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I believe that capital punishment is VERY VERY rare in Heortling culture - they're not barbarians like the Lunars*. Outlawry puts you beyond the bonds of kinship, which is in many ways worse than death to the tribal mind. The capital crimes are secret murder, rape, regicide, betraying cult secrets, consorting with chaos, desecration of holy places, and nysalorian spreading of disease. In most of these cases, the perpetrator would be killed - either challenged to a duel or openly murdered, long before he or she was brought to trial. Again, consider what Orlanthi justice is about: a law suit is about two bloodlines or clans arguing and deciding the inappropriateness of a particular action, and how this can be best set right or restituted. Lawsuits usually run over several seasons, with the accused walking free the whole time, the entire clan debating the pros and cons of the case, and the outcome decided as much by how many spears will stand at your side as by the actual wrong you've committed.
Orlanthi is NOT about judging an individual again some abstract moral code. This is the Solar/Lunar way, and a right surprise and cause of indignation to tribesmen caught up in Lunar justice for the first time.
In those rare cases when capital punishment is carried out, I would nominate ritual strangulation - depriving the unworthy of Air, or sacrifice to an appropriate deity in a way that befits the crime. It would be conducted by members of your own bloodline, so that no blame could acrue.
[* Yeah, yeah I know, ironic reversal. The same argument is advocated for the Roman Empire and its values of state terrororism, slavery and murder. Apparently as the 'barbarian' populations increased in the towns, the popularity of the ritual executions of the games fell dramatically. It was too barbaric for the Goths and Gauls and Vandals.]
John
nysalor_at_... John Hughesjohnp.hughes_at_...
... a flying arrow, a crashing wave, night old ice,
a coiled snake, a bride's bed talk, a broken sword, the play of bears, a king's son.
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