Town Meeting

Bjorn Oathensworn

Bjorn Oathensworn

Newbie
It is late afternoon on a crisp autumn day. Twilight is as of yet a few hours out, and the plan is to be finished before the sunset so that townsfolk have time to get back to their homes before nightfall, when trouble likes to crawl from its hiding place and menace the people. Bjorn Oathensworn, best known as the adventurer's merchant, walks around behind the podium of the town's makeshift meeting hall- little more than a barn with a few rows of uncomfortable wooden seats and a wobbly box from which to speak. He glances over those gathered and reminds himself to try and keep his points brief so that the discomfort of one's back end doesn't migrate to their minds. He clears his throat and taps the provided gavel, calling the town meeting to order.

"Alright, let's get this thing started, shall we?" he says in a calm, conversational tone that belies his self-doubt, but he presses forward anyway. "First of all, I'd like to thank each and every one of you for coming out. I know it's late in the afternoon and a lot of you have things you could be and would rather be doing right now, but every voice matters and for that I thank you."

Moving on, Bjorn reaches for his stack of papers and neatly straightens them, glancing over the front page once before moving on. "Let me start by giving you all the reason for this meeting. We are fortunate to have found a home here in Sanctuary, especially considering we are in the Wyldes. However, our hold over our home is tenuous at best, and there are several challenges ahead of us. To the East, we have Mercatos- who want to use us as a foothold to conquer all the Wyldes for themselves. We have the ever-constant threat of the dark man's forces always looking to wear us down. We have a tense relationship with our neighbors, the Oathsworn and Selunari. We have the Fey Court watching us closely. And to top it all off, from within we are struggling to uphold our very own laws and ideals. We are, quite literally, surrounded on all fronts by hardship and we simply are not prepared."

Bjorn places a hand on the papers, tapping them confidently. "To that end, tonight is about discussion. What can we actually do to get ourselves ready to face all these trials and come out stronger as a community? I have here a small list of concerns which we'll address one-by-one and suggest solutions to. Once we have a few good ideas, we'll put it all together and put it to a vote among both the people and the adventurers who protect them in the coming month when the next gather takes place. Remember- tonight is just about discussion and no final decisions will be made tonight. We just want to hear opinions, suggestions, and SOLUTIONS. Afterwards, we'll open the floor to other concerns we've missed. Once we've had this discussion and the vote has been tallied, we will send our petition as a united township to those in power. If they are half the leaders we hope they are, they cannot ignore all of our voices raised as one."

Bjorn reaches into his vest and produces a pair of glasses as he looks down on the first page. "That said, I'll now go over a list of topics to be discussed in tonight's meeting:
1) A brief overview of the laws of Sanctuary
2) A request for definition of who qualifies as a citizen of Sanctuary
3) A request for the formal declaration of the rights of Sanctuary Citizens
4) A request for the formal establishment of authorities to uphold and defend the laws of Sanctuary
5) Discussion of a contingency plan should no authority be present when a law is broken
6) Request for a system to determine the consequences of breaking the laws
7) Discuss outreach program to establish good relations with our neighboring factions"

Bjorn pauses, knowing it's a long list and people will need to take it all in. He flips to the next page of his notes, ready to go proceed. Once the murmuring dies down a little, he presses on. "I'd like to start by reading off our agreed-upon list of laws. This is for the benefit of anyone who is not aware of them and opens up discussion if they are still in line with our ideals and goals. The read as follows:

Arson: Destroying another’s items of value, be they material, magical, or intellectual, by use of fire. Arson that affects the Wyldes will also have the additional charge of Forest Murder levied.

Assault: An attack upon another person that, whether verbal or physical, is serious and real to the extent that it causes valid fear of physical harm to their person or removal of free will. This can include the use of weapons, restraints, spells, alchemy, traps, mental powers, or racial abilities. The placing of unwanted spells, alchemical or arcane effects upon another person may count as assault. The use of any substances or spells that remove free will also counts as assault.

Assault by Ritual: Includes casting (or afflicting) ritual magic upon an unwilling recipient. The unintended effects caused by a ritual backlash or flaw will not count as assault unless the caster willingly caused the backlash/flaw to occur.

Battery: Causing actual harm which must be healed by means of spell, potion, elixir, or antidote to another person.

Breaking Hospitality: Attacking, poisoning, threatening, or otherwise assaulting any individual under the presumption of Hospitality within a household, be it permanent or temporary.

Consorting: Speaking, negotiating, trading, or in any other way engaging a known necromancer or necromantic creature in anything other than battle. Punishable as though the creature’s crimes were one’s own. i.e.: Consorting with a necromantic creature is the same as being a necromancer.

Conspiracy: The act of two or more individuals to plan, carry out, or hide the occurrence of a crime. Any person with foreknowledge of a crime in action that does not report it shall also be guilty of conspiracy.

