Re: Orlanthi and looting of the dead.

From: David Weihe <blerg2_at_dSMKdOiiUmeE-xqp1lsDtvoOUra7V49aZV9dIsw7PFeXo8W6AV4KsGO1gDzGec6gnw-BM>
Date: Fri, 13 Apr 2012 11:44:27 -0700 (PDT)

> I was mostly thinking of people you kill yourself, not grave robbing.
>
> If you kill the bandits that try to rob you, do you take their stuff and
> sell it at market or do you leave it? I guess you say you take it.

If you kill a bandit, he/she/it is either an outlaw or not.  Also, like in our world, the fact that a thief has stolen an object from someone does not end the owners' rights over it.

It the bandit was outlawed, it is yours until the proper owner sues you for its return (subject to a finder's fee, of course).

If the bandit was not an outlaw, the bandit's heirs have rights and you owe them wergeld.  Of course, since the bandit died robbing you, the kin also owe you a fine, which oddly enough is usually a lot more than you owe them.  In play, it might be fun panicking your characters when they hear that they have to pay a big fine for killing the bandit before the court announces that the relatives owe you even more.  Again, if the bandit's stuff can be identified as stolen, the original owners can sue for the items' return, but will be subject to a finders fee.  If they cannot pay the fee, it is yours (at least until they try resuing you), but returning some or all of the stuff without taking your fee will get you in good stead with them, and may be a better idea.

> If

you sell it at market or not probably depends on if you know or think
>

you know who they are. It might be unpopular to sell off stuff that others
> may recognize as belonging to family.

Coins and bullion are not likely to be identifiable, of course :-)  Especially if not in the original chests.  Likewise not the average animal, which the bandit might have already killed and eaten (see Rob Roy, where he tells his men that the tinkers could just as easily killed two cows, to feed his dependent folks).  Just don't kill the Dun Cow of Cooley by accident :-) .

Finally, you can give the loot to your chieftain, and then the owners have to sue him, instead.  Actually, the way that it works is that they sue you, you announce to the court that you gave control of the objects to your chief, and they have to resue the chief (essentially like having to refile, in RW courts).  After you gave your chief the fancy sword and armor, he might well lend you their use until the original owners make claim, BTW, so you can still make out from giving the items to him (so long as your loot is not better than his).