[EVENT] It's high time to decide these high crimes...

[ironwood]

Characters: ALL
Date: May 10
Location: Courtyard of Public Opinion
Situation: It's time for the Guilds to come together and decide the list of High Crimes - and see if the Foreigners have their Guild organized.
Warnings/Rating: To be added as needed.




Part 1 - On the Matter of the Foreigners Guild

As elaborated to all Foreigners in Keeliai, the rest of the Council has set them the task of assigning leadership within their guild, including spokesperson(s) to participate in the Courtyard meetings and represent the Foreigners Guild's interests. Having been given more than a month of lead time, the assemblage is now waiting to hear the results of those deliberations.

"Who will be speaking for the Foreigners Guild? Please step forward and introduce yourselves."

Part 2 - On the Matter of High Crimes

As part of the new governing structure, the Guilds must now come together to decide a list of High Crimes which require sentencing by agreement of all nine groups. The Guilds will also lay out sentencing guidelines for each of these crimes. That doesn't mean there will be automatic sentencing, necessarily. The guidelines will help dictate minimum and maximum boundaries of punishment, such as length of incarceration, fines, and ramifications post-conviction.

While the Guild representatives will be laying out the initial proposition, all are welcomed and encouraged to partake and add their own input to help smooth out the rough edges. Although there are not designated areas for each of the Guilds, members of each do tend to congregate around their respective leaders.

The list of proposed High Crimes include, but are not limited to:

• Murder
• Kidnapping
• Arson
• Assault (aggravated and/or sexual*)
• Treason
• Terrorism
• Drug Trafficking/Selling

Guilds can propose additions or subtractions to this list, and guidelines for each. It's not a joyful task, but it is a necessary one. Despite the somewhat grim nature of the meeting, there is a sense of determination. The citizens of Keeliai are governing themselves now, and that is indeed a powerful thing.

*Mod note: This is coming up for general IC info, as it exists within the game setting but not as a game function intended to arise outside of this list.

Part 3 - On the Matter of Guild Management

The last order of business for today's Courtyard meeting is to determine if, and under what circumstances, guilds have the right to either refuse membership or revoke membership to anyone. While this thankfully doesn't seem to have been a problem while everyone sorted themselves into their initial choices, it'd be naive to think that it's not an issue that could come up in the future. Since not being affiliated with any guild carries legal repercussions -- fines that can escalate into even jail time -- it seems prudent to have a system in place before it becomes an issue.

Everyone's encouraged to volunteer their thoughts on this matter -- the official decision won't be made until the next gathering, so input doesn't have to be limited to just the spokespeople from each guild, but anyone in attendance.

Right now, the only generally agreed-upon point seems to be that this type of refusal or ejection needs to have some kind of oversight from outside the guild in question, to prevent abuse of the system. Whether that's a case where it would require the whole Council is another matter, and some seem to think that simply getting the motion seconded or thirded would be enough.

Comments

[choiced]

Despite being a member of the Foreigners' Guild, Zelos is pretty much all over the Courtyard throughout the day. He doesn't talk to Guild leaders much. Instead, he talks to the kedan who don't hold positions of authority, the ones just along for the ride or avoiding the spotlight. It doesn't always work, because it's a pretty obvious play that comes with ulterior motives, and not everyone appreciates that. Still, Zelos manages to make a couple friends.

There's really only one issue he does get involved with, and only because every single Foreigner so far has the same strong feelings about it.

"Oh, come on," he says, arms folded. "Foreigners can come back from the dead. Not to mention most of us can defend ourselves better than the kedan can. What's the big deal? If they want to let people who kill us off the hook, they'll be the ones dealing with the consequences, not us."

[ruinsprofessor]

Raine herself hasn't been very vocal today. She accompanies Suhiet, and stays with the Healers' Guild rather than the Foreigners' Guild, and she generally feels that she and Suhiet understand each other, and it should be her counterpart who is the face here-- since Raine herself may be whisked away to return to Aselia at any moment.

She does, however, mingle. And stop to talk to Zelos, who seems peculiarly passionate about this topic. Raine tends to agree, though in moderation -- the weight of life shouldn't be discounted, but Foreigners are a little outside the norm -- but being that it's Zelos saying it...

That's a little concerning. "I wasn't saying they ought to be treated precisely the same," Raine says, a little carefully. "Only that it has the potential to cheapen death."

[choiced]

"Death's already cheap," Zelos replies with a shrug. "We already come back. We didn't decide that. So there's no point to treating it like it's murder when it's not."

He knows murder. When someone can't come back and demand answers themselves, it falls to everyone else to try and do it for them. But seriously, if you make the choice to kill someone who can come back and confront you while more than a little pissed off, you kind of deserve whatever you get.

[ruinsprofessor]

There's a silent pause as Raine eyes him sidelong. "There's still the decision to take life," she says. "The same biological processes must cease, which demands a certain amount of violence. Regardless of whether or not the person returns, or resumes their life, that death is still a death. And we also have no guarantee about those mechanics; only that they've worked in the past."

Things could always change. The spell bringing them here already has, after all.

"The damage isn't the same, in that the person usually returns," she allows after a moment. "But the impact remains. I'm aware of more than one person here who's died."