>>3111888
Rheia took almost half an hour to mull over her decision and in the end, she returned and asked to speak with you in private. After you secured Oisin from escaping you decided to listen to what she had to say. She is your disciple after all. The two of you locked yourselves in the living room. She was really nervous about it but she was determined to tell you everything:

“I have decided that I can’t and should not possess a power to judge another person’s life. This should not be a decision of only one person or even of a small group. Even though I don’t trust the villagers that much I feel like the decision whether this person should continue to live with them should be decided by them.

In addition, I don’t think that choosing me to make this decision was a correct move. I apologize for my audacity, but in my opinion, I am both not the side that was hurt the most and I think that affected people should not be allowed to provide judgement. First of all, there were three sacrifices. While I survived, two other people have lost their lives and one of them still has surviving family. Secondly, I don’t think that affected side could think straight when allowed to make a judgement. They could ignore any facts they don’t like and make a decision depending on their own emotion instead of the law, ethics or the good of the people.

I personally don’t think that Oisin is the main culprit. He did persuade the villagers but he was not doing it to gain power or get rid of those he didn’t like. He has included himself in the roster and he wanted the decision to be made randomly to make this fair. I am more concerned how quickly the villagers decided to join him. In my opinion the decision should be made through some kind of vote in a structured and civilized manner.

I… I would like to apologize for what I have just said. I know that it could be some kind of a test, but I have no way to see your intentions. I beg you to consider what I have just said, but if you feel that I have stepped over the line I am ready to receive whatever punishment that you think would be appropriate.”

>>3111905
Well… crap. She is correct about the affected sides. One of the sacrifices still has a husband and a now adult child. In addition, in British- derived court systems (like in US) affected sides can’t act as judges or jury.

When Rheia has finished her explanation, she was already pale and shaking. You can’t really blame her for that. This girl is pretty brave. If these villagers think that you are comparable to a goddess it would be like telling Zeus that he is wrong. In some mythologies an act of that caliber would usually not be survivable. She has stated her opinion even though she was scared that you could kill her and everyone she knows in the most horrifying ways imaginable.

You wouldn’t do it, but how can she know? You are a mysterious and powerful force that can’t be predicted. Yes, you are benevolent to them but none of the villagers has ever told you that you were wrong. All of them have just agreed with your decisions and went along until now…

>Tell her that you were indeed wrong and apologize for dumping such a responsibility on her. Even though she is an adult in these lands she is still a child.
>Tell her that it was indeed a test. Reward her later. (you can pick to reward her without lying to her)
>Tell her that you are impressed by her bravery but warn her to never do that to other gods for safety reasons
>While she is correct, she has disrespected your decision. Tell her ominously that you will decide on this later
>She has disrespected you. Let’s invent a punishment
>Other? (Write-in)

>>3111911
>Tell her that if ahe feels like that it's fine, and thank her for giving you her imput, let's reward her later for her bravery, if she had the guts to tell us I admire her already.

As for the priests, a trial is in order then

>>3111960
Support


Maybe a nice reward would be something new to teach her?

I still think we should keep Oisin but she raised some good points, in the end he has to be able to live in the village.

>>3111967
>>3111960
Very well, writing

File: Court room.jpg (89 KB, 960x576)

89 KB JPG

>>3111999
You smile and say: “If you feel like that it's fine, and thank you for giving me your opinion. It takes a lot of bravery to say what you think to someone who is much more powerful than you. Right now, I need to focus on organizing the trial, but I have decided to reward you when I get the opportunity”

Rheia for a few moments doesn’t believe what she has heard but she finally relaxes. You leave her and her mother to take a rest. This girl had enough guts to tell you what she really thinks. She has earned her reward. Maybe you could teach her something special? But you can decide on that later. In the meantime, you need to make sure that the situation gets resolved. Oisin would get his public trial.

