Castile (nation)

**Castile** is an industrial nation occupied by traditional humans set in the world of Aeras.

Castile is a divided nation - following a period of civil war over the economic imperilment of slavery and serf labourers by the introduction of advanced mechanical automata, Castile became a federalist state divided into East (pro-automation, pro-emancipation) and West (a socialist landscape that resists mechanical intervention) Castile.

Originally a theocracy, Castile's major church, the Fratellano la Jehovi, ceased to be a political power during the civil war. Castile is comprised of two ethnicities, the Wesi and the Gitanosi, who share a common history but differ strongly in religious and linguistic history.

Castile is noted for being, above all else, a metal-working nation to the point that 'paper' in Castile is actually a very fine and malleable metal. The dominant scientific paradigm is applied mathematics such that advances in cryptography and rudimentary computation have already occurred.

## Origins

### *Prehistory*

Castile (pronounced 'cast-teel') originally began life as a collection of human nomadic ethnic tribes that mostly engaged in slash-and-burn agriculture and pastoralism as a way of life. By the end of 1000 BCE, following several millenia of intermittent skirmishes, tribal mergers, and internecine conflicts, about sixteen different tribes with distinct territories made up the Gitanos people. The exact identities of these individual tribes have been lost to time, but intermarriage was common, free passage was granted to musicians, entertainers and migrants, and the barter system thrived. Summer festivals celebrating successful harvests marked the high point of the Gitanos calendar, and people from all tribes attended.

The Gitanos were an oral people who never developed an interest in writing systems, preferring to express themselves via a community of poets and scribes who committed tales to memory and recited them in verse attributed to a pseudo-historical figure always named as Rehen. Their history is mostly preserved in recorded versions of old folktales, songs, and sacred chants gathered together by Hermanos Hermanossi, a retired general, in about 600 BCE from the last few Gitanos poets - he remains our sole source of knowledge about these people. A dominant theme of tribal shamanism runs throughout these texts, with various calls to nature spirits and the lone god Satiro who romanced swans.

Modern scholarship infers that the Gitanos employed shapeshifting magic: shamans are often imbued with animal attributes in these tales or sport half-human half-beast forms, while certain folklore references the actual physical transformation of adolescent boys and girls during tribal initiation ceremonies and marriages (that these transformations were sexual in nature has had some literary evidence turn up in its favour). Ruins from that era indicate that the Gitanos practiced building nuraghes.

In about 800 BCE, migrants from the north called the Wesi crossed down from over the mountains, marking a historic shift in the evolution of Castile's history. The Wesi (a loose confederacy of clans, rather a single unified people) were neither pastoralists nor practised animal husbandry. Organised as a tightly-knit band of cavalry and *zazen* (a six-legged horse) riders, the Wesi were raiders who practised a dogmatic monotheistic religion notable for requiring armour plating worn on both men and women at all times.

While the Wesi were not known to practise magic, they reportedly carried stone tools fashioned out of 'clear and shiny surface (sic)' - later archaeologists have argued that this could well be steel or iron, indicating either that the early Wesi were already aware of metallurgy or at least were able to get ahold of it. The Wesi were the first to introduce a writing system that resembles short, sharp scratches on hard surfaces - rather like Ogham.

### *Foundings and Medieval Period*

By about 650 BCE, the Wesi had absorbed many of the original Gitanos tribes and driven the remaining free Gitanos to the south-western half of Castile. These former 'mountain barbarians' now had their own independent colony in the north-eastern half called Castile, stretching from the mountains to the sea. Castillian civilisation enjoyed a thriving trade in slavery, alongside growing interest in woolworking and fine agrarian crops that allowed ethnic Gitanosi to transition slowly into a merchant and trading class. Castillian culture differed starkly from the war-faring raiders two hundred years ago - many of the port cities could well be described as metropolitan, built as it were out of a combination of stone and metal to form towering structures and formidable ships.

Remnants of the old Wesi faith remained - particularly its militaristic aspects - but had congealed into a form that pushed for simplicity, independence and industriousness as a way of homage to personal gods. Art from this period is starkly realist, often idolising the warrior-poet Llamadi, a cultural icon in Wesi mythology who is said to have been an effigy that survived immolation and emerged from it with invulnerable skin and life, defeating the messengers of Bol (an evil figure) sent to repossess his 'loaned' soul.

