Parade Way Blues

Chalkline's Rune Quest 3 City of Pavis game Recruitment, [ In Character], [ Out of Character]

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Pavic Law and Customs

Pavis is a polis; a city-state with surrounding lands that answer to the central town. Oddly enough, it is also a colony of a battered old polis; The Real City in the heart of The Rubble. It is also more than this, as the Empire has appointed a Count to oversee, tax and govern this state. This means a series of unusual relationships has arisen, and these had had strange effects on law and customs.

As an Imperial colonna, Pavis is subordinate to the Empire and its hierarchy. However, even after years of occupation the Imperials still know little of what they have come to own, and on a mystical level they are almost completely ignorant of the mythic mechanisms of how and especially where Pavis operates. The total indifference of the higher members of the Pavis temple to the dangers of marrying in the Lunar Pantheon have caused some Imperial mystics to wonder if they know exactly what they are dealing with, and has caused some misgivings. The worst dangers are buried deeply.

Regardless of this, Laws and Customs reflect these three factors; The Real City and its history of war with Prax and the Uz, New Pavis and its legacy of Sartarite disenfranchisement and its strong Sartar clan structures, and overlaying this the blanket of Imperial Provincial Law.

Pavis Citizens

Citizenship is a vital requirement for living in Pavis for any time, and those deliberately remaining outsiders are known as a Metic, or 'resident foreigner'. A metic has severely curtailed rights, and may not vote, has less credibility in court than a citizen, may not be given food rations in times of hardship or siege, has no ties to the local community and is considered inherently suspicious. A metic has all the burdens of citizenship but none of the benefits,

To be a citizen one must become an initiate of Pavis, and then must be adopted by the citizenry as a fellow. In practice, it is easier to become an initiate than to become a citizen, and only by tying one's fortunes, and those of your descendants, to those of large Pavis clan (and in a subordinate or 'client' role) can a metic hope to become a Pavis citizen.

A citizen has many benefits, not just the dole and a lesser gate tax.

Citizens have more rights in a legal dispute than metics, and as they have familial, ritual, mystical and political ties to the city they are considered more trustworthy. Citizens do not pay more than a token payment for places in the markets, the craft guilds must accept them if they are qualified to join and then the guilds actively persecute their metic competition. Citizens may vote, and by showing their support for a candidate they place themselves, by affiliation with a faction, in the debt of the candidate and faction they support. Citizens also have equal rights as Imperial citizens within the bounds of the County of Pavis. As a citizen, it was unlikely that they would be enslaved by the state unless the citizen was found guilty of an extremely serious crime.

Slaves

Pavis is a culture that allows the ownership of slaves. Slaves form the very bottom rung of Pavic life and only 'enjoy' the rights they receive as the belonging of a citizen or metic. Slaves are not killed, they are destroyed. This simple definition shows the total lack of rights they have; thier death is only noted as the reduction of another person's - the owners - wealth.

Slaves may not give witness in court. Slaves may not belong to the cult of Pavis, and by enslavement the terrible ritual of disenfranchisement rips the person from life as an equal citizen and hurls them into the purse of another citizen. Most relatives, friends or patrons of a citizen condemned to slavery undergo great hardships to prevent this terrible event, and many of those condemned to perpetual slavery will suicide instead.

However, there is more than one form of slavery, of which perpetual slavery is only the worst. Temporary slavery, such as Seasonal Slavery (usually for chronic debt) or Year And A day Slavery (for serious crimes) 'merely' reduce the ex-slave afterwards to the status of metic, but it is usually easy for the to be readmitted as a citizen unless they are disowned by all those who know them.

While it is possible for a slave to own money, it is actually illegal for a slave - a possession - to own their own possessions. Slaves have no right to their own bodies, and a male owner can legally force a slave to have sexual relations with himself or with another male of his choosing at any time. The reverse of this shows that Pavis is still something of a patriarchal society; as a female owner having sexual relationships with a slave is considered to have committed bestiality, and the slave is destroyed and the woman brought up on charges. Imperial citizens have decried this practice. All the children of slaves are considered slaves in thier own right.

Slaves who cause damage, lie, steal or are otherwise disruptive may or may not be destroyed according to the 'crime'. The owner of the slave is held accountable for any outrages a slave causes. A similar situation is if the owner of a dog allowed it to bite someone, and is the example used in the Pavic court.

Any owner freeing a slave, a common practice among some groups, agrees by the act of manumission to become the patron of the slave (who is now a low-class metic). The former slave, now a 'freedman', becomes a client of the former owner but can leave that owner's patronage after a year and a day.