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[forsaken1111]

I hope this is the right forum for this. Anyway, I am working up a D&D campaign setting and right now I'm working on some details which I could use some creative help with. The campaign starts in the city-state of Agorya, which consists of one city, Warlyn, the towns of Wayside and Westhaven, and the farming village Birchvale.

I am shooting for a 1300's medieval England feel for the society represented here, and currently need to work out a list of the laws of the land that I can hand to the characters as things they would know from growing up here. Preferably phrased in the flowery self-important speech of the times.

Also, as this setting is D&D and obviously has magic, there are additional laws to regulate the use of magic.

So far I have the obvious down, that murder and theft are against the law. I've also decided that necromancy is expressly forbidden, punishable by death.

For this game I am really trying to push an open-world vibe with the players able to do pretty much anything they want, which is why I need to work out a lot more detail than I would in most campaigns.

Does anyone have experience with this sort of thing?

[Cthulhu]

It's not that hard, you just gotta dance around the point you're trying to make.

Like for necromancy:

NO MAN SHALL, THROUGH MAGIC ARCANE OR DIVINE, OR OTHER MEANS UNSPECIFIED, CONJURE, SUMMON, REANIMATE, OR OTHERWISE BRING THE DEAD TO LIFE OR A SEMBLANCE THEREOF.  CONVICTED PERSONS WILL BE BROUGHT TO THE GALLOWS THE MORNING FOLLOWING THEIR HEINOUS ACT AND HANGED.  IF THEIR FELL MAGICKS HAVE NOT BEEN EXTINGUISHED, THEY WILL THEN BE BURNED TO DESTROY THE TAINT.

Something like that.

[forsaken1111]

It's not that hard, you just gotta dance around the point you're trying to make.

Like for necromancy:

NO MAN SHALL, THROUGH MAGIC ARCANE OR DIVINE, OR OTHER MEANS UNSPECIFIED, CONJURE, SUMMON, REANIMATE, OR OTHERWISE BRING THE DEAD TO LIFE OR A SEMBLANCE THEREOF.  CONVICTED PERSONS WILL BE BROUGHT TO THE GALLOWS THE MORNING FOLLOWING THEIR HEINOUS ACT AND HANGED.  IF THEIR FELL MAGICKS HAVE NOT BEEN EXTINGUISHED, THEY WILL THEN BE BURNED TO DESTROY THE TAINT.

Something like that.

Yeah mostly I was looking to round out the list with other common laws that a society like this would have. Also it was 2AM and I wasn't thinking straight. This is an ongoing project so I thought I might solicit some help from others here who have done things like this before.

[sonerohi]

A lot of old laws simply regulated resource collection/production, and taxes. Things like responsibilities in maintaining the irrigation system, rates at which forests could be cut, and how much of the harvest was paid to the king, and which parts of the plant counted in the payment.

[forsaken1111]

True, I didn't really want to delve into farming minutae just list the major laws. Maybe instead of making it flowery olde language I'll just do a list of crimes and punishments.

Lifting parts of this from various sources: (Mostly from the old Iron Kingdoms setting for Corvis)

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Improper Speech - A night in the stocks
Drunkenness - Thrashing on the spot and a night in prison
Shoplifting - 10 lashes, a week in prison
Burglary - 20 lashes and a week of prison labor
Major Theft - 40 lashes and 1 month of prison labor
Unlicensed use of Magic - Imprisonment and reeducation
Improper use of Magic - 3 months in prison
Improper use of Magic (Second Offense) - Binding and revocation of license, or Death
Arson - Hobbling and exile
Rape - Branding, a severe beating, and exile
Murder - Death
Use of Necromancy - Death

Note: In this setting there are very ethical strict regulations on use of magic, and to use magic openly you must be licensed by the College of Magi. The Binding mentioned there is the permanent affixing of cold iron bands upon a wizard's wrists which nullify his ability to use magic. It is a specialized ritual, and the cuffs must be created for a specific individual. The only alternative is death.

That list will serve I suppose, though I think it would still be cooler if it was all flowery period speech.

[forsaken1111]

Well got a first draft up at http://ssc.auforge.com/index.php?title=Agorya:Legal

I'm using that wiki to build the setting. If anyone has any interest, feel free to register and write pretty much whatever you want.