I’ve been writing again, which I had hoped would happen whilst I was on holiday this week. I’ve missed getting words down and the move away from the intensity of work has freed me up a little. Mostly I’ve been writing up factions for the Dramaguhl setting for our Wordplay 2.0 book to be released later this year. It really is true that you just need to get started and regularly pick up the keyboard.
My writing partner, the prolific Dr Mitch, has put together some great characters for our joint game at Seven Hills. I’ve wheeled out Page Plus 9X and given them a bit of a polish.
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| One of our characters for Seven Hills |
Here’s a bit of text that i wrote last night on the Order of the Judiciary…
The Order of the Judiciary
The judges of Dramaguhl judiciously maintain their independence from the nobility, guilds and other factions that vie for power in the city. It is vital for their impartial role of deciding the outcome of key legal cases to be independent of all and any factions. As such, many that hold this high office must work very hard to ensure that additional favours, payments or eye watering extortion are carefully shielded from public knowledge.
The Order of the Judiciary dates back to a time when the city grew to a size and complexity that required a new professional class to manage the disputes between citizens on behalf of the anointed rulers. After a rocky early period The Judiciary cemented their power and grew in importance over the centuries until they became, apparently, unassailable, dispensing the full power of encrusted law to defendants of both low and high status. And yet their vulnerabilities are all too evident for those that know, built as they are on the frailty of the human condition. Hemmed in by powerful nobles, vengeful guilds, money, warriors and insidious magic, they tread a fine line to preserve their own power and that of their order.
All that is apart from the Independent Judges. Officially sanctioned by the Order and closely associated with the militia, the independents are complete judge, jury and executioner. When a case endangers the Order, or there is evidence that the machinations of individual judges compromise the higher purpose of law, the Independent Judges are unleashed to dispense sanctioned, and often fatal justice. Many see these judges as a constructed sanction, providing the order with a physical response to intimidation. The Independents themselves are part legal expert and part warrior, operating to an ethical code and a fierce observance of the law; at least as they see it.