Mishara
In the elven capital, crime is relatively rare, due in large part to the immense social shame attached to committing a crime. However, different crimes carry different social weights--a sly theft in which no one is hurt is shameful, but nowhere near as shameful as mugging someone. This rule generally applies with the exception of to outright murder; while killing someone is detested in elven culture, there is also a morbid fascination with murder that alleviates much of the social shame, even to the point of some elven murderers being held by some as folk heroes. But this is a somewhat fringe belief, and most elves are fascinated but revolted by violent crime. The commonest crimes in Mishara are petty theft and pickpocketing, both of which are fairly pervasive and which have received stiffer legal penalties in recent years. The public regards this as a problem, but the general public response has been to develop more security in shops to fight theft and to carry smaller amounts of money in harder to steal from places to fight pickpocketing. By and large, Misharan citizens regard crime as a moderate problem which isn't being focused on enough by the elven government.
In Mishara, the government is composed of one supreme leader, the Cestalion, who creates and executes all legal matters. The current Cestalion, Findlan Tristaa, has been in charge for only 23 years after the controversial departure of the previous elven leader amidst massive disapproval, and Tristaa has made efforts to right the ship, though there is a great amount of ground to make up after the previous Cestalion's passive and conservative administration. Tristaa's current efforts in the law include increasing punishments for most crimes, especially the most common ones; increasing guard pay to increase loyalty; and better recordkeeping for law enforcement offices. Tristaa is currently in talks to begin a rehabilitation program for criminals, though it is unclear how committed he is to the project. For players in Mishara, crime and punishment should feel somewhat relaxed but not without consequence, and due to the changing state of Misharan law enforcement, different people will have widely differing opinions.
The matter of actual punishment is different from the matter of crime in Mishara. There are a fair number of prisoners who have been caught stealing or picking pockets, and more every day as sentences are raised. A small portion of Misharan prisons have violent criminals, and a relatively large number of cells in Misharan jails are empty. The biggest surprise amidst elven punishment is the prevalence of people imprisoned for political charges, which has become common in the last century. More prisoners in Mishara are guilty of crimes enumerated by the Cestalion himself, and most judges of elven politics agree that the crime most are guilty of is openly criticizing the Cestalion's government. When it comes to elven prison conditions, they tend to be clean and safe environments where the idea is to lose time as a way of paying for your wrongdoings.
Kruush
The orcish capital has very little crime at all to the point of negligibility. Orcs have a strong community ethic that makes hurting a member of their community unthinkable, even in the form of taking advantage of someone. When orcs do commit crimes, they are usually against people from other communities, or they are crimes of passion. As a result, violent crime is the only real crime that is represented in Kruush society, largely in murders committed against people who have wronged them seriously. Part of this is complicated by the fact that unarmed duels are a common part of orcish society, and sometimes, losers of these duels feel that their honor has been diminished in losing and seek to prove their power over the victor. This kind of killing is called by the orcs goranthin, or "killing from shame," and community efforts are being made throughout the orcish lands to reduce the popularity of goranthin.
The orcish lands have no proper government in the way that other societies do--in wartimes, they rally around the Ragnar, a warchief who leads in times of crisis, but in peacetime, orcs simply govern themselves. As a result, written law does not exist so much as custom is dictated by maintaining cultural values. This means that poor leadership is not a real problem for Kruush, but it also means that there is no centralized power to respond to needs. As it is, orcish communities deal with crime on their own, mostly through a system called voratt, or "peacekeeping by land": one serious offense is given a warning, and a second serious offense results in banishment from a community. Generally, a crime must be serious to invoke voratt, such as extreme violence, murder, or harm to the community. For players in Kruush, law enforcement won't exist, but people in the community will stand up for the community; almost all orcs practice a common sense version of justice--don't do anything stupid, and we'll leave you be."