Following the abdication of the Wesi emperor Crucidad in 580 BC (declared accidentally, some believe, in the later stages of dementia), Castillian government became a theocracy headed by the Fratellano la Jehovi, a Wesi sect known for its liberal interpretations of the holy texts and willingness to experiment with magic. Tales of Gitanosi shapeshifting magic became popular, as the Castillian empire underwent an explosion of interest in the natural sciences, invention and discovery. The first formal university opened in 510 BC, and quickly became a hotbed of intellectual activity. Books - hitherto carved straight into stone fragments - became more flexible as the medium transitioned to softer malleable metal sheets, making it easier to write on with specially sharpened quills and store durably.

The idea of *animation* - inspiring inanimate matter to come to life - particularly gripped the spirit of the time, with several hundreds of avowed magicians, possibly inspired by the stories of Llamadi, struggling to create a so-called *gholem*. Despite decades of effort, however, almost no significant progress (beyond a few Gitanosi-style transformation feats between two strains of living matter and some elementary transmutation) was made in thaumaturgy by traditional Wesi magicians, and by 400 BC the entire enterprise was beginning to be viewed with pessimism and derision by contemporary natural scientists. Wrote Agonosi, a fifth-century engineer:

> Magic is a foolish endeavour ... prone to half-guesses and false leaps, much less superior to the art of analysis and reasoning ... from which we may deduce inviolate truths.
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Magic would never be fully adopted throughout the history of Castile, although it would enjoy brief resurgences in popularity periodically.

By this time, the Castile empire had completely absorbed the free Gitanosi tribes. Slavery continued to be common, but as the intellectual revolution of Castile continued, the Fratellano introduced ever-more progressive rulings on what constituted acceptable slavery. Slave owners were required by law to house, feed and provide rudimentary education to the children of slaves - corporal punishment, though condoned, could not involve mutilation, permanent or later even substantially long-term damage - slaves were entitled to freedom after a certain 'retirement' age, which no slave owner could deny, and were provided with some compensation upon their newfound release. Jehovist missionaries had largely succeeded in the rural regions, though were often irked by how the locals had managed to combine elements of the Gitanosi faith with Jehovism, producing children's tales that referenced both Bol and Satiro in the same breath.

The theocracy grew increasingly reliant on feudalism, as Wesi and even ethnic Gitanosi landowners began to allow serfs and slaves to operate on their land in exchange for a percentage of the harvest and their agreement to accept conscription as needed. By 350 BC, enterprising feudal landlords had begun to actually employ serfs to produce more than just crops - a single landlord could sell wool, silk, cotton, meat, salt and more to as many as five different marketplaces and lend the state his standing army at a certain rate of interest. The Fratellano was able to keep individual landlords in line, and its priests served as travelling educators, lawyers, doctors and justices.

### *Civil War and Modern Era*

Between 300-200 BC, Castile was in its golden age. Scientific and philosophic discoveries thundered across the country as the elements of statistics (originally developed for land surveying), physics, chemistry and biology were worked out. The Fratellano patronised writers, artists, songwriters and even theater troupes, established monasteries and nunneries, and opened schools and orphanages. Literacy skyrocketed. A network of roads suited for *zazen*-powered carriages began to form between various towns, criss-crossing across the nation. In 220 BC, Ancori Ansatzi published a treatise on heat transfer that allowed scientists to realise that the same tools for sound could be applied to heat. Slavery laws, though not fully abandoned, had never been more lax - slaves now accrued just compensation that was provided to them upon their retirement, all slaves had to be older than a certain age, and sexual abuse against 'domesticated property' was declared a crime by 250 BC.

In 200 BC, Augustino Aguilera characterized what is now called the Aguilera heat cycle. A week later, after a night spent fitfully fighting a fever, Augustino imagined 'a mechanical man ... moving with gears as steam pipes through him'. Upon waking, Augustino realised he had achieved what so many thaumaturges before him squandered their lives trying to conceive. By mid-198 BC, the first bird-shaped *gholem* appeared on the streets, though it was only able to enchant passersby at its ability to pretend to sip from a cup of water. By mid-180, steam-powered calculators had begun to circulate, and culminated in a chess-playing engine. In 160, the steam loom appeared.

