Allanaki Laws

[Iiyola]

In case anyone overlooked it (I certainly did, despite being a seasoned player), here are the Official Laws of Allanak, passed by the Senate over the years:

High Treason-
-Knowingly harboring or aiding a mindbender.
-Knowingly harboring or aiding a sorcerer
-Conspiring against the Highlord

Treason-
-Knowingly harboring or aiding a nilazi
-Knowledge of spoken or written Tatlum
-Murdering a noble peer or Templar
-Harboring or aiding an ungemmed elementalist

Common Crimes-
---Knowledge of writing
---Ungemmed elementalism (refusing a gem)
---Striking one of noble blood
-Creation or summoning of magickal constructs or creatures within the city
-Attempting to free a slave or aid in the escape of a slave
-Murder
-Trespassing in the Templar's and Noble's quarter
-Assault
-Assault

Contraband-
-Magickal artifacts
-Writing, unless with express permission of a noble or templar
-Possession of Militia uniforms or weapons
-Poisoned weapons and poisons
-Lockpicks
-Spice

*High Treason crimes apply even to the Templars themselves, as well as all
less important individuals.  Punishment for High Treason is death.

*Treason crimes apply to the Nobles themselves, as well as all less
important individuals.  Punishment for Treason is death.

*Common crimes apply only to commoners, and are ranked in order of severity
of the crime. Punishment for crimes noted with -- is death.

Contraband only applies to commoners, and is ranked in order of severity
of the crime.

[Veselka]

RE: Common Crime

The wording is a little weird, and it should be like '>>> is punishable by death', instead of '--' because there's only '-' and '---' but not '--' and yeah. But really, any crime can be punishable by death depending on the situation, and commoners don't really (typically) have much of a ground to stand on.

It would be nice to have a blurb that is like 'Crime and Justice are not similar in any way to modern concepts of crime committed and justice performed. Templars are the judge, jury, and executioner in all ways, and offending parties typically have no recourse against them. Commoners would be aware that even if they haven't committed a crime, a Templar can decide they have and act accordingly. Employment to organizations such as the T'zai Byn, the Greater Merchant Houses, and the Noble Houses often provide more leeway when it comes to crime, but that leeway is case by case and depends on the crime committed and by whom.'

[Veselka]

Also, to add...Though these are the laws as passed by the Senate, a Templar can ostensibly tell you 'That is against the law' and no Commoner's response should be 'But the Senate said only X Y Z and a b c are against the law...!'. Whatever a Templar says is against the law, is against the law, until another Templar that's higher ranked (either socially or actually) says otherwise.

There are intervening factors -- Nobles might step in (if they decide there's some political play doing so). Another Templar might step in. A Big Daddy Commoner might step in (Maybe like a Crew Leader of Salarr intervening on behalf of their employee), but I'd say it's super case by case.

A Commoner's only recourse against a Templar telling them they are breaking the law by doing X is to grovel, really, and maybe if they have friends in high places, go after them after the fact. Such is Zalanthas!

[BadSkeelz]

An important Law Zero to remember in Allanak, is that the law is whatever the ranking Templar within arm's reach says it is.

[Narf]

Also, to add...Though these are the laws as passed by the Senate, a Templar can ostensibly tell you 'That is against the law' and no Commoner's response should be 'But the Senate said only X Y Z and a b c are against the law...!'. Whatever a Templar says is against the law, is against the law, until another Templar that's higher ranked (either socially or actually) says otherwise.

There are intervening factors -- Nobles might step in (if they decide there's some political play doing so). Another Templar might step in. A Big Daddy Commoner might step in (Maybe like a Crew Leader of Salarr intervening on behalf of their employee), but I'd say it's super case by case.

A Commoner's only recourse against a Templar telling them they are breaking the law by doing X is to grovel, really, and maybe if they have friends in high places, go after them after the fact. Such is Zalanthas!

That's useful on the high end, but the militia enforces the laws too and they'd probably like some guidelines for what they should and shouldn't be planting evidence for.

[Iiyola]

RE: Common Crime

The wording is a little weird, and it should be like '>>> is punishable by death', instead of '--' because there's only '-' and '---' but not '--' and yeah.

Eh, I literally copied it from the rumor board.