There is no such thing as a prison in Kruush. Minor crimes are treated with restitution, and major crimes are handled with voratt. The concept of imprisonment seems too inhumane to orcs to actually impose on a person. The only instance of true punishment beyond banishment is the very rare instance of execution. Execution has been resorted to only four times in the history of Kruush, each time in a case where a citizen of Kruush betrayed the city to elven forces; each time resulted in a sneak attack, and each time the attacks were repelled at great cost by the orcs. Death is believed to be a cruel punishment, but some cruelties deserve others, as orcs sometimes say in dire times.
Vestry
Gnomish law is complex, incredibly broad, and widely agreed to be the most complicated body of rules to be found anywhere (moreso even than an AD&D manual). For every facet of life, there is a set of laws in Vestry that governs it. With the high incidence of specific laws, one might imagine that Vestry is a place where laws are constantly broken. But the fact is that knowledge of gnomish laws is a highly prized asset--many gnomes are able to make a living as consultants in esoteric divisions of the gnomish legal code. Most gnomes know all the laws they are likely to come up against, and the education system in Vestry does an excellent job of instilling solid understanding of a great deal of the most important laws on the books. Insofar as actually committed crime, embezzlement is the most common, and a special embezzlement task force has exist for 56 years to combat the problem. Beyond that, crime is relatively rare, as the quality of life in Vestry is high enough that there is little need to prey on others.
Laws in Vestry are created by a legislative body of 16 representatives--one from each district of the city--who are elected in a complex poll of all executive governors from a set of three options from each district, chosen in turn by the chief court members. Thus, this highly complicated system involves all three branches of gnomish government as well as the GOLD (Gnomish Overall Literacy Demonstration), a detailed test which surveys the knowledge and skills of test-takers--in order to be considered by the chief court for nomination, a person must have a top 10% GOLD score. Laws are generated, amended, or eliminated at the discretion of these legislators, whose aim is to reflect a combination of the public's sentiment and a basis in the Code of Right and Good Action in all that it does. Generally speaking, criminal laws are considered either very fair by progressives or entirely soft by conservatives--sentences are short, and much of the actual time spent in what is called a prison is spent in rehabilitation, counseling on the Code of Right and Good Action, and increasingly, therapeutic efforts through the Svaen Clinic to help offenders resolve issues that might have caused their criminal behavior. For players in Vestry, guards are plentiful and helpful, and crimes are rare
In Vestry, life in prison looks very much like everyday life for most residents of Vestry. Prisoners live in small apartments which are furnished with the food selected by the prisoner; they are allowed to bring things from home so long as it does not alter or damage the apartment; they are free to come and go from their apartment and roam the grounds of the prison, where work projects are available and rehabilitation efforts occur. Even very small crimes, such as the theft of a loaf of bread, carry sentences of at least one week, largely as an effort to make treatment and help mandatory for criminals. More serious crimes involve more heightened efforts and in cases of violent criminals, more severe restriction via what would be considered an average prison cell across most of Evanoch. All forms of punishment beyond restitution and rehabilitation (including ordinary imprisonment) are considered inhumane and cruel by gnomes, who have believed for centuries that any case can be helped with rehabilitation.
Underhar
Crime is fairly rampant in Underhar compared to other cities--common theft, muggings, and extortion are among the most common crimes committed in the dwarven capital. Certainly, there are crimes lower and higher on the hierarchy of crime: dwarven businesses are not without embezzlement, and Unerhar's darkened alleyways are not free of murder. But generally speaking, Underhar is rife with these financially-motivated crimes. Many business use intensive background checks on new employees to avoid theft from within while also employing armed guards to watch over shops to prevent theft from without. In recent generations, organized crime has begun to emerge, modeled after that of the Daltoners, and Underhar's guard force has made increasing but still insufficient efforts to combat this more organization form of criminal activity.
