Government: Vartania and its surrounding lands are a tumult of chaos at most times and the government reflects that, often not active or just ineffectual. Vartania has in the past been most often run by a titular Council. Generally, this Council only meets to appoint Magistrates, Judges and Constables, of which one seems to be the default leader of the town at a time. What right do the local nobility have? Nobility in Vartania is determined by power. And like all other things, it is power that rules. Most citizens of Vartania have a healthy respect and fear for the local noble houses. While the city's watch might look the other way while a nobleman has someone flogged for laying a hand on him, they would step in should the nobleman want the person's head. The laws, as enforced by the city Watch, are detailed below. Laws: To which All are Subject within the Walls of Vertain And the Farmlands thereunto Attached By Writ and Custom, these Laws are the Inheritance of the Town and her Attached Lands: 1 - Thievery 6 - Contracts 2 - Brawling and Vandalism 7 - Judges 3 - Adultery and Divorce 8 - Exclusions 4 - Murder 9 - The Roles of the Nobility 5 - Tithes and Taxes 10 - Vile Magics 1 - Thievery: If a thief is caught in the act of robbery let him be given up to ten lashes at the wronged party's request. If he is caught a second time, let him be branded a thief by a mark upon his visage. If he is caught a third time, let his left hand be taken from him. If he errs again, let him lose his head. If a man is caught removing wood, fruit, vine or bloom from the Town's Garden or any private lands, let him be treated as a thief, and furthermore let him be kept hungry for three days and nights. So too if a woman is caught removing the same, save if she does so to feed her children. If a thief has spent his spoils before he is caught, let him give service in kind to the wronged man until his debt be paid. 2 - Brawling & Vandalism: If a man breaks the peace let him pay six copper pennies and the cost of any damages to retain his freedom so long as no person is injured beyond repair. If he is wild with spirits, let him spend the night confined as well. If he has broken the means of a man's livelihood, let him restore that means, else support that man and all he supported. So too if a woman breaks the peace. If two opponents would fight honorably, let them obey the forms of honor, and the peace will not be constituted as broken. 3 - Adultery and Divorce If a wife is caught with a man who is not her husband, let her be buried up to her neck at the crossroads and exposed to die. If her husband chooses to dig her out again, so be it, but no other man should interfere save at his request. If a man is caught with another man's wife, let his offending member be removed from him at the wronged man's behest. If a man accosts a sister of the church, let her be treated as another man's wife, for she is the Wife of Heaven, and let his member be removed. If a man and woman wish to have their marriage annulled, let them render themselves subject to whatever authority conjoined them in the first place. If a man wishes to put aside a wife who does not wish her marriage dissolved, let him be responsible for her upkeep until death, and for the care of the children she has borne him. He may not remarry if his marriage is not dissolved by the authority which joined it, but even be it dissolved, he must yet pay maintenance as described above. If a woman has proven unfaithful, her husband may divorce her and not pay her maintenance, but is yet responsible for any child she has borne him. If a man prove unfaithful, let a wife be considered free of duty to his bed. If an unwed man get a maid with child, he will marry her if her father bids it. If a wed man get a maid with child, he will pay her upkeep, and that of the child. 4 - Murder If a man causes another's death without just cause, let that man be killed. So too if a woman causes another's death. Just cause shall only be construed as execution of the above writ, a death dealt honorably according to the forms of noble contest, or a death necessary to prevent the immediate death of an innocent, including one's self. Only those who have been granted the right to bear arms and mete justice shall be considered to have executed the punishment of a murderer. This includes those in the town's employ to such ends, even if they have not been dubbed to otherwise carry this right. 5 - Tithes and Taxes Every year, for every hearth within the town's walls, the owner of that hearth shall pay one Vartania crown (gold) to the town's treasury to be used in defense and betterment of the city. The owner of that hearth is entitled to twice that from those who dwell by his hearth and are his tenants. If a dwelling place contains no hearth, let it be assessed one third the share for a single hearth. For every portion of land up to an acre share a man holds of another, let him pay two crowns and one day's labor in his Lord's field at the sowing time and again at the harvest. The Church collects the taxes for the town and divides the taxes amongst those who provide services for the town: House Cassimere: Magical Protection House Stormson: Provides Guards for Tax Collecting House Trevayne: Maintains Public Buildings If a man cannot pay his rents or taxes, let him tithe his share by dint of service or goods. If he is yet remiss in his payment, let him have one year's leniency for every ten he has dwelled by or owned that hearth in which to pay his share and accrue a tenth-share interest against his account. If a man accosts his lord's agent or the town's agent who has come to collect due tithes or taxes, let him receive ten lashes and have all his due tithes for that year doubled. Do not cause men or woman to render to their gods beyond what they are willing to give. No one may be compelled to the church's tithing, or to any other agency of the gods, save as the church or that agency acts as landlord. 6 - Contracts Let all contracts signed, sealed or witnessed be binding. If a man promises what he has not right to grant, let him still be held to account for its worth. If a man breaks his contract, let his moneys, then goods, then lands be seized as remittance to it. If he has neither moneys, goods nor lands, let his service pay the price of his contract, and even his children's service, until the contract is made good. So too if a woman makes a contract. 7 - Judges Let judges be only the just and wise, and beyond reproach. Let a judge have no god or spirit or authority he holds higher than his duty to the execution of these laws. If a judge be corrupt, let his eyes be put out and send him into the mists. 8 - Exclusions The nobility shall in no case be judged by those not of equal or higher rank as themselves, save that they shall be immediately responsible for any damages of coin or payment as writ above. If a man wrongs a noble according to the laws, let that noble have right to his punishment before the town's officers. 9 - The Roles of the Nobility Let men and women be counted as nobility for the sake of these exclusions only if they are recognized members of a family of the nobility which holds honor within the lands of the mists, or if wed to one of the same in a marriage recognized by the head of that household. Named, these families include Trevayne, Cassimere, and Stormson. No claim to noble birth outside the boundaries of the mists shall suffice to count a man or woman as a noble for the sake of these exclusions. 10 - Vile Magics If a man or woman engages in vile magics or has consort with destructive spirits or beings, let them be taken before the Guardians and there judged.