[Iiyola]

An important Law Zero to remember in Allanak, is that the law is whatever the ranking Templar within arm's reach says it is.

Agreed, but in some cases, just because they could implement a law/rule... should they? If this means its not benefitting the game/roleplay? And by benefitting I mean increasing potential for roleplay/scenes instead of chasing off PC's. Its a fine line at times.

[Shalooonsh]

An important Law Zero to remember in Allanak, is that the law is whatever the ranking Templar within arm's reach says it is.

Agreed, but in some cases, just because they could implement a law/rule... should they? If this means its not benefitting the game/roleplay? And by benefitting I mean increasing potential for roleplay/scenes instead of chasing off PC's. Its a fine line at times.

Yes.  They absolutely should.  That's literally part of the role of being a Lord Templar.

[Wday]

Seems lately templars have no one ranking over them to report to or watching over them and they kill roles and rp. This means icly they are fierce but OOCLY a deadend to role play around, unless you are in their we like you circle.

[Lotion]

Templars are basically if judge Dredd was a Cardassian

[Lotion]

Seems lately templars have no one ranking over them to report to or watching over them and they kill roles and rp. This means icly they are fierce but OOCLY a deadend to role play around, unless you are in their we like you circle.

If someone sucks just pk them

[williamson]

Templars   (Classes)

In all city-states which have risen (and, in some cases, fallen) since the departure of the Dragon from the Known World, the Kings have made use of warrior-priests as a force of control and order in their domains. These select people are called templars in both of the major city-states, Allanak and Tuluk.

The job of a templar is to maintain law in the city which he/she serves. More precisely, s/he is to carry out the orders of the King. All of a templar's power comes from above, either from higher ranking templars or from the King of the city. These powers might be magicks, knowledge, or any number of favours or privileges. One thing remains common: all templars are exempt from the laws of the city they serve, and this has led to much corruption within the ranks of Templars.

In Allanak, it is not unusual to see a templar bully, steal, coerce, or bribe to get his/her own way. Templars often slay persons who do not immediately obey them. There is, however, usually at least as much tension between templars as there is between templars and the populace of the city.

In Tuluk, rule over the populace by the combined templarate is based more on loyalty to the Sun King than fear of the templarate itself. Tuluki Templars are typically less brutal than those of Allanak, viewing public executions and displays of violence for personal crimes as a vulgar Southern practice. In many cases, they find it preferable to simply cause the perpetrators of serious crimes and personal offenses to disappear.

Templars are the only guild which are automatically employed. They serve their King and their city and their own selfish interests. There are no skills or magicks that are universally common to all templars; templars have their abilities granted or taken away at the discretion of their superiors (and, especially, at the pleasure or displeasure of their King).

[Patuk]

Templars can do what they want, yes - lord knows Tuluk isn't there to keep them busy, nor is the amount of big name sorcs and such as big as it has been.

Fortunately, you can also do what you want, which includes playing elsewhere entirely and ignoring their existence. Judging by the degree to which some places see play, many people choose exactly that option

[Fernandezj]

This turned in the "Allanak Problem" thread really fast.

[Is Friday]

The way Templars are designed is kind of unfun to play around 90% of the time, yeah. The staff defense of "this is how they are meant to be played" ignores that the city empties out in response to aggressive Templar behavior all the time.

I don't see why that's seen as "good". We shouldn't be playing with antagonists where the most common response is to just abandon RPing in the area. Seems counter intuitive to a role-playing game.

[Furious George]

The way Templars are designed is kind of unfun to play around 90% of the time, yeah. The staff defense of "this is how they are meant to be played" ignores that the city empties out in response to aggressive Templar behavior all the time.

I don't see why that's seen as "good". We shouldn't be playing with antagonists where the most common response is to just abandon RPing in the area. Seems counter intuitive to a role-playing game.

I think the design works if there's a political counter-balance to them in the form of active and regular playing Highborn.  Allanak is a very big sandbox, and it's only fun to play in if there is a variety of toys to enjoy.  Three templars seem standard, anywhere between two and like six highborn have been known to be a thing before.  It's like trickle down economics, in some fashion, the more alternatives for protection, manipulation and coercion, the more enjoyable the environment is overall.

