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Crime and Punishment

Dear Cass Maren, I know now that your curiosity knows no bounds for the laws of this land can be seen by some as some of the cruelest around. And in fact, most crimes, although minor have very heavy penalties.

I was once privy to the rulings of a Duke, in a place known as the Starlight Hall. You might picture a place of elven wonder, but alas it had long since fallen to the decay of the Ash Strip. The Duke was that pitiful land’s ruler, and he ruled it with a fist of iron and despair.




Sentences were passed and upheld in the same utterance, for they were carried out by the Duke’s loyal soldiers, the Ashen Guard. There were no last meals, nor words with loved ones, for those who were doomed to hang had the noose slipped over their guilty necks and were hoisted into the darkness of the rafters to suffer alone, while the next judgement occurred. Such a price was held for theft, regardless of the value stolen, murder, and treason.

Rapists were sent to work in the mines for the rest of their days, along with vagabonds, and tramps. I know not why Rape was treated so leniently, nor for that matter theft so harsh. But I have an inkling the judge might not have been so lawful as one might hope. Those who caused a public disturbance or disruption to everyday life were fined, as a friend of mine had once been, though we swiftly discovered that although a fine was paid in full, it would not be the last payment you would have to make. In Rookscry there is a ruling whereby the guilty are lashed to the western rocks and left exposed to the sea and the gulls and whatever else exists in the Bleak Bay, and if they survive the length of their sentence then they are free to go about their business. The length of time is of course determined by the severity of their crime, and needless to say most do not last the night strapped to those rocks overlooking the darkness. Of course a lot of laws and rulings became centralised when the Elledjhon came to power uniting the land beneath a single law. But there are still regions upon that island that uphold more ancient judgements. And that is all I shall say on the matter. Yours as ever most humbly, The Chronicler of Farcliff

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