Laws and Customs

**Laws and customs** of the peoples living in the Kingdom of Aqoris are based on their feudal system of government.

## Legal System

### King's Peace

Lords have judicial power over cases that occur on their lands. A lord will hear petitions at his local castle-court, sit in judgment at trials, and pass sentence based on the evidence. Justice derives from the authority of the King of Aqoris, Defender of the Realm and Lord of Newcastle, who sits on the Bear Throne in the capital city of Newcastle. The King's power is delegated out to other great lords of the realm. This extends in a hierarchy from the king, to the rulers of the Great Houses (such as House Rocke), to major Houses (such as House Durham), to minor Houses (such as House Hayard).

The King's Peace is supposed to extend over the whole realm, thus stopping small feuds or succession wars however they do still occur from time to time. The strength of the King's Peace is relative to the strength of the King who is sitting on the throne - a weak King will mean weaker strength of his peace. The King's peace also extends to protection from outlaws, such as The Brotherhood of Wolves, and pirates. The Kingdom of Aqoris does have a Master of Laws, who is in charge of the Laws of the Kingdom, suggesting that there is statutory written Laws. However, many Laws derive from customary laws, prior precedent, and the wisdom of the lord presiding over a decision.

Individual lords are supposed to enforce the laws and carry out punishment on their own lands. Only Newcastle has a dedicated "police force", the City Watch of Newcastle. A Lord's Guard are expected to police the Lord's Holding. The City Watch is a new concept to the Kingdom so it has not been implemented elsewhere yet, although there are plans for more to be established in the cities.

## Crimes and Punishments

*See category pages for "Crimes" and "Punishments".*
As a feudal society, the Kingdom of Aqoris does not maintain long-standing dedicated prisons. There are dungeons in the major cities and castles, but these are not meant for long-term confinement of a prison population: they are more along the lines of holding pens used until sentencing through corporal or capital punishment. Valuable military or political prisoners may be confined for an extended period, i.e. in the Ice Cells under the Winter Keep, but this is exceptional.

Certain serious offenses such as rape are punishable by amputation (specifically castration), though in some cases even petty theft may be punishable by amputating a hand, as many believe in "removing the source of the crime". Treason and oathbreaking are punishable by death. There have been a few extreme cases in the reigns of exceptionally cruel Kings of "Exile to Anarchy" referring to being forced to enter the lands of The Anarchy to live out an unknown fate. This has only been confirmed done once during the reign of King Dannis the Cruel.

Many across the Kingdom, especially in the Domainlands and the North believe that the Lord who passes the sentence should carry out the punishment. The reasoning is that if a lord is not steadfast enough in his convictions to look a man he has sentenced in the eye and then kill him personally, there will be doubt that the condemned man was guilty. The most common form of execution is beheading or hanging.

## Social structure: Nobility, Commonfolk, women, religious leaders

The society and legal system of the Kingdom of Aqoris recognises a hereditary noble class set above a class of commoners, who are officially known as "commonfolk" (the very name indicates their common social standing). Nobles officially possess more legal rights than the commoners do. Many crimes for which a lowborn peasant would be punished by having their hand cut off a noble will only be punished for by paying a fine.

Women, even noble-born women, do not have the same legal standing as men. Inheritance only falls on a woman if there are no males in her family ahead of her in line of succession. However, women can rule in their own right if they have no surviving brothers (and their brothers left no surviving heirs). An exception made to this is with House Boyce, they will allow women to inherit if she is the eldest child. If the noble-born heir to a lordship is underaged (or otherwise infirm and unfit to carry out their duties), a regent may be appointed to rule in their name.

Members of religious organizations are a different section of society, technically not nobles but possessing special privileges that commoners do not possess. This primarily applies to the clergy of the Faith of the Four, the dominant religion in the Kingdom. Members of the clergy, called Adepts or Adeptas, are held in high social esteem as religious leaders, however they are not held so highly in regions that do not all worship the Faith, the Borderlands being this region as a sizable population still worships the Old Gods of Alba.

## Taxes and Fines

People do pay some taxes to the central government in Newcastle, but it isn't enough to sustain a standing royal army. Although in extreme cases of war a standing royal army can be raised and taxes can be increased to fund this, however this conscription is heavily disliked by the commonfolk as is the raising of taxes. Typically, under a manorial system, peasants pay their rent to the local lord as taxes-in-kind from the crops they raise or metals they mine. The Great Houses also collect taxes from their vassal Houses.

The crown also imposes various tariffs and fines on trade and shipping. Smugglers do try to sneak cargo past customs officials to avoid high shipping fees at ports, though the penalty if caught for smuggling is amputation. King Dannis imposed a tax on prostitution in Newcastle and it greatly increased the crown's revenue.

## Slavery

Slavery is outlawed in the Kingdom of Aqoris, as it has been long before the Kingdom was founded. It is highly thought as an abomination by The Faith and those who commit it are usually subject to execution. The Alba do not practice slavery either. It is just as heinous to sell people to foreign slavers from Eirus, however this is very rare due to the lack of contact between the two continents.