Let’s first of all decide on the law. Cenophila is a federation of city states that project their power on nearby territories. Larger cities can alter the law within reasons as it applies within the territories they control. This situation scales with size and towns can have their own minor variation of laws that is enforced on nearby villages. However, the current law doesn’t have to apply. Technically you could just hand the guy over to the nearest town with a court and they would decide, but in this case the fact that Oisin is from Holies would be a greater offense than being a cultist and facilitating sacrifices. He would be either executed or used for political favors which would also result in his death. The villages have a right to deal with the matter themselves if they can reach consensus with any way they see fit. It could be anything from village elder decision to a direct democratic vote.

How should you organize it? In essence, if all villagers can agree that the decision was fair it should be fine. However, this would be the first legal procedure in Farsalos. Laws tend to be based on previous cases so whatever you choose can become the basis of local court system for decades.

You could create a system similar to modern US courts with judge and jury. The system has its flaws but you are familiar with it and if it worked in the past it could work now. You could try to be the judge or you could delegate this position to village elder or any random person for now.

You could do a limited democratic system. A limited number of citizens would be selected either randomly or through vote to be in a jury. There would be no judge. This is similar to the systems used in ancient Greece and Rome and it also mimics most popular Cenophilan court systems.

You could also do a direct democratic system. Every single adult citizen would have a right to vote on the decision. However, this method is easily swayed through mob mentality and would get more problematic if the town grows over tens of thousands but that won’t happen for a while.

>US court inspired system
>Cenophilan court inspired system
>Direct democratic system
>Other?

>>3112081
>US court inspired system

>>3112081
>Cenophilan court inspired system

>>3112081
>Cenophilan court inspired system
And we act as a mediator as the parts present their arguments.

>>3112081
>Cenophilan court inspired system

>>3112103
>>3112101
>>3112098
>>3112087
Ok then. I'll get some food and start writing. It might take slightly longer.

>>3112081
>Other?
Scottish courts pls. The "not proven" verdict is quite useful.

>>3112116
You decide that the best choice would be to base it off Cenophilan court system. In Cenophila depending on the crime a certain number of citizens get randomly chosen to be a jury. There is no judge and jury perform a judgement by making an anonymous vote. We shall act as a mediator as the parts present their arguments.

You will need to decide on the principles and policies of the court. Things like “death penalty moratorium”, “innocent until proven guilty”, “not letting same person to be judged twice for the same crime” or that “jury can’t be found guilty for wrong decisions” and many others. These things are required for the smooth functioning of the court. However, who are you to decide on them? You should probably just ask for a citizen vote. They are also a huge can of worms from both legal and ethical points of view. You will get a chance once the court is assembled.

Now there comes the hard part. You need some way to talk the mob into participating. They don’t seem too friendly with all those pitchforks and they seem to be collecting around your house. They haven’t seen you taking Oisin in so you think they just assume you are involved somehow. Or maybe they just want to ask you for help? Some of them are accusing you of conspiring with Oisin to make your entrance more “heroic” but most seem to just be angry at the priest.

Lucky for you, you didn’t get the chance to disable your defenses on your house. The ceramic sliders block the windows and the secondary entrances are currently disabled. There is only one thick reinforced wooden door and the villagers seem to be knocking on it a lot. Now how should you approach this…

Approach:
>Get back to your house through the bunker system and open the door
>Hover several meters above ground as you approach them. This shall make your telekinesis known but it would provide some awe
>Shout out to the mob from the town square
>Walk out on the street and approach the mob from the back
>Other?

Method:
>Calmly offer to participate in a court session on the subject pleading for them to be civilized
>Pretend to be unawares of the issue but offer to help with figuring it out
>Attempt to break the mob’s determination through bravery and confidence
>Demand justice too but then clarify that it should be decided by local court and not a lynch mob
>Other? (I am really not great with these options. Gimme an idea)

>>3112146
>Get back to your house through the bunker system and open the door

>Calmly offer to participate in a court session on the subject pleading for them to be civilized


Maybe he can work to pay off his crimes but we'll see.

>>3112146
>>Walk out on the street and approach the mob from the back
>Calmly offer to participate in a court session on the subject pleading for them to be civilized

Rolled 1 (1d2)

>>3112162
>>3112158
Ok, let's flip for the approach...