The early automatons were heralded by the literati of the time as incredible advances, but by 165 BC, public opinion had begun to sour. Automation, proclaimed pundits, would decimate the slave-driven economy of Castile, jeopardising the livelihoods of umpteen millions of agrarian workers. It did not help matters that the feudal landlords appeared keen on adopting the new technology, and by 170 BC automatons had begun to invade workplaces, with workers shifting to mechanised tools that grew ever-more sophisticated. The appearance of the steam loom triggered the first Loomer's rebellion, as hordes of workers ransacked mills, glue factories and looms in protest. Over the next three years, these protests would continue, with different towns declaring different policies on automation.

By 150 BC, a very clear split was felt between the traditionally Wesi enclaves of the northwest (pro-emancipation and pro-automation) versus the southwest, heavily populated by the historically marginalised ethnic Gitanosi who rely on the work to survive. The Fratellano tried to broker peace, but in the absence of its own standing army and its reliance on now bickering feudalists, it was ignored. A period of civil war followed, lasting ten years. The Fratellano, a four-hundred year old institution that was hitherto the lifeblood of Castile and Castillean culture, collapsed during the chaos and was instantly plundered for its resources. Scientific progress stagnated, with militaries of the time fashioning crude gunpowder muskets and trebuchets as assault weapons.

In 140 BC, a tenuous peace was established after both sides depleted their resources and suffered major casualties. A truce was worked out, formally separating Castile into the states of West and East Castile. The new constitution is a federalist one, with West and East Castile agreeing to form a Union of Castile blessed with federal powers but which cannot overrule the laws of a specific state. A cartoonist of the time published a strip with the immortal words *Separate but equal*, capturing accurately the sentiments of the affected.

Trade and labour policies have become increasingly complex, but it can be boiled down roughly thus: West Castile does its best to fight automation by restricting trade and enforcing penalties on business owners who affect their workers whereas East Castile forbids manual labour except where it cannot be avoided. The two states coexist with uneasy tolerance, mindful of old passions, yet growing steadily accustomed to each other with age.

### *Current Year*

By 0 BC, West Castile has slowly moved towards becoming a socialist society, prioritising the worker above all else. It institutes free healthcare, moves towards better working conditions, and allegedly funds research into magic or aids that can boost the capabilities of individual workers. It attracts philosophers, social scientists, and prize economists. Art blooms in the countryside and graffiti becomes a growing public nuisance as intricate carvings by jaded teenage lovers find their way onto walls.

Meanwhile, East Castile has become a Mecca for physical scientists of any form, producing feats of technical engineering that routinely accomplish more than human workers can - but it has still yet to move beyond its capitalist feudalist leanings. An enterprising pair of brothers ponder utilising the power of geothermal vents to hold up the growing technical infrastructure, but the economy is still very much dominated by coal. Trade and contact is sporadic and limited - it is not unlike a giant wall separating the two worlds. Housing shortages grow aplenty as cities grow overcrowded.

Neither side has abandoned its mechanical trappings in terms of architecture.

## Inhabitants

The ethnic composition of Castile is divided between:

* The original northern Wesi (who tend to be blue-eyed, red-haired, and speak Modern Wesi) who comprise about 40% of the population,
* The original southern Gitonasi (brown-eyed, dark haired, and speak Satiric), who comprise the remaining 60%.

Wesi and Gitonasi folk tend to be all over the economic spectrum, but the average Wesi is still better off than the Gitonasi. Intermarriage between Wesi and Gitonasi is accepted but still rare. Discrimination is rarely overt, but by 0 BC some racial tension still manifests in the form of stereotypes about Gitonasi 'laziness' and Wesi 'arrogance'.

Most Gitonasi are bilingual, while many Wesi are not. Modern Wesi alphabetic systems are commonly taught in schools. The official language is Modern Wesi.

## Culture

Castile is famous for

* Its natural beauty. Every year, thousands of people flock to the beaches to relish the surf sloshing against the shore, or head up to the mountains to reacquaint themselves with nature.
* A history of unique 'metal shadow theater', where elaborate cutouts depicting figures placed in front of a cascading sheet of molten gold are slowly wheeled past each other, moving from one scene to the night as the gold illuminates each character. A narrator speaks at the same time, but the beauty of it lies in harnessing a flowing constant backdrop to tell a dynamic story.
* A fascination with using electric or steam-powered instruments to play traditional melodies. It is not uncommon in the slums of East Castile to hear electric pipes.
* Its ancient ruins and its shiny cities mark them as tourist destinations, often written about the way Paris is romanticised in our world today.
* About eight official religious holidays recognised by the Union of Castile that both states agree to follow. Some are in deference to recognised Gitonasi traditions, others exist as leftovers from the days of the Fratellano celebrating Jehovism. Truce Day celebrates the signing of the historic federal constitution. Llamadi Compleano celebrates the first time Llamedi defeated Bol, and is celebrated by all Orthodox Jehovists (which includes both Gitanosi and Wesi people).
* A nascent fascination with opera.
* A thriving culture of used bookstores. These bookstores are metal sheets hammered to almost-paper like thickness, bound together like spiral notebooks.
* Intricate stained-glass artistry that dominates the temples and monasteries of Jehovist churches.
* Traditional Gitonasi shaman burial and blessing rites.

