Overview
The Su'ndari criminal justice system is riddled with cases of corruption. It has been this way forever and the population as a whole have grown up with it and have come to anticipate that justice depends more upon the status of your family and the power of your contacts than actual guilt.
A police force hasn't even been imagined by the Su'ndari people. When a crime has been committed it is the responsibility of a families patriarch & matriarch to challenge the family of the accused individual within the council. The council will then consider the evidence of the situation and decide upon guilt or innocence and the level of punishment appropriate to the crime. The council does not even hold people in prison. Only after guilt has been determined will the accused will be found and punished.
As it is only a patrarch/matriarch that can bring a crime before the council or speak in defense the family-less are extremly vulnerable legally.
Compensation to the damaged family is the most common form of punishment, even where a murder has taken place, but branding and even mutilation in the form of amputations also have a place. Punishments increase in scale with each sentence of guilt that a person suffers and in the case of some crimes, such as piracy, it is usually assumed that the crew were unaware of the nature of their employment - unless they were working for a known/branded pirate. Exectutions are only resorted to when the council feels it has pursued every other alternative. Executions, when they do occur, are done via public beheading.
Debt, especially debt caused by a failure to pay fines levied by the council, is a very serious crime in the eyes of the Su'ndari people and at extreme levels debtors will be forced into indentured servitude.
The family-less have a much harder time of it. As they have no family to take their case before the council they are simply tried by a locally appointed Justice. They are not entitled to offer an explanation or a defense and only the temple head may bring the case of a family-less man or woman to council.
Crime is not something to be shied away from on a roleplaying game. In moderation it generates roleplaying. Even if the criminal is not caught the victim should make use of the situation to create scenes with family and friends, enemies and rivals.
Hiding Skill
The hiding skill is probably going to make any hiding character invisible to others unless they successfully search.
Stealth Skill
The stealth skill is probably going to allow a hiding character to move invisibly from one room to another. It is also likely to allow a character to secretly follow another character.
Lockpicking Skill
The lockpicking skill allows a character to unlock a door or container without a key. He/she will need lockpicks and the quality of the lock will influence success. It may, of course, generate a witness.
Pickpocket Skill
The pickpocket skill enables a character to snatch some coins from another characters purse without that character realising. It may generate a witness. It is expected that we will expand this skill to enable a character to snatch an item out of another characters inventory.
Bash Skill
When lockpicking fails you can use bash to simply destroy a door that is preventing access to a room or building. This command destroys the door leaving a trail of evidence a mile wide and it is very likely to send npcs running for help.
Investigation Skill
This skill enables the enactor to find out information from the characters and npcs around them. It will bring some of the relevant witnesses to the characters attention - assuming success. In future systems it is intended to cover tracking and finding hidden things.
Security/Procedures Skill
This skill teaches a character how to ensure that an area is properly secured. Using the secure action governed by this skill will over time increase the chances that npcs will pay attention to crimes in the region. At levels of two or above it will enable characters in appropriate positions of authority to receive reports from npcs about problems caused by witness creation in the secured area.
Locksmithing Skill
The locksmithing skill enables a character to make locks and keys and to fit locks and keys to doors and containers. The skill of the locksmith that makes and fits a lock will influence the lock quality and the lock quality will influence how resistant a lock is to lockpick attempts. A (finished or unfinished) key can be cut to fit multiple locks enabling master keys to be made.
Social Skills
Several social skills can and should be used to commit crimes. Con allows you to fast-talk old women out of their retirement funds on pointless repairs. Deception allows you to lie convincingly. etc.
