Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Minister_for_Moral_Truth 04-06-05, 05:49 PM	I’m currently contemplating a thunk(sic) regards my character and, as a devout cleric of Saint Cuthbert and an official of his home nation, he is bound to respect and uphold his law at all times (the laws of the Great Saint and Torshanden in any case, any other laws which contradict these are by definition wrong). To this end, I was wondering what the legal code would actually be like within the more civilised areas of a typical D&D setting? Capital punishment seems to fit well for some of the more gratuitous crimes (murder, rape, treason, worship of proscribed deities and so-forth), but what sort of behaviour would one expect a Lawful Neutral legal system which works on compromise between theocracy and bureaucracy to turn out? Furthermore, what sort of legal systems could crop up in other common nation types?
Vharuck 04-06-05, 06:02 PM	A LN legal system is completely devoid of morals. Everything is about maintaining order. Murder isn't illegal because it's wrong; it's illegal because murders not committed by the state (guards killing people and the death sentence) create disorder. Just the same, walking on the right side of the street promotes efficient walking and allows people to get where they're going quicker. It may be a law then.
2nd Ed Paladin 04-06-05, 06:07 PM	I would suggest that the laws would be fairly rigid. Both bureocracies and Theologies are typically inflexible in their view of the laws. The types of laws would likely depend on the region. For instance: 1. An area that does a lot of trading and relies on merchants will likely have laws that protect merchants and lenders and are harsh with thieves, bankrupts etc. In this case punishments for disturbing the peace, something PC's can be prone to do, would likely be punished relatively severely. 2. If your region is very religious there might be laws requiring attendance at church/worship or dress requirements for instance. deleted some thing - Sorry, just realized I'm on the Player board Sounds like you are putting some good thought into this - good luck
Minister_for_Moral_Truth 04-06-05, 06:37 PM	I'm kinda wondering which board this should be on, and I think it's probably better off here, but feel free to move it if not. The laws are (from what has been discussed between the group, there have been a total of two GMs with one waiting for when I give up and start Smiting Chaos again) that the system is, like The Great Saint himself LN(G), that is there is nothing that blatantly contradicts a LG alignment, but LN predominates. Slavery does exist, but is tightly regulated (I'm thinking that sale into slavery may be appropriate for some crimes), trade laws are labyrinthine and strictly enforced, the Church of Saint Cuthbert is, as one would expect, heavily involved in the legal system, and may are both officials of the state and servants of the church. Religious laws are ambiguous. It is not illegal to worship any god in theory, however practicing worship of certain gods (such as Erythnul and other CE and CN gods, and some NE and CG ones to a lesser extent) is considered to inherently include incitement/support of a variety of crimes. Therefore the likes of Heronius and Moradin are worshipped by a minority, but St. Cuthbert dominates. At the moment, I'm working with a mish-mash from half a dozen different sources, including Mega-City One's criminal code and the Warhammer 40,000 Imperium, but I'm trying for something concrete.
Cantankerous 04-07-05, 02:17 AM	Keep in mind two seperate things when designing legal codes for various places: 1) They reflect the history and philosophy of the people in charge, usually also of the masses, but not necessarily. 2) They tend to change ALOT over time; especially in how rigidly or laxsidaiscly they are adhered to. The above two "rules" apply to basicly EVERY culture in the history of man. You can step outside of it all you want, but the further those two basises are diverged from, the more unlikely and inexplicable the campaign world becomes. Even in LN societies that also have large amounts of input from a LN church, there will be constant small shifts in the way laws are interpretted and carried out, usually in response to the PERSONAL ethics of whomever is in charge at the time. Mankind is GREAT at rationalization. Almost any abuse of the standing laws and ethical beleifs of a people can be rationalized away if you make the people afraid for instance, although there are MANY ways to do it.. The above, and the inevitable reaction to it, is also where "Blue laws" come from. When the stupidity that gave rise to the law stops being fashionable, or the society simply out grows it, the law is discarded. It may STILL be a law, but almost nobody pays any attention to it any longer. Then there are laws that stop being laws when conditions change. Laws such as it being "illegal to shoot buffalo from within the passenger car of a train" just don't apply when there aren't any more buffalo to shoot. Isshia