>>3112188
Very well. Writing

>>3112189
You quickly fly through the underground system and get in front of the door. There is a whole lot of people with pitchforks and torches in here. Most of them are really angry but you don’t see many of the original villagers. They are mainly the new arrivals. Most of them used to be here before the draft to and returned not to see their loved ones. Farsalos has lost around 35 people to the monster in total. Maybe they are exaggerating the damage Oisin has done?

The others seem to be from the new arrivals. They don’t look as angry as the veterans but they seem to be mainly pumped up. They are probably here due to mob mentality and joined in to participate. There are a few people from the original villagers, mainly the ones from the old men who can still walk unassisted. They seem to be trying to talk the crowd out of doing anything rash. They go pale when you open the door and seem to be scared while the rest just start shouting.

You can’t seem to put a word in as they can’t hear you over the constant torrent of threats, accusations and nonsense. Some seem to think that you are as responsible for the sacrifices as Oisin while others think that you are only responsible for hiding him from them. A few of them tried to angrily order you to find him but they were drowned in the shouts of others. These people seem to be in a feedback loop. The more they shout the angrier they get and the more they shout. You need to somehow break this and force them to listen to you for a freaking minute.

>>3112215
This is a nasty side of one of the most potent tools in human psychology: tribalism. Tribalism is how we develop teamwork. However, tribes often get focused on throwing insults at a totem of another tribe. This is how flame wars can erupt and support themselves on the internet. The idea acts like a virus rapidly mutating to make people more and more angry as means of reproduction. The memes infecting the opposing tribes act as if one group was a field of flowers and another was a hive of bees. They don’t fight, they co- mutate to make both groups progressively angrier.

How angry the idea makes a person determines how well it spreads as it enters human mind through emotion receptors like a virus entering a cell through chemical receptors. Apples versus Androids, Star Wars versus Star Trek, opposing political parties, all of those don’t hate each other but the image of each other they constructed in their heads through meme evolution. To be honest, it is a really interesting subject, but you really need to stop this process before it reaches a critical mass and they just attack you.

Your goal would be to produce sufficient shock factor to distract the people sufficiently. Human attention is limited and memes, like viruses, don’t care about sustainability much. They get to exist as long as they live long enough to infect a new host. If you distract them enough you can get the initiative and then the feedback loop should stop. You just need to not overdo it.

Roll a 1d20 and pick a method
> Apply your “look of disapproval” until they stop shouting
> Shout back at the top of your lungs that you can’t fucking hear them when they all shout at the same time
> You have some metal plates leftover. Make yourself a megaphone and out- shout the mob
> Knock out that asshole who keeps shouting that they should just charge in as they have numbers
> Slam the door in their faces and then open a couple seconds later. “Are you done?!”
> You can utilize telekinesis to push the mob safely back. This will blow a whistle on your powers but it would be extra effective
> Go grab a weapon and threaten them to back off your property
> Literally any other idea

>>3112216
>>3112215
Hey guys, sorry to say it but I need to go get some air. The voting period will be increased for about an hour. I apologize for inconvenience.

Rolled 11 (1d20)

>>3112216
Levitate a little and
> Shout back at the top of your lungs that you can’t fucking hear them when they all shout at the same time
while giging our
> Apply your “look of disapproval” until they stop shouting

we need to shock them with our powers, but nothing too great that would out us as a god, apply telekinesis in anyone that is too close too

Rolled 15 (1d20)

>>3112233
seconding

Rolled 17 (1d20)

>>3112233
+1

>>3112252
>>3112235
>>3112233
Ok guys I'm back. Writing

>>3112301
You decide that desperate times call for desperate measures. You have to sacrifice the secrecy of your telekinesis. You won’t show anything too powerful but this should be enough to provide some shock factor. The wood of the door frame makes a screeching sound as you push off the ground. It displaces the air causing constant but weak wind current to be produced from your direction. It makes your hair move and villagers can feel the breeze and notice you hovering in the door frame with a highly disapproving expression.

This causes the tone of the arguments to lower but that’s not enough, so you inhale and shout at the crowd: “I CAN’T FUCKING HEAR YOU WHEN YOU ALL SCREAM AT THE SAME TIME!”. The closest several rows of villagers fall backwards and most of the villagers have to close their ears with their hands. Moments later blood starts dripping from the ears of the young villager who was too aggressively invading your personal space before. Oops. Oh well, you can’t stop now. You take a short pause to let the villagers come to their senses before you continue.