Underhar is governed by the Dronith, a position that is elected from the dwarves with the most property and by the dwarves with the most property. The Dronith is responsible for all aspects of the government and has a considerable staff of advisors. Most of the Dronith's work is centered around approving budgets, advising on government projects, and develop official communication to the public; lawmaking is a rather small portion of the dwarven leader's work, and most laws in Underhar are directly what was in place centuries or more ago. As that is, most would define Underhar law as somewhat draconian and severe, not to mention sometime barbaric. Common crimes can be punishable by hard labor for weeks, more serious crimes can incur serious jailtime in low quality cells, and violent crimes and religious crimes can be punished with the removal of a limb among other punishments. There is some mild public sentiment asking for reform of some of the penal code, but Droniths traditionally look to preserve the dwarven past rather than look to the future. For players in Underhar, guards should be numerous and intimidating, and crime should be almost everywhere.
Prisons in Underhar are among the worst in Evanoch. The cells are cramped, devoid of amenities, and unexplainably damp. The food offered is minimal and lacks nutrition, usually a piece of bread or fruit and water or ale, whichever could be obtained more cheaply. Clerics of Moradin and other accepted gods, like Hieroneous or Kord, pay visits to the prisons to help them repent, and no other service is provided to prisoners in making amends. Thieves are made to pay restitution, but half of the restitution paid is given to the government's coffers; violent offenders are often deprived of food and water by guards, and deaths of starvation are not uncommon in Underhar prisons. Deaths at the hands of guards before criminals make it to prison are also fairly common, and the public's fearfulness around any given law enforcement officer depends on personal relationships and paid bribes, but the default with unknown guards is fearful.
Curagon
Curagon lacks a government entirely, existing as an collective of anarchic communities. There are no laws, nor are there prisons or guards in any sense. When what would elsewhere constitute a crime occurs in Curagon, the community of the victim tends to come together to right the wrong, even if that means intimidating the perpetrator. Justice in Curagon is considered a matter of personal duty--when one hears that injustice has been done, one lends a hand to fix the situation. This means that justice often looks restorative, focusing on the victim's needs and loss.
New Dalton
The crime and punishment system in New Dalton is fairly simple and straightforward: if you commit a crime against a wealthy person or church official, there is nothing you can do but accept punishment or flee; if you commit any other crime, you can bribe your way out of fines, jailtime, and other punishments. These rules apply to Daltoners only. Non-Daltoners can expect to be punished triply or more, and serious crimes will result in the highest sentences possible. As far as common crimes in the city go, nothing is really off limits--all manner of crime, be it random or organized (New Dalton was the birthplace of organized crime), calculated or of passion, financial or violent, exist here. But law enforcement in New Dalton is also omnipresent in areas considered of high social value like temples, upscale businesses and homes, and government buildings, so those areas tend to be free of crime, leaving middle class and poor homes and businesses at the mercy of criminals. With little help from the government and a social taboo on asking for help, most citizens of New Dalton simply live carefully and in fear.
In New Dalton, law is created by the Tsar, an appointed-for-life position currently held by Torvald Gorp. However, the Tsar is nothing more than a government mouthpiece for the head of the Dalton Church of Pelor, Bishop Gareth Hannibal, who actually dictates what the government does. Hannibal's government is strict, severe, and uncompromising. In the name of spreading the Dalton Church of Pelor, the Daltoners committed various atrocities on Evanines living where New Dalton stands today to establish the city. The laws of New Dalton tend toward theocratic authoritarianism, with life sentences and execution as common punishments for crimes of a religious nature, including crimes against religious figures. Notably, execution is very common across all serious and some moderate crimes, and the form of execution is sacrificial slaughter in the name of appeasing their version of Pelor. It is a belief in the Dalton Church of Pelor that the sun will not rise without living sacrifice, humanoid sacrifice being the highest offering; having a steady stream of prisoners to be executed allows this offering to be given daily. For players in New Dalton, the guards are looking for any reason to hassle you in the aim of taking your money or sacrificing you to their god, and crime is pervasive to the point that adventuring parties are likely to be mugged while traveling through the city.
