Crime and Punishment

While many of the citizens of The Gauntlet are peaceful and law abiding, crime is still a problem.

While Vassalward will refuse to admit it and always strives to paint itself as a golden example of how a city should be (sometimes at the expense of its residents) it still has high rates of theft and other petty crimes in the poorer areas of the city. Crimes are judged by trial of a high judge (or for pettier crimes one of his three appointed clerks) and then punishment is delivered straight after the trial, for lesser crimes this can mean a short jail sentence or for more serious crimes it can result in years in a cell. The punishment for murder is death by hanging.

Belthwys has a slightly different justice system in that trials are presided over by an elected judge with the aid of a jury randomly selected from the public (though often bribes can be put in place to secure a spot on the bench). The defendant and the plaintiff both have the right to legal aid, however, if someone cannot afford this help it is not provided for free. As with Vassalward the punishment for petty crimes is usually a jail sentence or a fine but for murder and crimes such as high business fraud Belthwys favours a guillotine execution (which is considered an exciting event for the entire family to attend).

Forynfell takes a much more direct approach, rulings are dealt with by the Lord of Forynfell himself. Due to a lack of space, the cells in the keep are small and as such minor crimes are often dealt with by imposing a fine of compensation or in case of theft the first three fingers of the thief's hand are removed. Like Belthwys, Forynfell beheads murderers and bandits but does so with a chopping block and an axe, the Lord of Forynfell carries out the execution as well as the trial.