[Patuk]

The way Templars are designed is kind of unfun to play around 90% of the time, yeah. The staff defense of "this is how they are meant to be played" ignores that the city empties out in response to aggressive Templar behavior all the time.

I don't see why that's seen as "good". We shouldn't be playing with antagonists where the most common response is to just abandon RPing in the area. Seems counter intuitive to a role-playing game.

I think the design works if there's a political counter-balance to them in the form of active and regular playing Highborn.  Allanak is a very big sandbox, and it's only fun to play in if there is a variety of toys to enjoy.  Three templars seem standard, anywhere between two and like six highborn have been known to be a thing before.  It's like trickle down economics, in some fashion, the more alternatives for protection, manipulation and coercion, the more enjoyable the environment is overall.

Big if. How often do you see it work out that way?

[Hauwke]

The way Templars are designed is kind of unfun to play around 90% of the time, yeah. The staff defense of "this is how they are meant to be played" ignores that the city empties out in response to aggressive Templar behavior all the time.

I don't see why that's seen as "good". We shouldn't be playing with antagonists where the most common response is to just abandon RPing in the area. Seems counter intuitive to a role-playing game.

An enormous part of the problem is that many tout their ability to RP, but actually what is happening is that they just play themself and when bad things start happening they get upset because they don't want to lose their PC.

Fear of losing a PC is fine, what is not fine is going way out of the scope of a PC because the game world is being well represented by an aggressive Templar. Should that Templar being randomly killing characters? Probably not, because thats just shitty. But they should definately be taxing every random elf they see.

Calm down people, bad things can happen and you can lose and it's still fun.

[Furious George]

Big if. How often do you see it work out that way?

All the time, with some recent dry-spell exceptions.

[Maso]

Calm down people, bad things can happen and you can lose and it's still fun.

Just this, basically.

[Brytta Léofa]

Something I'm thinking about:
- Is it fun to get raided in the desert?
- Is it fun to get arbitrary-law-enforced in the city?
- If the answers are different, why?

My own preliminary answers are "yes", "no", and "I don't know." :-)

[Lotion]

getting raided is more fun that being templar'd because you can just ride away and then begin a desert pursuit and if you make it out you can still fuck around in the desert
if a templar is like hey its time for us to talk you basically either talk or fuck off from allanak for an irl month

[Patuk]

The raider also had to work for his sheer prowess, and doesn't have an army of NPC soldiers, gemmed, and AoD PCs with nothing else to do at their beck and call.

[Hauwke]

It certainly seems to me that the difference is one of respect.

People respect raiders, they respect that they can just arrow spam you to death and that somehow that furthers a plot. Not every raider is this noble Robbin Hood. Not all are well Roleplayed.

They do not respect that perhaps a Templar has a reason, far more in fact than the raider whose only reason is "hur dur, raidur", to throw your PC in prison and torture them. It's entirely possible the Templar was bribed to target breeds this month, perhaps he has been bothered by the other players of breeds this month and so is being extra because it makes legitimate sense. And sometimes, the player is just being a dick because they can.

Having played this game for years now, almost none of us are even half as good at politicking as we think we are. We are human, real people and not a book character. We make mistakes and piss people off. We say the wrong thing.

Relax fellas, your 12th human stalker in a row isn't as special as you feel it is.

[Patuk]

It certainly seems to me that the difference is one of respect.

People respect raiders, they respect that they can just arrow spam you to death and that somehow that furthers a plot. Not every raider is this noble Robbin Hood. Not all are well Roleplayed.

They do not respect that perhaps a Templar has a reason, far more in fact than the raider whose only reason is "hur dur, raidur", to throw your PC in prison and torture them. It's entirely possible the Templar was bribed to target breeds this month, perhaps he has been bothered by the other players of breeds this month and so is being extra because it makes legitimate sense. And sometimes, the player is just being a dick because they can.

Having played this game for years now, almost none of us are even half as good at politicking as we think we are. We are human, real people and not a book character. We make mistakes and piss people off. We say the wrong thing.

Relax fellas, your 12th human stalker in a row isn't as special as you feel it is.

My 12th stalker, or even someone's 500th stalker, is special enough that death by 'I was bribed to target brunettes this month' is still too bad for them.

Or torture, for that matter. Don't even mention fucking tax - I wish things would stop at that.