West Castile exhibits a classic case of *dvoeverie*, with many rural ethnic Gitonasi still celebrating summer harvests and holding on to classical dances dating back to prehistory. Some Gitanosi have organised themselves into a radical racial militia seeking to take Castile back from the Wesi, but as of 0 BC the movement has limited support and confines itself to carrying out attacks against local Wesi merchants and politicians. The song *Bol, Traitoro la Jehovi* is a rousing instant hit, and is sung at parties throughout the Western subcontinent.

East Castile is home to intellectual coffeehouses, with regular meetings of the minds occuring throughout the bigger cities. These discussions are analytic in flavour, characterised by the heavy influence of mathematical education prevailing in the uppermost elite colleges of the time. Shamans are considered charlatans, but in rural regions on both sides of the country they are able to gather private cult followings and wield some following thanks to widely publicized faith healings.

The dominant academic discipline is applied mathematics,

## Government

The Union of Castile is organised as a single House, with no figurehead, comprising representatives of East and West Castile.

The Union of Castile has never engaged in democracy or in republicanism - instead, politicians graduate from special administrative programs left over from the days of the Fratellano (which required all civil servants to pass an examination) and are allotted different provinces of either state to rule over. Anyone may take the final political licensing bar, though it is required one graduate from an accredited institution that meets the bare minimum enumerated by the Union of Castile. There are different types of political programs, each of which qualifies one for different official roles e.g. a mayoral degree, a senatorial degree, etc. However, within this system, most laws are passed via votes within the house.

The Union of Castile does not differentiate between the legislative and the executive branch, only between the executive and judicial branch. Courts are organised separately. Politicians are expected to both enforce as well as organise the law. As part of the constitution of 140BC, all laws considered by the House must pass a judicial review prior to being considered for legislative approval. Metropolitan police forces operate in most of the big towns; a select few still rely on volunteers and private watchmen. The Union of Castile maintains the full sum of the military - neither state is allowed its own military arm.

By 0 BC, many politicians are organised into factions over the issue of narcotics smuggling and slave rights. While the Castile constitution guarantees free speech to all free citizens and right of assembly to all free citizens, slaves continue to be silenced and cannot hold public office - nor is the question of what a slave is properly defined. At what point, the longstanding legal debate holds, does a human become a slave?

## Technology

East Castile boasts clockwork and steam-powered minor automatons (called, fittingly, daemons) in construction sites and assembly lines, a fledgling steam-powered train system, and manufacturing plants that utilise anthracite to power their machines. East Castile is exploring the power of geothermal energies, and research into harnessing magnetic ore. Steam-powered mechanical calculators exist and simplify engineering dramatically - slide rules exist too.

West Castile boasts elaborate printshops (more accurately metallurgical workshops). Civil engineering has been neglected in favour of ornate architecture, but the first dam is constructed over the Tibe river and provides the bulk of power to cities in this half. Streetlights are becoming rapidly more common, and a federal project ensures both states have a robust aqueduct-based water supply system.

Both sides have primitive automobiles, although *zazen* carriages are still more popular. The military employs flaming trebuchets and musketry, but mechanical steamships as well as mechanised rapid-fire cannons are finding their way into common use. The average policeman's weapon is still very much a truncheon. By 0 BC, the army is capable of automobiles that can drive upto 60 kilometers per hour, though this is considered a national secret and not known to the public.

It is now known that disease is caused by the action of bacterial infection, but neither vaccination nor sterilisation have been invented yet. Since the advent of heated water, however, many East Castilleans report reduced mortality rates and a longer lifespan.