There are no worse prisons in Evanoch than those in New Dalton. New Dalton, unlike other large settlements, does not have several small jails throughout the city to serve different neighborhoods, classes of prisoner, or other characteristic. Rather, New Dalton has one massive prison supercomplex, a staggering tower at its center and a ring-shaped building surrounding it with a distance between. In the tower at the center, prison guards observe the prisoners through the reinforced glass walls of their cells, and more guards wait on each floor to investigate reports of disturbances. The cells themselves grow unbearably hot in the New Dalton sun, are small enough to barely accommodate the tattered cots inside, and have thin enough walls that all sounds made by nearby prisoners are audible. The food is barely characterizable as food--prisoners are fed animal feed, low grade corn and oats, in small amounts and given dirty water; the logic is that they deserve punishment in a cosmic, divine sense, and many prisoners will be sacrificed in a short time anyway.
Finiel
Finiel is the home of the largest population of half-elves in Evanoch, and their approach to criminal justice tends to be more progressive than their elven parents; the city is also home to a great number of Faninites, whose ideals are also reflected in Finiel's laws. Finiel is relatively free of serious crime. Minor financial crimes such as theft and counterfeiting are somewhat common, and more serious and violent crimes are fairly rare. One particularly common crime in Finiel compared to other places is identity theft. Many of Finiel's elite are artists of various kinds, and trading on a reputation that isn't associated with a public face allows criminals to pose as these artists and gain access to special corners of the city. In half-elven society in particular as well as Faninite culture to some degree, there is a love for the underdog, and typically, criminals in Finiel only target the wealthy as a reflection of this.
Finiel is ruled by a council of the three oldest living citizens--this system favors elves heavily, and all three members of the current council are elves. Their administration is fiscally conservative but socially progressive, and most laws concerned public safety and criminal justice tend towards a position that protects citizens while preventing crime and only punishing criminals seriously for serious offenses. Generally, low-level financial crimes like theft or counterfeiting are met with restitution, one day in prison, and mandatory vocational training, a measure intended to eliminate the cause of crime in the first place. More serious crimes such as mugging or robbery are handled with longer prison sentences (a few weeks or months depending on the severity). All violent crimes receive a sentence of one to five years with an option of banishment depending on the crime, as decided by the council (which acts more as a judicial body than a legislative one). Violent crime carries a heavy social stigma, and few people will do business with someone known to have committed a violent crime. Players in Finiel would see a peaceful city with reasonable and relaxed guard presence and little crime--especially no violent crime.
Prisons in Finiel are clean and humane. Prison cells usually have a barred window, a fairly comfortable cot, and enough space to move around a bit. Prison food is made freshly, and while deliberate care is not always taken in seasoning the food, it is plenty to keep the prisoners healthy. Prisoners are provided with as much food as they ask for, clean water, ale, and on city holidays, wine. Guards, many of whom were trained in the Lilara Clan's school of non-lethal apprehension, tend to be non-confrontational and even deescalating in tense situations, and they would never seek to kill a person unless another's life depended on it. In fact, guards in Finiel tend to be seen as positive community fixtures, people who can be gone to for help in times of need.
Ringsdale
The city of Ringsdale is the newest of the major cities in Evanoch. Its location at the base of the Kallett Mountains gives it access to more stone and ore than could be mined in generations and generations; its placement at the source of the Oldoff River gives it clean water and the ability to easily ship good and resources to the east and north, to some of the biggest cities on the continent. It lies at the southern edge of the Liggen Forest, giving it access to more lumber than anyone could ever imagine. It also lies at the northern edge of the Haenok Plains, giving it access to a whole different biome for diversity of climate and diet. Ringsdale appeared because it was more strategically located than perhaps any other settlement in terms of trade, and that's what Ringsdale is: a trade city. As such, it took government a while to take root. For the first 200 years that Ringsdale could be said to exist, it was a literally lawless place where coin ruled, and much of that atmosphere remains today. Just over a century ago, in 4611, Ringsdale formally incorporated as a city and developed a hierarchical system of judges to issue rulings and by extension, create law. The department of law is overseen by a Philosophy judge, under which Civil Justice, Criminal Justice, and Religious Matters judges reside. It is through these posts that criminal law has emerged from court rulings, and the consensus seems to be that crimes against property and companies is heavily defended, whereas individual rights are fairly diminished; criminal offenses and violent offenses have been met with an iron fisted response with long prison sentences and occasional executions.
