Extent of Law

[Guest]

In general, do the laws of the cities extend beyond the cities themselves or do they stop at the walls?

[creeper386]

I think for the most part... They extend where ever someones watching you... I beleive the laws extend further out... There are areas of influence that the laws extend to... Or something such as that... But out in the desert or something... If noone sees you...


Creeper

[Angela Christine]

In general, do the laws of the cities extend beyond the cities themselves or do they stop at the walls?

Yes.  

It depends, really.  In most cities it is illegal to be a known raider, even though radiering is always done outside the cities.  And most common crimes like theft, assault and murder are often considered signs of being a raider.   It is also often against the law to be a sorcerer, mindbender or (unlicensed) elementalist, even if you never _use_ those powers in the city.  But the city militia will rarely leave the city to enforce the law, so most raiders and magickers are safe enough if they keep their heads down and stay away from the cities.

But in Zalanthas everything is politics, so it also depends who you are and who your victim or assaulter was, and who you know.  Someone employed a merchant or noble house probably has enough clout to get you arrested for things you did to them outside the cities, while a loner accusing a prominent member of society of crime outside the walls will be ignored.  A noble house employee may well have enough clout to get you punished for a crime committed outside the walls even if you didn't actually commit the crime.   :twisted:  Most of the time they don't give a damn about what happens outside the city unless someone important complains, no one has enough soldiers to patrol the whole world.

It matters where the crime happened, and where you try to prosecute.  If you run to your local authorities and complain that some elves robbed you while you were in the tablelands, they will probably just laugh at you for visiting the tablelands without adequate protection.  In Allanak supporting the Rebellion (now the Tuluki government) is illegal, and you can assume that in Tuluk supporting the Allanak government is illegal.  But most authorities realize that travellers have to show at least some respect for the local authorities, so you are unlikely to be prosecuted in Allanak for supporting the Tuluki government while you where in Tuluk, and vice versa.  This is how groups like the Byn can travel, in Allanak they are loyal citizens of Allanak and at the beck and call of the templarate, but in the rest of the world they claim to be independant hireswords -- even the most foolish Runner won't sit in a Tuluki tavern and talk about how much better Tuluk was when the 'nakkies were in charge.   :shock:  For the most part the authorities will only give a damn about things that happened near their own city.

Then there is the character of the authorities of each town.  The Blackwing Outpost and Red Storm don't seem to give a damn about what happens outside thier walls, as long as you don't disturb the peace inside the city.  They aren't stupid, Red Stormers know that gith eat people outside the city and the Blackwing know the elves are robbing eachother and everyone else all the time -- that's what gith and elves do, they just choose to ignore it as long as you don't get caught doing it within the walls.  In Tuluk and Allanak you have Templar Dread wandering around shouting "I am the Law!" and enforcing whatever laws they feel like enforcing, they can even make up new laws on the spot and declare that it is now illegal for anyone named Bob to visit the city.  Some days they may not give a damn that you offed some hunter ten leagues from the city, other days they will throw the book at you for it.  In Luir's Outpost . . . who the hell knows what the damn Kuraci are going to do?  As long as you don't disrupt their business you are probably safe.


Angela Christine

[Guest]

Excellent Answer.

While it may not have been the answer sought, I think that creeper386's answer is the most appropriate: generally speaking, if no one ICly saw you do anything, you probably will be safe. Code-wise, you will find that you can usually commit 'crimes' outside of city walls without ill consequences, but it depends. If you are playing a sorcerer and you cast spells outside Allanak's walls but within view of all the soldiers and templars keeping watch, I think you can only expect to be arrested and executed if you then enter Allanak. In fact, there was one time that something very similar to this happened.

My advice, as a retired staff member, would be to assume that staff are watching what you are doing; in other words, if you do something that watchers would have a reasonable or good chance of ICly noticing and if they would ICly care about it, you should assume that there will be negative consequences for your character on the way. I think it is only safe to say that the militia of a center of civilization 'will not care' about what is happening outside the walls if it is fairly minor (e.g., robbery and the odd murder). As soon as you begin doing something regularly, you will probably draw at least some attention to yourself. Reading the posts on the laws of the center on that center's IC bulletin board would be a good idea.

Try to imagine for yourself what you might think if you were a city guard watching from the walls. If you saw someone murder someone outside the city and the victim was not anyone obviously important, you probably would not care too much, but you might well make a report of it. If the murderer keeps on killing people outside the city walls (and within sight of the guards), you could expect that the militia would not be impressed, and would send out a force to deal with the murderer. If you saw someone casting foul magicks just outside the city, you would probably sound the alarm immediately, even if you had never seen that person before. Taking both severity and regularity of the action ('crime') and trying to guess what the militia would ICly do is probably a wise approach.

Obviously, I do not speak in any official capacity, but I trust this will help.

Krrx