## **Geography**

The Union of Castile is divided into:

* East Castile, which consists of about five major cities out of many smaller ones
* West Castile, which is mostly rural and has about six or so cities *total*

Both East and West Castile share joint ownership of the capital city of **Madrigal**, a city literally divided in two by the river, with jurisdiction over each half claimed by the respective states.

West Castile hosts:

* **Rissorante:** A port city at the very edge of the northern mountains.

Rivers:

* **Tibe:** A major river almost physically dividing the nation into two.

## Errata and Lore

This section comprises of details about Castile that do not necessarily fit in the other sections.

Quotes not written as generic lore posts by Castile citizens are usually presented in block quote form for consistency.

### Response to Culture Cue #1

> To the Editor, *National Wind and Storm*,
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> As student of the Universidad la Madrigal in Castile working on my master's thesis in folklore, I felt this question merited an academic reply. Mystical figures representing the trope of the Visitor in classical Castillean mythology and folklore feature prominently across both Gitanosi and Wesi culture, but almost always their reception in these stories and contemporary folk culture is highly dependent on context.
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> Possibly the closest analogues to the Visitor can roughly be translated to the free-spirited Satiro in Gitonasi culture and the more demonic figure of Bol in later medieval Wesi tradition. The word *Satiro* is a composite of the old Gitanosi *satri* ('weather') and *rio*(denoting 'life', but often thought to connote 'passion'), while *Bol* is usually thought to be a modern corruption of the proto-Wesi word *baal*, meaning 'spider'.
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> Across early literature, these original impressions play out fairly strongly: Satiro appears in many folktales as a mercurial character known as much for the extent of his generosity as for the depth of his fury, a lovable trickster of sorts who delights by pranking humans and animals alike for his amusement, whereas Bol is often a manipulative figure, forcibly creating situations that require his assistance and thereby ensnaring his victims to serve him forever1 . Satiro is most often represented as a centaur, a virile half-beast half-man hybrid that ancient Gitonasi shamans strove to aspire to be, whereas Bol is usually depicted simply as a faceless man clad in ordinary clothing. Whereas Satiro may well be considered the only 'god' of the old Gitonasi religion (seen by his being trusted to resolve and enforce disputes with local nature spirits), Bol has always been considered by Jehovist theologians as the chief antagonist figure in the Wesi faith.
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> Curiously, despite Bol's status, his gifts are not always considered terrible. In one of the most popular legends involving Bol, he grants life and invulnerable skin to an effigy named Llamedi ("seeker") that is about to be burned, with the condition that Llamedi return his soul 'with interest' at the end of an established term contract of upto sixty years. Llamedi goes on to become an accomplished warrior and poet, until the sixty years are up, following which Bol sends Infami ('soldiers of death', usually one person, sometimes many) to Llamedi's house to repossess his soul and the life of his wife. Llamedi defeats the angel of death using three items of great power he has picked up over the course of his travels, and proceeds to invite Bol to discuss terms. Bol, on arrival, collects the body of his fallen servant and agrees to count the lives of the fallen soldiers Llamedi has killed in his days as just interest - noting that Llamedi has 'vastly overpaid', Bol returns the soul of Llamedi's son, who had died some previous years, as recompense. Bol appears in this tale and some others as a wily yet surprisingly just character, never taking more than what he has asked for.
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> Many Gitonasi homes continue to host a small 'godhouse' for Satiro, a shrine that traditionally is a guest house for Satiro should he ever choose to visit. The godhouse usually takes the form of a miniature stable, and 'laying the hay out', typically associated with the ceremony of putting out fresh strands of hay on fields in front of one's home, is a common rural practice in Orthodox Jehovi houses (though it has long since lost its original significance as an open invitation to Satiro to graze on neighbouring patches). An old ballad instructs young Gitanosi youth to never 'look a gift horse in its mouth' when interacting with strangers that make offers.
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> In contemporary culture, both Bol and Satiro are considered mythical. Every few years fresh sightings of strange half-man hybrids circulate in the countryside but are never reproducible, and, while Bol was once cited as being responsible for inducing madness in mental patients2 , he is no longer a serious force in medicine or in academia. The cult of Bol is a longstanding urban myth in the capital city of Madrigal - supposedly they are a group of Bol worshippers who kidnap young women and mate them with alligators, Bol's favourite creatures, under the river in a bid to produce a child of Bol - but of course they are just myths.
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> Footnote [1]: This is more of a medieval interpretation - the earliest texts referencing Bol describe him as 'the penitent one', which some scholars have used to argue that the idea of Bol as a forceful manipulator did not exist in early Wesi interpretation. A version of the children's rhyme *Sol es cumen* dating back to circa 600 BC has Bol masquerading as an old man who offers to babysit tents and eats the children when the parents are gone, with no reference to the modern version of Bol inciting the parents to 'despair and despair of ever finding peace again'. Bol, we may conclude, originally began life as a figure that took advantage of other people's crises, rather than a ruthless fabricator of such situations.
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> Footnote [2]: This lead to an early form of therapy involving a mock trial where priests would attempt to find out what sort of 'contract' had been signed between Bol and the patient, and then attempt to exploit loopholes in a bid to have the patient returned to them. Later, doctors employed trepanation as a means of 'opening a door' to communicating with Bol. Until about 300 BCE, this was considered a normal course of treatment.
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### The Legal Basis of Slavery and Modern Jurisprudence in Castillean Society

