Common Crimes
Posted by Apostate on 07/09/20
Q: Within Arx as a setting what kind of crimes are considered realistic per theme? For example do unscrupulous merchants or captains dispose of hired help to save money? Are shop owners threatened to pay protection fees? If they are what level of retaliation would they find for failure to pay or attempts to report it to the local guard or noble family? Would con-artists be willing to sell you a vial of blessed water/spirit fertility charm would the people of Avrum even buy such things?
Basically how hardcore are your average criminals throughout Avrum?
A: Most crimes focus around threat of violence, violence itself, or the threat or destruction of property. There is a high presence of the Iron Guard throughout the city, who exist to keep order and defend the city, and to arbitrate offense. For example, someone that is committing assault typically is not arrested unless their victim was important, but would often just be beaten on the spot by Iron Guardsmen. Extortion does happen, and Iron Guardsmen would often just beat whoever was accused of committing extortion, or if it's a repeated problem, possibly murder them. Bribes to look the other way would be common, which then brings in the Inquisition, who investigate all crimes that usually go beyond immediate security or threat, and this is relevant to things like fraud, as the Iron Guard could not care less about fraud- they are not an investigative body beyond just an individual guardsman's motivation, that would entirely be the purview of the Inquisition.
Now about con artists, the population of Arvum is INTENSELY skeptical about the supernatural. It would be significantly difficult to sell something that was blessed by the hand Mangata herself and glowed, or a charm that contained a spirit, and not have people laugh it off, let alone something that is a fraud. However, con artists relying not on Arvum's largely non-existant superstitions do quite well. Like say, trying to sell nonexistent ownership, or priceless antiques that are quite worthless. Those are the sort of things the Inquisition would often have to run into, while the Iron Guard is not particularly involved aside from telling people to be careful what they buy.
Basically how hardcore are your average criminals throughout Avrum?
A: Most crimes focus around threat of violence, violence itself, or the threat or destruction of property. There is a high presence of the Iron Guard throughout the city, who exist to keep order and defend the city, and to arbitrate offense. For example, someone that is committing assault typically is not arrested unless their victim was important, but would often just be beaten on the spot by Iron Guardsmen. Extortion does happen, and Iron Guardsmen would often just beat whoever was accused of committing extortion, or if it's a repeated problem, possibly murder them. Bribes to look the other way would be common, which then brings in the Inquisition, who investigate all crimes that usually go beyond immediate security or threat, and this is relevant to things like fraud, as the Iron Guard could not care less about fraud- they are not an investigative body beyond just an individual guardsman's motivation, that would entirely be the purview of the Inquisition.
Now about con artists, the population of Arvum is INTENSELY skeptical about the supernatural. It would be significantly difficult to sell something that was blessed by the hand Mangata herself and glowed, or a charm that contained a spirit, and not have people laugh it off, let alone something that is a fraud. However, con artists relying not on Arvum's largely non-existant superstitions do quite well. Like say, trying to sell nonexistent ownership, or priceless antiques that are quite worthless. Those are the sort of things the Inquisition would often have to run into, while the Iron Guard is not particularly involved aside from telling people to be careful what they buy.