Burton Sable introduction / Santharian Underworld discussion

Have any of you ever played the game " civilization" ?

You create laws and policies based on government type and welfare.

So each civilization (colonization) develops different laws.

Traditionalists might have laws against changing their traditions.

A mageocracy might allow magics that are forbidden normally.

A santhran (high king) his job is to establish order.
He wants to spread his culture (and laws) to make the kingdom into one whole.
To do so he will try to spread his influences and laws and traditions and …..

At one point these borders clash.
And especially with different races or tribes that have a very different welfare, a common set of laws becomes impossible.

However…..

There are those universal laws.
The laws of the moral code.

These laws is what everyone knows and is common sense.

This is what i would see as a codex.

In my opinion the laws do no not need to be defined in this entry.
Also i do not need " a codex" to write the underworld.
Since my entry is a global entry i would write it with applying the laws of common sense.

It actually makes a good sub-section for a grey area.

How about HUMAN TRIBE XXX has the tradition to burn WOOD TREES XXX
But ELF TRIBE XXX sees those trees as elder trees and doesn't want them cut.
A battle breaks out. There is people murdered to protect racial interests.
Its opinionated law….
This is where Santhros comes in with his codex, i think, and plays his part.

I think one there has to be specific laws, it will have to be added to the respected tribe entry.
When someone writes these laws, he might also explain why these laws have to exist.
Which brings us to the roots of these crimes, the swawning of the underworld in this society.

Underworld spawns simply there were the laws fail.
I am not going to name every law.

EXAMPLE
A group of people. Outstanding citizens, want to make money.
They do some alchemy and travel the world and engineer a new product.
This product stimulates the body to be stronger.
Strenght is power and gives power.
Power is addictive.
So they quickly gain more customers. First surrounding towns. It is used by miners who use the strenght to work 3 times as hard.
Disturbances in welfare are felt.
Other miners can not stand the competition of the " drug using miners" without using the product themselves.
The flow of money grows as popularity of this drug spreads.
It's all legal….

However the thane sees a progressing number of murders, and dependibility of this drug.
He doesn't like it.
He might change the law, to put a halt to it.
Because:
He doesn't want anyone becoming powerfuller then him.
Because it screws up normal welfare.
Beceause he doesn't want people to be addicts.
(…. input various reasons….)

After it happened and the drug has been dealt with.
The law is modified to make it illigal.

The underworld is either created or needs to be created in order for this drug to rise again.
Escape the eye of authority and avoid its hammer of justice.

So i think it's an organic mechanic.
Laws and underworld alike.

There are as many examples as there are stories.

However it's still useful for any story to know were exactly these boundaries of laws and underworld.
I think it should be left to imagination of those that create specific entries about crimes.

The idea is not to restrict writing.
But encourage creating new ideas, and new crimes.

So if a codex or a law-system is written:
I would say its just a guide, like a moral code.
Maybe it needs to just give examples of laws depending on some regions.
It needs to give an idea of why the codex is needed.
If you were to write a global codex for every single law, you might as well write the entire santharian history in it. (it's impossible)

I would keep also the laws in a very general direction.

Make a mention of why magic was forbidden and why it's becoming more legal now.
Just broad and general stuff…

That's what i would think about the subject