> *Letter to the Editor, published in the Madrigal Legal Review, 0 BC*
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> Following recent concerned letters published your office after your opinion piece on the Low Court of Savon's remarkable decision last week, I have decided to reply with an overview of the current state of Castile's legislature. It is my hope that a complete understanding of modern jurisprudence shall greatly aid your readers before they launch an attack, as well as help clarify the precise significance of many statements made more generally regarding the piece.
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> The judicial system of Castile is considered entirely separate from the executive arm of the Union of Castile. The exact nature of its role is detailed in Article 147 of the 140 BC Constitution, but broadly speaking it performs two tasks, namely:
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> 1) Adjudicating *case* law viz. arbitrating formal disputes, enunciating legal clarifications, and establishing clear legal precedent.
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> 2) Omnibus-stage judicial review, or more clearly, ruling on the constitutionality of draft bills.
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> The exact division of responsibilities of this nature is organised in a hierarchical fashion. It is the sole task of the Joint Unified Court to exercise omnibus-stage judicial review of federal law. Each state has its own Supreme Court, both of which are allowed only to arbitrate escalated case law from lower courts and engage in omnibus-stage review for state law of their state. The lower courts are the Apellate or Higher Court (which handles appeals alone from all cities), and the Low Court in each city, which first entertain new cases and aim to resolve them. Case laws are escalated upon request of plaintiff following the decision of the court, or if the individual court believes that the scope of the issue is not limited to the individual or city alone but requires interpretation and clarification in a broader context.
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> The courts of the Union of Castile do not engage in post-publication judicial review, nor are they able to introduce new law or introduce radical interpretations of the law. In choosing to become a justice, one takes that responsibility seriously - the Office of the Ombudsman as well as the Bar Association of each state are tasked with levying disciplinary action against such judges. The Low Court has not done either of these actions - letters calling for it are misinformed or make inaccurate assessments of the nature of the remarks
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> In order to understand the significance of the Low Court's decision in the case of West Castile vs. Lucasil Aguirni, we need to first discuss how the civil and penal code is organised. The civil code describes the legal ordinances of ordinary affairs, such as tax law, traffic regulation, estate law, and - crucially - property law. The criminal code, on the other hand, discusses offenses against the state or against individuals, and outlines punitive measures in accordance. In cases where punitive measures are not already outlined, legal scholars are required to invoke Lamb's calculus in computing the appropriate punishment.
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> Historically, it has always been the section of the civil code outlining property law that has been referenced in resolving disputes involving slaves. This has been the case since the death of Emperor Crucidad in 580 BC, when the Fratellano la Jehovi attempted to formally codify the status of slaves as 'humans contractually obligated to be individual accessories'. Over the intervening years, owners have become legally obliged to care for the well-being of their slaves, and the scope of 'accessories' in the context of slavery has come to be narrowly defined in terms of permissible actions and associated guilt with either their or their master's actions (see Fratellano case law history) - yet the implicit assumption in Castile jurisprudence has always been that they are objects. Slaves may be inherited upon the master's demise, and their trade is legally sanctioned.
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> A close - indeed identical - analogy may well be that of pets in the Union of Castile. Abuse and neglect are harshly punished, but a *zazen* is not expected to be held liable for actions made by its master. Can an animal be considered an individual, with the ability to make conscious and intelligent decisions? Of course - but that does not change the fact that the animal is still considered property. Does the legal status of an animal change when it acts of its own volition or expresses internal desires contrary to the law - can we press criminal charges against it, as it were? While a negative answer seems apparent to us for non-sentient creatures (and has clear precedent in legal statutes) as we cannot expect them to comprehend the existence of a legal code and thus to comport themselves accordingly, it is more complex for sentient creatures, particularly those who are considered citizens of the State of Castile as slaves are. Is a slave who breaks a law to be tried as a free individual? If so, why does freedom accrue *only* at the point of breaking a law?