“Are you done?! Can you act like fucking civilized adults?!” you shout but at a lower volume. “We are not savages! If someone does a crime you get them in court! This is what civilized people do! And that’s what we will do! This decision should be made with calm head and a vote and not with an angry mob! Do you understand?!” Most of the villagers nod their heads.

One of them, probably one of the affected family members, angrily objects that while we do this Oisin would already be halfway across the country and even if he stays there is nowhere to judge him. You object that you won’t let him leave and that there is a place for it:

>Lecture hall: You’ve made it to house almost twice the original population. It should be enough o seat everyone
>Town hall: He shall be judged in the middle of the village
>Temporary structure: You can build an open-air area outside of the town in a couple days without your full power
>Other?

>>3112363
>>Town hall: He shall be judged in the middle of the village

the lecture hall is to be a place of learning right? this business wouldn't sit well there

>>3112363
>Town hall: He shall be judged in the middle of the village

It is meant to be the centre of the village government. Also why aren't we showing our full power to the new people?

>>3112372
>>3112371
I fucking balled it up. Lecture hall is in the Towh hall where village elder works. Second option should be "town square". You've originally built it for the purposes of voting and briefings, not actual teaching. Sorry

>>3112372
The more people know the higher is the chance of one of them spilling the beans. If you go full out the risk of exposure to the pantheon would increase among other things like cults.

>>3112378
The town hall sounds good, its where these metter should be resolved

>>3112379
I guess. Though it's really annoying to not be able to take full advantage of our powers.

>>3112383
Well, you can. Just either do it when no one is looking or vote to risk it. I'll give you an option later.

>>3112383
I prefer to fly under the radar for now, if the pantheon gets a wiff of us we will be thrown in a lot of shit that is out of our control
I wanted to at least clear the dwarven ruins with our friends and then explore the labyrinth to become more powerful before letting the other gods know we exist

>>3112389
Fair enough but to be fair the Pantheon seem much less evil / worrying than they once did.

>>3112395
agree on that too, they seem nice now

>>3112381
>>3112372
>>3112371
I guess we are using the lecture room in the town hall. I hope I read the mood correctly. Sorry for balling up explanations. Writing

>>3112412
it's fine

>>3112412
The town hall. You’ve built that building for purposes of governing and running the village. It is where Zosime works and keeps all of her papers. This is where the village treasury is situated and it also houses the bell used to collect the villagers in case of a less immediate event (For the “drop everything and get to the bunker” and “we are attacked” there is a siren). It also houses a lecture hall of sorts. You call it a lecture hall because you used your time’s universities as an example. Large room with seats in half- rings that get lower and narrower with the tribune at the bottom. You designed it so that you could sit every villager there in case there was a need for a vote or if you needed to explain something. But now it would also be the courtroom.

The villagers grudgingly agree to settle down for today as you promised to make the session tomorrow. A few were rumbling about why waiting if the decision would be the same since they would vote anyway but it ended up with minor issues. You’ve locked Oisin up in the cell in the guard station and set off to prepare.

On the next morning after the breakfast the entire village collected in the hall. Cenophilan legal procedures require roughly the same amount of people for similar crimes anyway. Maybe even a hundred more. In any case, the court is in session. You have assembled the voting booths and explained the rules. Every person has a trinket in the form of a large bronze coin you’ve made specifically for the court. The voting room has wooden boxes with slits and papers indicating the voting options. They include color coding and a small hand drawn picture of what they are about for those villagers that can’t read. After all sides make their statements the villagers will be able to enter the voting room one by one and cast their token into one of the boxes to vote.