False Accusation: Knowingly and maliciously accusing an innocent party of committing a crime.

Forest Assault: Taking any action which endangers or causes the destruction of any portion of the Wyldes.

Forest Murder: Direct and willful actions that destroy any portion of the Wyldes.

Fraud: Claiming credit for a theory, mechanical item, or any crafted piece that was in fact created by another.

Kidnapping: The restraint of movement and holding of a person against their will or without their knowledge/consent.

Manslaughter: Directly, yet not maliciously, causing the resurrection of another through careless or reckless actions. Withholding reasonable aid from another (excepting in the case where that would cause immediate and clear danger of resurrection to oneself) will also qualify.

Murder: Directly causing the resurrection of another through one’s own actions, or by preventing others from healing/saving that person. Intent must be present in order for a charge of murder to stand.

Necromancy: The willful casting of chaos magic, creation of chaos items, or use of chaos-tainted magical items; accepting the casting of such magic upon one’s own person; consorting with a Necromancer; allowing Necromancy to be cast; failing to destroy undead creatures or necromancers should the opportunity exist.

Perjury: Lying when under an oath to tell the truth.

Public Endangerment: Actions, whether through trade, battle, or other means, that place citizens within undue danger.

Restricting Freedom: Casting or in any way inflicting a command, dominate, charm, or other will-removing effect upon any citizen race within the Wyldes.

Slavery: Holding, buying/selling, or owning a recognized sentient race in bondage.

Theft: Stealing, robbing, or burgling property which belongs to another. This does not include the spoils of war taken from a lawfully slain foe, but rather implies a willful taking of that which does not belong to you.

Trespassing: Entering upon the property, holdings, or homestead of another without permission.

Treason: Includes crimes against the Nation and its ruling party."

Bjorn takes a moment to remove his glasses and set the papers down, catching his breath as the laws were a very long read and he recognizes yet another need to let people absorb information. Moreover, he knows that his next words might be seen as controversial or even unacceptable- but they need to be said.

"Right then," he says, pocketing the glasses. "I'd like to open by suggesting we take a look at the wording on the laws of Consorting with a Necromancer. While I agree with the majority of it, I feel that simply TALKING to a necromancer or necromantic creature should be removed or at least altered- as it is possible to encounter a being of such definition, demand answers, and have it phase away before you can take action. As the law stands, such an encounter would make you guilty and punishable by the laws of our land and that does not seem at all fair. There are many other examples I could give, but this is exactly the problem. I'd like to hear suggestions on how we might re-word this law such that no such injustices could occur."

And now, it was time to hear what the people said on this topic specifically...
 
Nervously, from the front row...

"Ummm, so....I think you could maybe change that part to knowingly sheltering or hiding a necromancer or not sharing that a person used necromancy with appropriate people of authority cause then you are kind of like their friend. I think if you are trying to tell them necromancy is bad and you can't stop them from getting away then you aren't a bad person, but if you saw somebody use chaos magic and you are just kind of like, 'I'm okay with that', then you are okay with it and that isn't okay."

"If you use chaos magic, you deserve to be punished, I don't think trying to talk down a necromancer from attacking people and being unable to kill them makes you bad as long as you do whatever you can to make sure they are punished so they don't do it again"

Mycelius smiles to himself thinking about rewarding himself with an elixir...but puts it back before whispering to himself, "later...."
 
Alpha steps forth quite drained and looking worse for ware, This is a subject I've thought a lot about and a very difficult one to draw clear lines with. I often see the law as a living thing that constantly needs to adapt and change to support the people that build their life's upon it. The law to me is many things it our principles our core values, It's what equalizes us and part of what our relationships are built upon and mutual understanding of the law's and the weight they carry is a large part of what will shape our future.

To me the law is a tool to balance us all and our beliefs and when I think of passing judgement I often think about how it will impact the relationship of all involved. The one who broke the law must know what they did was wrong and be taught the larger picture of how it effects us and them and the victim must feel that a proper resolution has been reached before a case can be closed. If one or both parties cannot come away with a mutual understanding / agreement the case should be escalated to the Fae High Courts in which Sanctuary forfeits jurisdiction of the matter.

The matter of passing judgement under Sanctuary jurisdiction should fall to those that helped found Sanctuary since the town is built off our collective principles.

The matter of dealing with necromancy given the level of damage it does to us as a town is to be handled by The Arbiter henceforth. It is no longer an matter of balance or relationships. We should coordinate any attempt to capture known necromancers with the Arbiter. He may be hard to deal with but he represents a much large power in Kosmara and is unbiased. Until we can show we are capable of handling the matter ourselves he is to be welcome. Eventually we should have our own taskforce to handle law enforcement especially on the necromancer front.

As for the other subjects such as citizenship I believe that anyone that contributes to the growth or defense of Sanctuary are citizens but I am for a formal declaration of loyalty to the township of Sanctuary and the principles it was founded upon.

