Though Evil Land is fractured into countless empires, tribes, guilds, and cults, a rough and brutal system of jurisprudence has emerged over centuries of conflict. It is neither consistent nor humane, but it is known. These laws are not written on pristine parchment or kept in polished halls of marble—they are carved into stone tablets buried in ruins, broadcast on sputtering radios, repeated by magistrates in village squares, or painted in blood on fortress walls.
The Jurisprudence of Evil Land is less about fairness than survival. It blends remnants of Annunaki decrees, Qin Dynasty edicts, tribal customs, and guild pacts into a grim framework recognized across factional lines. All know it. Few obey it perfectly. But even the most corrupt warlord invokes its clauses when it suits them.
Law of Blood and Theft
To kill without sanction is a crime. To steal without necessity is a crime.
Exceptions: killings in open battle, theft from the dead or corrupted, or when survival requires it.
This is the most universally recognized law, though enforced with differing severity.
Law of Tribute
Tribute must be paid to rulers, guilds, or protectors in power. Failure to do so is treason or rebellion.
Tribute varies: grain, relics, coin, or service. Even nomads acknowledge it, paying in livestock or labor.
Law of Corruption
Magical corruption is tolerated only if controlled. To spread it knowingly is abomination.
Those who weaponize curses or afflictions upon the innocent are considered Evil Land’s true criminals.
Law of Oath and Contract
Words sworn in public, sealed with blood, coin, or card, are binding. Breaking oaths invites harsh punishment.
The Guilds enforce this ruthlessly, but even tribes and scavengers whisper, “Better to bleed than break an oath.”
Law of Sanctuary
Places of healing, shrines, and knightly strongholds are granted neutrality. To spill blood there is taboo.
Violations of sanctuary trigger vengeance across factions, for no one wishes to lose the last safe havens.
Law of the Grave
Graves, tombs, and ruins must not be desecrated except by sanctioned scavenging.
To disturb the dead improperly is said to invite curses or the wrath of Acererak’s Tomb.
The jurisprudence of Evil Land is not uniform, but punishments are cruelly imaginative, designed to deter survival-hardened people.
Execution: Public beheadings, hangings, or crucifixions are the most common fate for murderers, oathbreakers, and traitors. Qin Dynasty favors decapitation; tribal justice prefers impalement.
Exile: Offenders are cast into the wastes, branded with symbols of guilt. Few survive long.
Corruption Branding: Curses deliberately inflicted on criminals—blindness, withered limbs, or burning marks that never heal.
Labor Penance: Convicted thieves or debtors may be enslaved to rebuild ruins, dig trenches, or fuel foundries.
Trial by Combat: Offenders may earn freedom by surviving combat against beasts, champions, or cursed machines. In Evil Land, this is often spectacle.
Silencing: Spies and betrayers may have their tongues removed; radio propagandists punished with mutilation of their vocal cords.
Soul-Severance: Rare but terrifying, practiced by Sorcerer-Kings—binding souls into relics as eternal punishment.
Justice in Evil Land is not only punitive. Rulers and factions also reward loyalty and virtue:
Amnesties: Service in war often absolves past crimes. Tribes will forgive thieves if they fight beside them against Qin.
Spoils of Tribute: Those who faithfully pay tribute may receive protection, food shipments, or safe passage.
Knightly Sanctuary: Those who shelter with the Knightly Order and prove virtue may be anointed as squires, even commoners.
Guild Recognition: Merchants grant trading licenses, Thieves offer marks of protection, and Mages grant minor wards to proven allies.
Land Grants: Qin Dynasty and Imperial Germany often promise scavengers small parcels of conquered territory for loyal service.
Blessings of the People: Villages sometimes gift survivors with food, relics, or hospitality when they slay monsters or hold the line against raiders.
Qin Dynasty: Uses the Jurisprudence to legitimize conquest, declaring rebels as “oathbreakers” and enslaving them.
Guild of Merchants: Obsessed with the Law of Oath and Contract; breaches of trade law can be punished more harshly than murder.
Guild of Thieves: Recognizes the Jurisprudence but twists it—what is “theft” if all goods are already scavenged?
Sorcerer-Kings: Selectively enforce laws, excusing themselves from all but the Law of Tribute. Their corruption spreads unchecked.
Tribes and Ashlanders: Interpret laws communally; punishment often decided in council or moot.
The Knightly Order: Enforce the Jurisprudence with honor, often mitigating cruelty with mercy, though still harsh by modern standards.
The Borg and Lavos: Care nothing for law; their intrusion is treated as outlawry itself.
“Better exile than corruption.” – warning to criminals.
“The card you swear is the hand you play.” – on oaths.
“Break sanctuary, and all blades turn on you.” – a universal threat.
“Tribute keeps the fire burning.” – justification of taxes.
“The dead do not forgive.” – reference to Acererak’s Tomb.
Mercy Killings: Often disputed—are they murder, or acts of compassion?
Scavenging Graves: Is scavenging from forgotten ruins desecration, or survival? Laws vary by faction.
Magic Use: A mage who corrupts land for crops—hero or criminal?
Propaganda: Is lying on the radio a crime, or a weapon of war? The Guild of Mages insists on penalties, but Galbadia and the Soviets glorify it.
The jurisprudence of Evil Land is not static. It mutates with each invasion, betrayal, and catastrophe. Its contradictions reflect the setting itself: laws are both shield and chain, rewards are both hope and manipulation, justice is both protection and cruelty.
What unites it is this: even in Evil Land, chaos needs boundaries. A bandit may steal, a king may conquer, a mage may corrupt—but all must pretend to stand within the ancient frame of law. Without it, Evil Land would unravel entirely into the abyss.