to the Drow’s success, and then act on it). All community service needs to be approved by the Alcelde and the trial members who were involved in the original guilty verdict.
Community service can also be given when the town’s reputation is put on the line by a decision that a single person, or group of people, have made for the town. (OOG: Basically if wearing the LowTown sigil and/or saying “As a representative of lowtown, lets do this…and it goes BAD…) This does not necessarily need a trial, however, if no trial is had than the guilty partys need to agree to accept the community service as their own responsibility and sign that they are forgoing a trial.
Exile
If any person, member of the community or those outside of the community, act against LowTown in a continuous fashion (ie. Continues killing members of town, keeps selling information to the Drow, etc) or in such an egregious manner that the future safety of Lowtown and its residents is questioned, than the community may decide that ‘Exile’ is the only option. The individual that is ‘exiled’ may not step into Lowtown unless this ‘exile’ is lifted through trial and 2/3 majority of the town. (OOG: if a person is Exiled, the player can still sleep in Lowtown OOG if they want to use the heated cabins/no where else to sleep/etc, and they can either choose to ‘sneak in and out’ or sleep their OOC and stay OOC until they hit the road outside of Lowtown) This exile does not include outside of Lowtown.
Bounties
If a member of Lowtown is subject to a posted bounty, a person who wishes to claim the bounty may present this person, and their alleged crimes, for a trial. Should the person be found guilty and the consequence of their action decided as ‘answering the bounty’, then the person who originally asked for the trial of said Lowtown member will be allowed to collect the bounty.
The trial will take place in the same manner as any Lowtown trial and proof will be presented for the crime at the trial. If the Lowtown member is found innocent, or the crime is not enough to warrant a bounty, then the bounty will be considered void within Lowtown and anyone trying to claim this bounty will be held to Lowtown law and standards.
The Council of New Haven
Should the Council of New Haven continue to be an asset, regarded by the majority of New Haven (all members, not just guilds and leaders) as such, The governing body of Lowtown will abide by the decisions made by the Council, as long as they do not hinder the people of Lowtown to abide by Lowtown law, or hinder the processes named above(I.e trials and consequences given).
In order to consider Lowtown’s participation in the Council’s chosen course, the majority of guild’s from Lowtown need to be represented at the time of voting.
Should the Council make a decision that goes against the law of Lowtown, the members of Lowtown will not be held responsible for taking part in the decision. The plans made by the Council that go against Lowtown law should not take part in Lowtown UNLESS Lowtown meets as its own sole body and decides to set aside the Law for the plans made by the Council. No pressure may be placed upon the governing body of Lowtown during this process so that the decision may be made without coercion.
The ’Governing Body of Lowtown’ is supposed to be a self-run “government” meant to work without direct leadership. The Alcelde is simply the individual responsible for making sure the volunteers are chosen, members are signed into the ledger, communication between outside factions is delegated, and should consequences fall back on town, and a leader is needed, the Alcelde is responsible for taking the back-lash and either delegating/holding trial/ or taking responsibility for Lowtown’s actions.
If the Alcelde is not available, another Alcelde can be chosen, OR, this can become a volunteer position, changing every month to a scribe who will uphold the responsibilities stated above.
Alcelde’s direct responsibilities (can be delegated to others):
1. Making public declarations of trials and town meetings
2. Choosing the volunteers from those posted (at random)
3. Scribing the names of Members into the ledger
4. Posting the trial results in the Ledger
5. Posting council notes and decisions in the ledger
6. Meeting with outside dignitaries if there is no ambassador assigned
7. Choosing an ambassador from volunteers