This is my thoughts on the subject and are currently how I handle things but I'm am not against reorganizing and better defining steps of escalation and solidifying our foundation I shall leave this to you to discus my mind is in other places and I am quite tired from all my role's among the township.

Alpha seemingly out of energy dismiss himself to leave you to debate farther.
 
I think this is a good start Bjorn, I personally have seen you step forward to protect the interests of a new traveler to your lands and I believe fully in the rule of law.

I have no particular ability nor expertise in determining such issues, but should a sheriff, constable, or generally acknowledge leadership be approved on these matters know that I will support that person, or persons and you will always have at least one blade at your beck and call to enforce lawful judgements.

-Oak
 
Fraud is dumb. I lie all the time about inventing things like trees and jelly. It doesn't make me a criminal it makes me senile.

-Samantha!
 
Bjorn quickly writes down the suggestions of those who have spoken up.

"Excellent points, everyone. I'll be sure to add these to the list of items to be voted on during the gather. Does anybody else have anything they want voted on, so that we can ensure we have a comprehensive list of grievances and suggestions when we go to write and submit this to those in authority?"

Bjorn looks up to see if anyone else had anything to add. He'd already listed his intent and knew it was getting late- he wanted to make sure others had their voices heard and that everyone who wished to contribute had their chance to do so NOW, so that the voting process would be a simple matter that shouldn't take much time.
 
Samantha! clears his throat.

"Orcs should get one free non-murder, non-necromancy crime a day."
 
Random passerby in a heavy hooded cloak...
May I add a few comments to your new developing laws of your land.

In my travels near and far, I have seen such organizations come to be. Yet they don't think about non-humans for instance or perhaps visiting diplomats from foreign lands, or perhaps Necromancy isn't as illegal where they come from - as you might see it.

Do seintent races include trolls and goblins? What about a fae? Can these such creatures become citizens of your town?

What if I'm a visitor from a foreign land, Can I seek diplomatic immunity from your newly formed laws?
What if I'm not human, and my people have treaties most other races that say I don't have to obey all of your laws? Are you going to try and punish me because I'm just passing thru?

I see that your new law have no punishments assigned to each law.
In most lands that I have visited, fines vary from minuscule to severe. Sometimes costing silver or gold.

Some creatures live above the laws of most lands, such as some fae. Do you plan to make war on the fae because they don't want to obey all your rules? Or try to start killing them because they casually break your new rules or sometimes they just it for fun!

Rules, too many can hurt. I'd suggest starting small, and try not to add more than 1 a year. Although laws that contain goodness such as "Be kind" are far better than punishment type of laws.

May I suggest:

Law #1: Be kind to everyone
Law #2: Be honest
Law #3: Be inclusive and welcoming
Law #4: Share and be generous
Law #5: Be tidy and clean

I hope you consider my advice.
 
It's great how you were both unhelpful and condescending at the same time.

Why the cloak? Were you burned? Do you have an arm growing out of the top of your head?

Don't feel bad about your head-arm. I'm sure it's very useful for throwing rocks and scratching your nose in combat!
 
Bjorn quickly takes notes, making sure to include the suggestions offered. Afterwards, with a quick glance out the window to gauge the setting of the sun, he takes note of the time and clears his throat.

"Excellent points, stranger- they'll be addressed when we go to vote," Bjorn assured the hooded figure. "But," he added, "I would like to point out that Diplomatic Immunity- at least how it works wherever I've seen it applied- doesn't mean that one is except from following the laws of whatever land they're visiting. It only means that if they are caught breaking said laws, they're sent back home to be held responsible by their authorities and usually asked to send a replacement more capable of respecting the places they visit. Should they refuse to leave, it becomes an act of hostility on the part of wherever they represent- which is why most dignitaries do their best to be respectful of cultures and traditions... so they don't accidentally do something that might be considered an act of war and be branded a traitor by their country for botching foreign relations..."

Bjorn chuckled slightly, shrugging. "But that's foreign policy and we're more concerned with domestic issues for the time being. That said, the hour draws late and while I would have liked to discuss further- it seems our time is in fact, up. We will get together to vote on which of these issues will be included in the letter to our authorities during the Gather, and if anyone has any further suggestions before then, they can contact me directly. If you have suggestions AFTER the fact, they'll have to be addressed in later actions..."

Bjorn picked up the small hammer and tapped it twice on the table. "Meeting is adjourned. I thank everybody for coming and express my deepest gratitude to those who made any suggestions or requests tonight. Have a lovely night, and travel safe as the sun sets- the roads can be troublesome in the dark."

With that, Bjorn began to pack up his papers. He would linger a while, in case anyone had any questions, but in the fullness of time he too would leave... ready to bring this experiment to a close during the gather...

***End of Topic, if you wish, you can get a hold of me through the discord***
 
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