Law and order isn't a single set of rules in Deshret; it's a constant, grinding turf war between overlapping powers. What counts as a crime depends on whose floor you are on, who you've offended, and who's paying the person holding the authority.
On paper, the city is ruled by the Pagos - a massive, cutthroat grand council dominated by the Nine Great Houses. They are the undisputed political and usually economic powerhouses of the city. Beneath them are the thousands of lesser Houses constantly scheming and manuevering for scraps of influence and favor from the Great Houses. Separately, the six Guilds on the Council of Six strive to control industry and the economy, possessing no state power of their own.
In practice, this means that power is effectively split between four different players: the state, the church, the guilds and then finally the underworld. Law enforcement is equally fractured.
LAW ENFORCEMENT
The Lictorate: These are the state police, official military AND city watch of the Pagos. Beat officers patrol public transit shafts and market corridors to enforce the Consolidated Articles and protect the interests of the Houses. Underpaid and overworked, they're at least backed by the vast numerical might of the Pagos... and their elite heavy shock infantry, the Dragoons, can bring a great deal more firepower to bear. Judicial magistrates known as Praetors also operate out of precinct houses to investigate felonies, arbitrate disputes between houses, and sign execution warrants.
The Knight-Inquisitors: These are the militarized arm of Sepulchre and the Church of the Nine. They don't care about secular law whatsoever, but they do care about religious law. Contraband from the old world, unsanctioned technology, heresy, etc. all are their domain. While they're part of Sepulchre, they're distinct from the rest of GuildSec in that they have explicit authority on the matters of religion granted from the Pagos itself.
GuildSec: The informal term for the private military and security forces of the other guilds. The guilds have full, unquestioned authority on their own floors, so what's a crime for the state may not be a crime for a particular guild... or vice versa.
The Underworld: The slums are highly factionalized, with the Coterie the largest player but many other gangs/factions controlling their own individual floors as well. In the slums, there's more brutal and localized law, with wildly different approaches. While the Coterie holds power over much of the underworld, they tend to remain hands-off and allow the individual floor authorities to regulate their own floors' business. The Kolkhos (the farmer's association) will get mad at you for different things compared to the Abkal (the diving organization), for example.
Bounty Hunters: Bounties for wanted fugitives are posted publicly at precinct consoles and security desks.
STATE LAWS
While much of the law is floor-dependent, secular law that applies across Deshret is codified under the Pagos Consolidated Articles. The Articles establish property rights, trade pacts between houses, and penalties for felonies in public corridors.
Many practices illegal in historical eras are fully legal under the Consolidated Articles, including open firearm carry, narcotics, and gene modification. Major capital crimes focus on the possession of unauthorized old-world relics, sabotage of life-support infrastructure, breach of binding labor indentures, and treason against the Great Houses.
Slavery is not legal in Deshret - however, there are certain jobs that could be called the equivalent. For example, sanctioned mages are very nearly owned by Sepulchre, and certain Great Houses control their servants to a similar extent as well.
Last edited,