5A. Law in Khromarium

Like everything else in Khromarium law and order tends to be rough around the edges and informal. Though the oligarchs and the tyrant have a system of courts they are primarily concerned with persecution of those whose crimes affect their own personal standing rather than maintaining law and order in the city as a whole. Once per month one of the oligarchs will sit in a high court theoretically open to anyone who wishes to appear before it where individuals can bring grievances and attempt to find justice, but from a practical standpoint the fees, and bribes required to even bring a case before the bench are out of reach for most inhabitants.   

The temple of Xathoqqan also maintains a court system, largely concerned with the protection of the church, concerning itself both with the persecution of heretics, and ensuring that other temples do not grow too powerful.   

Though not a court system in the formal sense the Star Council of sorcerers attempts to police their own, and deal with any magical threats that may emerge from the ruins (above and below) of old Khromarium. Individual neighbourhoods are subject to the rough justice of the local kingpin, with 'courthouses' often taking the form of a local drinking establishment, or open square with 'justice' often carried out in the same location.   

One of the most feared court systems are the 'penny courts' of the merchants guild. Long since fed up with the hands off approach taken by the rulers of Khromarium the merchants banded together and succeeded in forcing the oligarchs to grant them a writ allowing them to persecute criminals who plied their trade against guild members. Should an individual find themselves arrested by a merchant's guard they may find themselves brought before the penny court. Interestingly enough the penny courts are the closest thing Khromarium has to an independent judiciary, as the judges (Magistrates) are deliberately selected by the guild as a whole, for their impartiality, and bound by the only written code of law that exists in the city. The penny courts are notoriously harsh however in spite of the fact that technically their writ does not allow them to hand down the death penalty.

Maiming (particularly the severing of hands), and enslavement are common sentences, and for the most serious of crimes the court makes use of a breaking wheel, since technically speaking its use does not involve the death of the victim, rather they expire due to shock and exposure well after the sentence has been carried out. 7500 TO GO