>Me> There's no tribal or clan authority capable
> > of handing out judgements (and Pavis is too lawless
> > to respect them even if they existed).
>Ah, do the Orlanthi accept (sorely) this fact? Or do
>they have secret courts?
No secret courts have been known in prior Pavisite material and it is unlikely to exist because a) the Heortling legal system is based on the clan (with its network of lawspeakers etc) which isn't apparent in the material to date and b) the Orlanthi bigwigs are already known and are not clan affliliated.
> > Secondly where did the duel take place?
>In New Pavis.
Right. So we have a high profile murder of a prominent personality. This is a direct challenge to the prestige of the Lunar authorities, who like to think they have brought law to the city. They will be impelled to find the guilty person and punish him publicly.
>Lunars and Pavisite are not aware of the Destori being
>involved. He flew with the head of Garreth (for
>eventual divinations). Lunars blamed the Thanatar cult
>of the Rubble for the act.
So the Lunars aren't mounting a punitive expedition to punish the Thanatari for their crime? The Lunars aren't rounding up people with previous history of taking heads and questioning them intensely? The Lunars aren't leaning on their network of spies and informers to come up with a few names of possible suspects? If the Thanatari is believed to have escaped into the rubble, why don't the Lunars start digging up their records and find out who entered the rubble in that particular time.
If, despite the best efforts of the Lunar authorities, your hero has managed to cover his tracks, there is always Plan B. Fabricate a case against a public opponent of the Lunars of a) murder and b) being a Thanatar. Have his name publicly hauled through the mud at the resulting show trial. And have him executed in a particularly gruesome manner. What would your hero do?
> > Why should he purify himself? Killing isn't
> > against Orlanth's laws.
>Because he doesn't killed an outlaw:
Which isn't against Orlanth's laws. Violence is an acceptable part of life even though most of its consequences are unfortunate. Wergild isn't a legal punishment but a bribe to prevent feuding.
>he didn't give to
>Garreth the opportunity to be judged.
He has. Garreth's now answering to the Courts of Silence, which is judgement enough.
Stephen Tempest:
> >Pavis doesn't have a jury and even if they did, the
> >Lunars would not allow primitive legal proceedings
> >to deal with such serious matters when their
> >enlightened tribunals are readily available to deal
> >impartially with such matters.
>I'm not sure about this at all. As I understand it, if
>Garrath's kin were Imperial Citizens they could take
>the matter before a Lunar Court, but otherwise the
>Lunars will leave the pre-existing Heortling judicial
>system intact.
The Lunar authorities can hear any case they want to and a brutal murder of a prominent person is going to attract their attention because it is a public challenge to their authority.
--Peter Metcalfe
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