Shadowdale's Legal Code

Shadowdale’s legal system was created as a way to reliably and fairly solve disputes, after its steep increase in noble population also led to petty squabbles that needed be dealt with, lest they escalated further and threatened to weaken the realm. The laws derive its power from the authority the Shadow King wields over the realm, and aim to channel that authority in a pragmatic and secular system that can solve conflicts without the need to divert his attention from more important matters and can do so with minimal effort. Laws are classified in Zeroth Laws and Regular Laws. The former dictate how to properly add, change and remove laws, how to interpret them during a trial, who has authority to deal justice, etc. The latter dictate what actions can be sanctioned and their penalty.

Zeroth laws:

• 0.1: Whoever the current Shadow King of our realm might be, he is the source of legitimacy of the laws and, thus, remains unbound by and over them. His word has to be considered a law of topmost priority. If no duration is specified, it defaults to the duration of the case it was used in and cannot be used in later occasions.
• 0.2: Changes in Zeroth Laws can be proposed by the Tormentor, the Grey Exarch or the Cauldron Mater, but can only be removed, changed or added with the Shadow King’s permission.
• 0.3: The Grey Exarch and the Cauldron Master can judge and propose bills for Regular Laws aimed at military and economic matters respectively, but need the Tormentor’s or the Shadow King’s approval to pass them.
• 0.4: The Tormentor can add, change or remove any kind of Regular Law, but needs to give at least a two-day notice, and laws aimed at military or economic matters can be vetoed by the Grey Exarch or the Cauldron Master during that time.
• 0.5: All nobles have some degree of legal authority, dependent on their rank and role. Knights can judge commoners, lords can judge knights under their command and commoners, and dukes can judge lords under their command, their knights, and commoners. The Tormentor has the highest degree of legal authority in all areas except military and economic matters, which belong to the Grey Exarch and the Cauldron Master respectively.
• 0.6: Nobles with a higher degree of legal authority can veto judgements of nobles with lower degree of legal authority.
• 0.7: One cannot be punished for breaking unwritten laws.
• 0.8: No law can retroactively change the legal consequences of an action committed before its enactment.
• 0.9: The burden of proof is only on the defendant in noble against commoner trials. In any other case, it is on the prosecution.
• 0.10: A commoner can only denounce a noble with the help of another noble.
• 0.11: Everyone has the right to denounce somebody else, and to a trial.

Regular laws:

Economic laws:

• 1.1: During war time, every lord or lady is required to allow the Cauldron Master to manage their food reserves. Failure to do so will result in a warning and, if it has not been corrected after two days, a fine of 20 gold per day until the Cauldron Master is once again allowed to access the granaries.
• 1.2: During peace time, a lord or lady has two options regarding food management: either they take charge, or allow the Cauldron Master to do so. If they take charge, they have two duties: to keep at least enough food for an entire week stored at all times, and to fill the demands of our realm’s regions with a deficit at a price of 10 gold per 100 bushels if they are below their required amount of food stored. The amount each region is required to store takes into account the food production. As an example, if a region produces 50 bushels a day and consumes also 50 bushels a day, it will not require a minimum. If less than that is kept stored, it will result in a warning and, after two days, they have to allow the Cauldron Master to take charge. If they fail to do so, it will result in another warning and, if after two days the demands are still unfulfilled, the lord or lady will receive a fine of 20 gold a day until either enough food is stored or access to the Cauldron Master is given. If more than 10 gold per 100 bushels is charged to compatriots with food deficit and lower than the necessary amount stored, it will result in a fine equal to the price difference. Leaving a steward in charge of the food management counts as taking charge, and the steward will not be held accountable for any delay or poor management.
• 1.3: If a steward is left in charge of the food management and manages to generate a net gold income through this activity, he or she has the right to keep twenty percent of it unless the lord or lady wishes to grant more, and the difference has to be given to his or her lord. If a steward fails to give the right amount, or gives no gold at all, the lord has the right to keep it all.

Military laws:

• 2.1: The creation of an army requires explicit consent from the Shadow King/Queen or otherwise legitimate ruler of Shadowdale.
• 2.2: During war time, every knight must be assigned by his or her lord or lady to the Shadow Legion. Failure to do so will result in a warning and, if after two days the lord or lady fails to comply, he or she will receive a fine of 20 gold per day until the knight is assigned.
• 2.3: During war time, every noble part of the Shadow Legion must follow the instructions of the chain of command, with the Grey Exarch at the top, then the Marshal, the Vice-Marshal and finally any temporary captain assigned a specific task by a superior. Failure to do so can result in fines between 20 and 200 gold depending on the severity of the case, if the chain of command decides to denounce.