The commonest crimes in Ringsdale are financially-motivated crimes--stealing, extortion, robbery, and privately financed criminal actions such as contract theft or contract murder. But very little is off limits. Ringsdale is not an unsafe place necessarily--assaults don't just happen in the streets--but if someone is known to have considerable money, they are unlikely to be entirely safe in Ringsdale. Part of this situation stems from Ringsdale's economy--a great deal of money is concentrated in the hands of large business owners, the first true corporations of Evanoch, who pull resources from around the city on land they own, process them in factories they own, and ship them on river barges that they own. But very little money is paid to the laborers who pull those resources, process them in factories, and ship them around Evanoch, and that means that common people in Ringsdale often feel that resorting to financially-motivated crime is the only option available to them. Nearby Vestry has been in talks with Ringsdale chief judge Edmund Yorke, who is also the head of the Labor Union of Ringsdale, to offer financial and community support to help turn the tide of crime, but Yorke has been slow to accept help out of fear that a favor may be requested later by the gnomes. Players in Ringsdale will need to be on guard, as thieves and brigands will be populous in Ringsdale, and city guards, which will be few and far between, will be unlikely to help.
Prisons in Ringsdale are very unpleasant. The prisons here are constructed of cheap wood that has rotted over the years, leading to offensive odors that seem to follow ex-prisoners for months. There is a sleeping bag rather than a cot, and the windowless cells remain very dark throughout all hours of the day. Food is meager and usually consists of boiled vegetables and cheap ale. Prison sentences, which are applied for most crimes, are considered worse punishment in long time spans than banishment. Prison guards tend to be unpredictable and violent, which some rumors suggesting that they are told to be that way to "keep prisoners in line." Guards in the city are also somewhat unpredictable, trying to leverage bribes and threatening to uses different criminal charges to get cooperation from the criminal. In general, being caught by a guard in Ringsdale is one of the worst things that can happen to a criminal.
Talon Gorge
Talon Gorge very recently converted from a monarchy to a democratic council after the toppling of the royal family. That council is still getting completely established, but thus far, its approach to criminal justice has looked more progressive than its former self. Under old leadership, half of all guards were designated to the palace itself, leaving only half to patrol and enforce in the entire rest of the city; not to mention, there were massive corruption problems amongst the city guards. This has changed under new leadership: there is one unified guard force further divided by the districts of the city, and reports of corruption have been investigated seriously, resulting in an ousting of a great many former guards. Common crimes in Talon Gorge today are almost entirely non-violent and increasingly are limited to vandalism, which seems to have caught on in the city. Reports of severe violence and murder at the hands of corrupt guards have been corroborated by a steep drop off of such incidents since the removal of many corrupt guards. In general, Talon Gorge has become a safe place at the hands of the new government.
The new council features seven residents of Talon Gorge, one for each district of the city. Generally, members of the council were elected due to a demonstrated interest in the community or for doing well as a community leader in Talon Gorge, and that public service ethic is apparent in the new government. One of the first rulings of the council was to change the sentence for most minor crimes to public service. This began as a means to rebuild the city after it was partially destroyed in the uprising and was kept when guards noticed less frequent offenses from offenders who has performed public service. At this point, every crime including violent crime receives community service as part of the sentence, and violent crimes are met with long sentences in Talon Gorge's new apartment-style prisons (more below). Sneered at by some like Daltoners and dwarves, Talon Gorge's more progressive agenda in crime and punishment has been a large success in reducing crime.
Talon Gorge's former prisons were destroyed in the uprising, leading to many deaths and an unconfirmed amount of escapes, so the new government of Talon Gorge had to build a new system of jails. Rather than reproduce the old system, the council devised a new plan to construct apartments like the model of nearby Vestry, though the Talon Gorge model is less spacious and lacks some of the finer amenities of the gnomish model. Nevertheless, life in these prisons is comfortable by prison standards and allows unlimited visitation, a unique feature of Talon Gorge's prison system. Prison guards are really only present to respond to emergencies and have training as healers. City guards also tend to stand back unless there is an emergency, form bonds with members of the community, and help with problems. A new ordinance requires that at least 20% of guards have some healing ability to help in emergency medical situations as well.
