Our Steely-Eyed
Judge
Alignment: Lawful
Neutral
Portfolio: inquisitions, judgment, justice,
law, magistrates, owls, retribution, sphinxes.
Worshipers: consuls,
barristers, bounty hunters, inquisitors, judges, wyrd, magistrates, thief-takers,
sphinxes,
Aliases: Sovereign of Souls, Master of Law, Judge
of the Dead, Firstborn of Death and Mercy, Wielder of Justice.
Cleric Domains: Law, Protection, Repose, Rune
Subdomains: defense, inevitable, judgement, language, purity, souls, wards
Favored Weapon: longsword
Superior: Our Mother of Wisdom and
Mercy
Allies: Our Reaper of Life and Death, Our Fairest Lady of Love and Song
Allies: Our Reaper of Life and Death, Our Fairest Lady of Love and Song
Foes: Their Vicious Brother of Destruction
Symbols:
silver sword or owl often both
The church of Our
Steely-Eyed Judge has only a few devout worshippers, due to their rigid and
inflexible codes of conduct. Its power
stems from the fact that it administers the law of any given location, and
includes every member that administers that law as part of the church, so often
times the church becomes more bureaucracy than religion. Governments give them
such authority because they perform their duties without bias, judging all
cases based on their merits and their rulings are always seen as wise, even
when not seen with popularity, though the governments still control the
creation of the laws.
In the city of Questhaven there are two separate courts the Common Court of Our Wielder of Justice
and the High Court of Our Master of Law,
often simply called the common court or the high court. The difference between
the two is that in the common court’s judgments are pronounced by magistrates
while the high court is trial by jury, this jury is always comprised of members
of the Questor’s Society and it is presided over by one of four judges. The
First Hero appoints these four judges for life in consultation with the church,
but the Circle of Heroes must confirm them. This arrangement allows for appeals to the
high court though mostly the High Judges only hear appeals from members of the Questors
Society. The First Justice (the highest level cleric of the church) can chose
to hear any case he or she chooses and the Circle of the Heroes must sit as the
Jury, though this has only happened 3 times in the history of the High Court.
The last time being when the First Justice ruled “not guilty” in the matter of
the Tanra Incident or as many of the
common folk call it the Tanra Massacre. The courts also have a special relationship
with The Great Church of the Pantheon,
which use them as a neutral third party to arbitrate disputes within the Great
Church.
I have found myself serving as a member of the jury. Once
while a member of a new company I had joined. The courts chose us to hear a charge
of arson against another adventuring company. We found the Questors who committed
this crime, guilty, and the Courts backed by Society forced them to pay restitution,
though I thought we felt the judge should have exiled them as well. This led to
an ugly battle in the Ruins Perilous at one point when both our companies
crossed paths.
There are three orders belonging to the Courts: the clergy
known as the Old Owls. Not all of the clergy serves in the bureaucracy as some
quest for “The Holy Dictates” a collection of sacred texts written by Our Master of Law whose discovery will
bring a new age of harmonious co-existence, these clerics are referred to as
the Prolocutors. The second order, the Steel
Justicars, is a collection of bounty hunters, inquisitors, rangers, and
paladins who help enforce that judgment and edicts of the courts. When
criminals must be pursued, when judgment must be backed with force, the Steel
Justicars are there performing their duty. The Steel Justicars also maintain
the Isle of Gone (a penal colony guarded by boundfuries) and Salvation Keep the
local prison facility though inmates refer to it as “Damnation Keep.” The courts often hire members of the Questor’s
society as bounty hunters and prisoner escorts. This has also given a rise to
the hiring of thief-takers by the common courts.