Honour laws:

• 3.1: Every noble has the right to be addressed by his or her title or, at the very least, as Lord or Lady at the beginning of every letter and meeting or the first time his or her name is mentioned in one. Failure to do so will result in a fine of 10 gold per letter or meeting or, in a commoner’s case, the noble has the right to deliver a beating if they so wish, so long as it does not kill the offender.
• 3.2: Every noble has the right to be respected. Insults delivered with the intent to hurt, even if veiled, can be denounced and will result in a fine of 10 gold each and a warning. If said warning is disregarded and the offender insults the victim once more in less than one month since the warning, the victim has the right to duel the offender until surrender. In the case of commoners, the noble has the right to beat them up or, if one has a letter as proof, it can be sent to the Tormentor to request an execution.
• 3.3: Every noble has the right to keep one’s own family or personal honor or fame clean. If another noble were to make statements capable of tarnishing said honor or fame, the victim can request the offender to publicly apologize and dismiss those statements as false. If the offender does not accept, the victim has the right for a duel until surrender with his or her offender. In the case of commoners, the same procedure as with insults is to be followed.
• 3.4: If two nobles were to pursue the love of the same damsel, and said damsel is single and not engaged, she is to be asked whom she prefers. If she is unable to decide, both suitors have the right to duel the other until surrender. In the case of a commoner, both the noble suitor and the damsel have the right to beat him up, so long as he is not killed.
• 3.5: If a noble were to pursue the love of a married or betrothed damsel, her husband or fiancé has the right to duel the suitor until surrender and, even if he loses, he is still to be considered right. In the case of a commoner, both the damsel and the husband or fiancé have the right to beat him up, so long as he is not killed.
• 3.6: Anyone summoned for a legally rightful duel ought to attend or give a proper reason to delay the meeting. If neither is done, the one declining the meeting is to be considered a coward, in the wrong for whatever the reason the duel might have been needed, and has to pay 50 gold pieces to his or her contender for denying him or her satisfaction.

Mystic laws:

• 4.1: Creation, spread and practice of any religion is allowed so long as its tenets are not intrinsically harmful to the interests of the realm, such as one that rejects the figure of the Shadow King/Queen or otherwise legitimate ruler of Shadowdale or the declaration of wars, or one so aggressive that could harm our foreign relations, requiring the declaration of war to every realm, human sacrifices, and so on. Any religion with such tenets will be given two options and a warning: either they change their tenets, or withdraw from the realm. If after five days since the warning they do neither, it will be outlawed, its temples on our motherland will be torn down, and its followers will be converted to a proper religion or banned from the realm.
• 4.2: Every legal religion is to be considered equal to one another, and treated with respect. Should somebody insult a legal religion, all of its adherents would have the right to duel until surrender the offender, once per person, per offense. Should somebody damage or completely break a religion’s temple, the offender would have to pay for the repairs or a new building of the same size.
• 4.3: A follower of a legal religion can try to convert anyone once. After the first attempt, the follower may be allowed further attempts, or not. If not, every following attempt will result in a fine of 10 gold each.
• 4.4: Every lord has the right to decide what legal religion is followed in his or her region. If a follower of a legal religion other than the lord’s wishes to preach on his or her lands, he or she needs to request permission from him or her. If the follower is not allowed to preach, yet does so anyways, it will result in a fine of 20 gold per sermon.
• 4.5: Spellcasting is allowed, so long as any harmful effect is not launched towards our realm, an allied realm or a neutral realm. Since very little is known about the possible effects of spellcasting, its penalty can vary depending on the spell’s severity and the context it was used in.

Loyalty laws:

• 5.1: Should a Duke wish to become independent, he or she must first be granted permission by the Shadow King/Queen or otherwise legitimate ruler of Shadowdale. Otherwise, our realm could rightfully claim its lost lands.
• 5.2: Should a knight or lord wish to abandon Shadowdale, he or she must first give up his land and ask for permission from the Shadow King/Queen or otherwise legitimate ruler of Shadowdale, plus pay a fine to his or her lord or duke equal to two weeks' worth of income, based off the knight's or lord's income last week. If a lord keeps his lands when changing allegiances, our realm could rightfully claim them, as they are ours. If a lord or knight leaves the kingdom without asking for permission, or without paying the fine, he or she will be exiled.
• 5.3: Any kind of looting or stealing is allowed, so long as it is carried out in an enemy realm’s territory. Looting neutral, peaceful or allied realms is considered an act of sabotage aimed at weakening our realm's alliances or creating unnecessary enemies, and will result in the perpetrator being exiled.
• 5.4: Should a noble share vital information of our realm with our enemies, he or she will be exiled. A commoner doing the same can be executed.
• 5.5: Should a noble seek to kill another noble from our realm, an allied realm's, a peaceful realm's, or a neutral realm's, he or she will be exiled and, if caught once again within our borders, executed.
• 5.6: Should a noble steal from our lands, he or she will be exiled and, if caught doing the same once again, executed.
• 5.7: Should a noble sabotage our realm's, an allied realm's, a peaceful realm's or a neutral realm's infrastructure, as long as the damage is not caused by battle, he or she will be exiled and, if caught doing the same again, executed.
• 5.8: Should a noble seek support to overthrow the crown or otherwise weaken the realm from within, he or she will be exiled and, if caught within our borders, executed.
• 5.9 Should a noble harm in any intentional way soldiers from our realm, allied realm, peaceful realm or neutral realm, he or she will have to write a public letter of apology to the realm and to the soldier's noble, and compensate the noble 200 gold coins, with an addition of 50 gold coins for each 30 soldiers killed, rounded up; additionally if the same noble commits the same offence within two months of the previous one (ooc: real life months, not in game months), the amount of gold paid will double each time.

Treaties

• X.1: Prisoner Agreement (applies to all realms on the continent except Eponllyn):
• X.1.1: Nobles captured in battle to be released within three days with their gold untouched.
• X.1.2: If they are Realm Council members, they shall be released as soon as possible.
• X.1.3: Torture shall not be used against such honourably captured nobles.
• X.1.4: Nobles captured whilst engaging in infiltration have no protections.