Torga
[The crime and punishment system of Torga was well-documented in my podcast, Listen Check, in which the party of player characters were members of a gang, pitted against the intimidating law presence of Torga.] Crime is a way of life in Torga. More gangs exist here than anywhere else, including the birthplace of organized crime in New Dalton. Muggings, assaults, and other violent crimes are considered a given in many neighborhoods of Torga. To combat this, Torga has classically had one of the most oppressive law enforcement teams anywhere, called the Jute for their roughspun uniforms. These officers are sometimes corrupt enough to bribe and sometimes corrupt enough to be criminals themselves, though some are also honest officers sworn to protecting their city. What is certain across all guards is that they carry tremendous power granted by the Governor of Torga and upheld by its court system, which was adopted after the early successes of Ringsdale (though the Torgan court system is less than half the size of Ringsdale's).
The Governor of Torga, Gint Nilch, is very new to politics, having been a career Jute officer. But Nilch's commonsense approach to problems, his belief in the law and justice, and his firsthand knowledge of work as a law officer have allowed him to make simple but meaningful reforms in policing to increase honesty on the job, which is beginning to gather steam. Meanwhile, his economic policy, which greatly affects the trade city, has left many disappointed, driving some to crime to compensate for the lack of honest work. Privateer work has reached an all-time high, though most business remains in the hands of a talented few. In Torga, nonviolent crimes tend to fetch jailtime on the scale of a few weeks, considered excessive in more progressive places; violent crimes see sentences of decades or centuries if the perpetrator comes from a people with longer lifespans. This proportional sentencing is a new development in Torga specifically, where Daltoners and orcs live alongside longer-lived dwarves, for whom a one year sentence means something else entirely. Execution was outlawed by the previous Governor (who accomplished little else), but prior to that, Torga had garnered one of the highest death tolls from execution of any city despite its relative youth as a city. Players in Torga can expect all manner of crime to be committed around or on them, and for law enforcement to be everywhere and complicated in terms of disposition (see below).
Unlike the rest of Evanoch except for New Dalton, Torga does not have scattered prisons but instead one large prison. And yet, unlike New Dalton, Torga's prison is not an elaborate psychological torture game; it is simply a large prison divided into tiers of criminal offense (thieves and pickpockets housed in the same cell block, murderers on their own floor, etc). This large prison is partially underground and is a part of the Jute complex, with officers of the law, Jute management, and prison guards all intermingling at headquarters. This is strategically helpful for Jute members who need access to another department's resources to work on a case. The cells themselves are large enough for sizable orcs, but not necessarily comfortable--everything in the cell, including the cot space, is concrete. Meals are adequate but not enjoyable. City guards and prison guards alike tend to be severe, skeptical, and aggressive, though more honest, helpful, and reasonable guards are out there.
There you have it--a guide to crime and punishment in all ten of the major cities of my homebrew setting, Evanoch. Some of these I already knew well--as I said above, I knew Torga's criminal justice system incredibly well. Others, I needed to add details to expand a basic framework, like the New Dalton panopticon as a way to show their beliefs. And others still needed to be invented from the ground up--I knew Talon Gorge's law enforcement system had changed since I ran a campaign there more than fifteen years ago, but I had no idea how, and community service ended up fitting perfectly. Now, I have this super valuable resource--when players are in my major cities, I can just go over these notes and provide a unique experience that will change if the party moves to another place (as they did frequently in Of Gods and Dragons). And that's something I've tried to do without any solid effort in the past; I can't wait to see how this translates in game.
That's all for now. Coming soon: marriage ceremonies and customs in my homebrew setting, why varying your gaming experience will help you, and a profile on the warlock pact deities in my homebrew setting. Until next time, happy gaming!
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