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> In 240 BC, the Supreme Court of then-Castile (a pan-Castile legal institution which no longer exists, replaced partially by the Joint Unified Court in Madrigal and the Supreme Courts of each individual state) ruled that there is no contradiction between discussing humans as objects (as in property law) and as individuals (as in criminal and other sections of property law). Unlike certain contemporary systems, the 140 BC Constitution does not grant rights to its citizenry by virtue of contract - the State and the individuals do not have contractual obligations to each other in any form. Instead, it is the State which imposes conditions of voluntary and involuntary granting of *privileges* - able citizens employed in manners incumbent to the interests of the State cannot be legally called slaves, nor can members below a certain age be treated as slaves, and so on and so forth. It is permissible to move from a privileged status to a non-privileged status under certain well-enumerated conditions. The State, being a repository of force, is the sole arbiter of what constitutes acceptable dialogue between its citizenry and itself. Freedom, therefore, is considered a privilege that needs to be earned by citizens. Other privileges - such as the ability to open a print shop, establish a new business, drive an automobile - are well-known to us all, and are usually handled by licensing agreements. Animals are never able to move into a privileged status - humans and other sentient creatures who are citizens of Castile, of course, may.
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> So what then makes the decision of the Low Court of Savon so surprising? Let us recap. Lucasli Agiurni inherited his father's business following the demise of Lucasli Agiurni Senior, the assets of which included some two hundred slaves. Upon discovering that one of the slaves had been involved in plotting successfully to poison his father, Agiurni desired to have the slave punished with death, but could not do so as that would violate the minimum standards of care the State affords to slaves (namely, protection from permanent damage) - upon legal advisement, Agiurni filed a plea with the State of West Castile to organise a formal execution, arguing that, since the municipality took time to clear out refuse and discarded private property from the streets, it should also consider doing the same by carrying out the killing of unwanted slaves, thereby absolving himself of this responsibility. The Lower Court ruled that it was not qualified to make the decision, citing that it could not in good conscience resolve as to whether the civil or penal code took priority, and referred the case to the Appellate Court for the State of West Castile.
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> The reason the Lower Courts decision is surprising is because, by most legal standards, this is an open and shut case. The plaintiff claims that the slave is an object and may be treated as waste, for which there is clear precedent; on the other side, it is argued, by claiming the slave is now unwanted, the slave is now actually a free man once again and cannot be pursued by the State on behalf of another criminal except in the case of having committed a crime in his freedom. If we refer to the ruling of the 240 BC Supreme Court, we find that a fair resolution exists: *no*, the slave is not considered a free individual as he does not have the privilege of freedom granted by the State at the time. The slave is not relieved of his contractual obligations merely because he is unwanted - the master must formally free the slave in order for his privileges to be regained. One infers, therefore, that the Lower Court should have sided with Agiurni and allowed the State to proceed with his unusual request1 .
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> The Lower Court's decision is likely to be resolved correctly by the Appellate Court in its next hearing, leading many of my profession to wonder why such a decision was made in the first place. Many (myself included) have come to the conclusion that judicial activism is alive and well in the city of Savon. Given the sensational amount of attention it has attracted, including the many positive hurrahs of support from all across the country at this seemingly pro-abolitionist move, it is important to remember that, while the Low Court has not violated proper judicial procedure, it has indeed strayed from the behaviour expected of an esteemed court. Our role as justices is not to impose decisions based on personal feelings - 'corrupt laws' are personal decisions, and harm the objectivity of the law. Only the State should be allowed to discern what is correct - and while many hope that the excitement generated by this news will be noticed by our leaders in the House and wholeheartedly embraced, as a long-time observer of politics, I confess I remain skeptical that change will be quick in coming.
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> Footnote [1]: While this may seem at odds with the minimum-care laws enacted by the State, it is necessary to remember that that is a responsibility of the *master* to the *slave*. The State has no such obligations towards the slave, and has the ability to use deadly force if necessary.
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