>>3112485
You have listed the following voting options based on the villager opinions and Cenophilan legal processes:
1) Execution: Oisin would be executed for his crime through the least painful method available to the village. In this case it would most probably have to be you and direct damage to the brain with telekinesis.
2) Banishment: Oisin loses the right to be in the territory belonging to the village and would collect his stuff and leave. This will most probably prove to be lethal for him if he tries to get closer to civilization.
3) Reroute case: Oisin is sent to a larger town so that it shall do the judgement instead. This will most likely be a death sentence.
4) Imprisonment: Oisin is placed alone in a caged room specifically designed to be unpleasant with minimal amenities and low-quality food for a certain duration of time. In most cases it is done for several years but it is known to sometimes drive people insane.
5) Corporal punishment and public humiliation: Oisin would be chained in a special device in the town square and beaten after which left there for a set period of time. As barbaric as it is, this is an acceptable punishment in Cenophilan law system and it is usually given for crimes such as deserting the military, publicly dangerous cult activity or theft. Varies wildly in severity to the point of possibly causing massive scarring and even death but that is rare. After that he is free to go.
6) Restriction of movement and forced labor. Oisin’s precognitive powers prove to be too valuable to discard but his crime is still too great to let him go with no punishment. Oisin would be under house arrest and incapable of leaving the village, his home and his workplace without the guard escort (luckily there is guard here now). He will receive less social and physical goods but he will still be forced to work as a forward warning against weather events and dangers.
7) Oisin is left without punishment. As nasty as the situation is, he hasn’t actively participated in the sacrifices. He has only suggested it and the random process to choose the victims.
8) The catchall box: if villagers are not happy with the options they can vote there and the case would be redone at a later date after a review
You have also informed the villagers about some principles of courts during the preparation phase. In particular how one person can’t be judged twice for the same crime or how without sufficient evidence the person can’t be judged as well as many more. This should mostly help with later cases as crime is a thing that happens and they should know how to deal with it.

Before the start Oisin tells you that he can’t predict the outcome. He thinks that this mostly depends on how you present this case. You need to think of what role you want to take in this session:

>>3112487
>You shall play Devil’s Advotate. You shall start and finish with the aspects that might be considered “redeeming” or “lessening” to attempt to steer the villager’s opinion away from the “execution” or “exile” options. He has precognition, he is too valuable to lose.
>You are here to state the facts and only facts. You will signify every factor of note, provide proofs with witness testimonies and you shall make sure that every villager has a list of pros and cons and exact extent of his actions. They should make the decisions themselves
>You shall tell villagers the extent of the damage and the wrongs of Oisin’s actions. You won’t hide facts but they will be arranged in such a way to be less memorable than the negatives.
>Other?

>>3112488
>You shall play Devil’s Advotate. You shall start and finish with the aspects that might be considered “redeeming” or “lessening” to attempt to steer the villager’s opinion away from the “execution” or “exile” options. He has precognition, he is too valuable to lose.

Not really steering but presenting it alin a way that he can use his abilities topat for his crimes and that his predictions can help the village while we are away

>>3112494
So... like half way between the first and second option. Got it

>>3112501
>>3112494
good for me too

>>3112494
This. After all, all he did was suggest a solution to the monster attacks which he admitted to us he knew would work and shit. It's not like we can fault him for his decision as inhumane as it may have been.

>>3112494
>>3112519
>>3112526
Writing

>>3112545
In your section of the case you have decided to state every fact that is important and prove it with the inclusion of the witnesses. You’ve noticed that quite a few people were surprised that he was responsible only for three people’s lives and not for all the deaths caused by the creature in their absence.

All in all, Oisin is an interesting case. He has arrived from Holy Nation, he is a fugitive due to being in a cult but that was not on Cenophilan soil and he no longer follows their religion. When he has arrived to the village, he had no option to leave. The road to Mirangi was blocked by bandits, there was no chance to leave through the wilderness and the monster made raids against the now rapidly shrinking population. His decision was highly unethical, but he saw no other option and he hasn’t persuaded the villagers beyond words. He also included himself in a roster but it only partially counts as he predicted that he would be one of the last to be chosen. His goal was to extent the lifespan of the village as a whole for as long as possible so that he could wait for an option to appear from beyond the maximum predictable timespan. He apologizes and agrees that what he has done was unethical but he doesn’t think it was wrong. The total the damage he has caused affected three people. One was killed with no surviving relatives, one has left her husband and son and Rheia who has received psychological scars. However, Oisin’s ability is valuable. It predicts attacks below a certain point of threat (with exception of “gods” and comparable creatures) and he accurately forecasts the weather conditions within a week of timespan which is invaluable for the crops. He could use it to provide compensation and he is willing to atone for his actions.

Most of the villagers were conflicted. It seems that they understood the implications of his power and that allowed them to put themselves in these shoes. Some were still obviously angry at him. After you’ve given people some time to think the voting process has started. It took a couple hours before everyone used the booth and now it is time to calculate the results:

1) Execution: 6 votes. You expect it is that family that was directly affected and their close friends
2) Banishment: 12 votes. Honestly, you expected more
3) Reroute case: 1 vote. This is great. It means that villagers trust the system
4) Imprisonment: 45 votes
5) Corporal punishment and public humiliation: 59 votes
6) Restriction of movement and forced labor: 124 votes
7) Oisin is left without punishment: 3 votes
8) The catchall box: no votes, which also proves that villagers took this well

>>3112631
Restriction of movement and forced labor won by a landslide. Corporal punishment went second and imprisonment third. Looks like Oisin is getting himself a leg cuff to prevent him leaving too far.

The villagers seem to have taken this well. Those that are not happy can at least agree that the process was fair and it seems that you have earned a bit of respect from the new villagers. You have stood in their way and forced them to make a just decision instead of a rash one that they would regret. This is good news for you.

Finally, you have nothing pressing anymore. Everything is just fine if you don’t touch it and there are no immediate projects, pressing matters or incoming disasters that require your undivided attention. You have reached the point at which you can choose what you want to do again. You haven’t done this for a while and it feels nice.

___________________________________________________________________________________
And that’s it for this thread. I am really sorry but I’ve literally crashed four times while writing this post. It seems that my PC problem has gotten worse. I’ll bring it in repair next Tuesday so next week should go with less issues. Until then we need to discuss some scheduling issues…

>>3112632
As I’ve mentioned in the last thread, I have a big problem since the next week. My university has decided to move the course from Wednesday on Saturday splat into the time we should be starting.

It will start at 11:50 and end at 15:30 after which I would need around 2 hours to get home leaving us just 7 hours for the thread starting at 18:00.

This is bad as it literally cuts out half of the questing time and Sunday is strictly off limits. Due to this I propose to utilize Thursday or Friday. On these days I should be able to add the missing hours either in the morning or in the evening.

Would you guys find this acceptable? If yes, we can discuss more defined timeframes. I really apologize for this but I have no say on my uni schedule. This timing would be temporary until the start of my practice in February.

>>3112650
So yeah, guys. I need you to vote for what is the most comfortable timing for you:

Day
>Thurdsay
>Friday

Time
>Morning
>Evening

>>3112669
Friday anytime sounds good

>>3112669
Hmm
I like either day honestly.
I'm leaning on morbing tho, but I need to know your timezone to make a better decision.

What is your timezone and what time woukd you start in tge morning/afternoon?

As always, thanks for running, we may be able to go ruins exploring next thread, nice.

>>3112669
I've got college both those days so I'd probably miss you morning or evening. However I would possibly manage a Thursday evening if I am lucky.

>>3112679
I live in Moscow and i use its local timezone. I would have added EST but I can't access more stuff without crashing immediately. Sorry.

>>3112679
Timing wise, morning would be like today at roughly 10-11 am. Evening start would be around 5-6 pm.

>>3112685
Ok, evening for me then Thursday is preferable but Friday is fine too.

>>3112669
Evening whatever day

>>3112669
>>3112701
wait, scratch that
Thursday evening or Friday morning

>>3112669
I'll go for now. Tomorrow I will check the votes and make a decision on the new schedule. Thank you guys for participating in today's thread

>>3112770
It seems that it would be easiest to do Friday evening(some stuff happened irl which made morning and midday inaccessible). We would run from about 6 pm until midnight. Then on Saturday we would start as soon as I get home until midnight. Sorry if it is not as comfortable of a timeframe. Next week we will start on Friday at 6 pm...ish

>>3124313

New thread!

>>3124318
The thread is archived