Post by King Adam Aberdeen I on Apr 5, 2009 9:12:30 GMT -6
William Maubrey’s forces were defeated at the Battles of Galashiels, the Isthmus, and at Turas Lan. The powerhouse England is now in a battle for her mere existence.
Mo’r Triath Adam Aberdeen stood before a makeshift Parliament of Clan Leaders, His Court, and representatives from the Gaelic Nations… as well as members of the Alliances. Pounding the gavel upon the wooden block, Adam looked over the silencing audience.
“Goot members o’the Gaelic Nations, and brethren supporters, Tis goot tae bae at peace once more… and free as a nation all. Yae and Ah ‘ave spent many a day naew formin’ the naew government that shall take us intae the future… With our accords writ and signed, naew cooms a part that shall secure this peace…”
He looks over the crowd as men pass out a scroll. “As yae mae see naew… a poster shall be placed upon ev’ry square… this man shall bae a threat if’en he is nae brought tae justice… 'e ius a man who cares nay for ‘is brother…”
“Nor ‘is son naeither… Hang the sunnobytch…” came cries from the crowd.
“Nay mae friends an’ countrymen. We are nay like him… 'e shall bae arrest'd and broot tae just'ce.” Adam replied, his arms extended, his hands moving up and down, calming the audience.
“Here, here… Ah second the motion…" "Aye, Ah bae thirden’ it…” cries came from the Parliamentary audience.
“Motion declared…” Adam spoke as the gavel once more resounded.
The outlaw, men who directly defied the law, men who broke the law as a way of life. They have much more in common with the futurist Mafioso. Outlaws often survive by exploiting the peasantry, and the most successful often rely upon powerful connections to shelter them from prosecution. The professional criminal is more likely to be a member of the landed gentry than a champion of the downtrodden peasants and often acted in concert with local nobility, usually as a hired thug. Life on the fringes could indeed be a difficult one, but the true outlaw was able to thrive both outside of society and within it.
To be declared an outlaw, a man was accused of a crime or misdemeanor; a private suit of purely civil character was not enough. If a man is suspected of being an accessory to a crime and failed to appear in an audience before a judge, he was declared an outlaw. Even after a man had been accused of manslaughter and acquitted, if it was brought to light that he had took to flight in fear of justice, he still may have been subject to many of the legal penalties awaiting an outlaw.
The consequences for criminal action can be extremely harsh. The outlaw most often faced the justice of the trailbaston, commissions that are first given to selected justices. Their purpose was to deal with a crisis in public order, by enquiring into violent crimes and punishing not only the perpetrators but those more powerful and shadowy figures who instigated such crimes and shielded the criminals from justice.
An outlaw loses all of his legal rights and can be turned in to the authorities by anyone at anytime. In the parlance of the times, “outlaws bear wolves heads, which may be cut off by anyone with impunity.” The outlaw loses all property and rights and any contract he is party to fell void. His chattels come under the possession of the Mo’r Triath, and any land he owns will often be restored to the chief lord in the surrounding territories.
While this may not sound exactly like a thief’s paradise, it is definitely preferable to the alternative: a date with the gallows, “hanged to be / and wayver with the wynde”
The woods are not the only refuge available to the man fleeing prosecution. Throughout Europe, the right of sanctuary is observed; a criminal who is able to escape to a church can claim refuge therein and can not be taken into custody. The church is a world unto itself and anyone who crosses its threshold is under the protection of God. It is considered sinful and a violation of holy sanctity to use armed force to remove a man after he claims the right of sanctuary. In theory, sanctuary is limited to those who killed or injured by accident. Deliberate killers, habitual criminals, and convicts will be excluded, but church records reveal that thieves, debtors, and all manner of criminal are among the ranks of the sanctuary seekers. This abuse of the right of sanctuary often vexed the civic authorities who were often forced to find a way around ecclesiastical law. Convicted criminals sometimes use churches as bases for attacks and raids against the surrounding areas. The common response is to surround the church in order to starve the criminal out or apprehend him as soon as he stepped foot off of holy ground.
Many outlaws are able to find security in yet another custom of society. Powerful lords often maintained criminal knights and gentlemen, and those who the lord supported often acted as his private army. This lord and retainer relationship is symbolized by granting liveries or capes of the lord’s colors to a man of lesser rank which is representative of their aristocratic connections. Many retainers use their associations with the nobility to further their criminal careers. They regard liveries as licenses to carry weapons and armor, and to behave in a generally lawless manner. A lord with enough retainers under his command has the equivalent of a personal militia and is almost totally immune to local authority and, as such, regards himself above the law. This practice became so widespread that even the lesser nobility are able to accumulate a personal power base of men who are ready and willing to do his bidding. There are records of gangs of retainers terrorizing the local peasantry and “liberating” land from neighboring lords all in the name of their lord. The maintenance of criminals is considered illegal in the Gaelic Nations, and the Mo’r Triath attempts to curb the practice of accumulating large numbers of retainers but are, not always, successful.
Now that England has been defeated and is a duchy of the Gaelic Nations, certain members of the English gentry graduated from brigandage to organized crime. These men exploit their aristocratic power in order to run personal criminal enterprises. Criminal gangs have free reign over a part of the country. These are no common criminals but "gentlemen."
Undoubtedly spurred on by greed and a sense of aristocratic propriety, these criminal gangs often develop organized hierarchies and even laws. These gangs were often organize as a federation of a number of lesser units under one overall command rather than one large cohesive structure. The men who lead these organizations often regard themselves above the law; some even considered themselves self-styled monarchs.
The life of an outlaw can be harsh and penalties for lawlessness are strict. Many times, criminal acts are not a form of social rebellion, and are rarely committed with a sense of social justice in mind. It is rare to find an outlaw who would risk his neck to steal from the rich, only to give it to the poor. Many men turned to outlawry out of necessity and others were motivated by local conflicts or greed.
Mo’r Triath Adam Aberdeen stood before a makeshift Parliament of Clan Leaders, His Court, and representatives from the Gaelic Nations… as well as members of the Alliances. Pounding the gavel upon the wooden block, Adam looked over the silencing audience.
“Goot members o’the Gaelic Nations, and brethren supporters, Tis goot tae bae at peace once more… and free as a nation all. Yae and Ah ‘ave spent many a day naew formin’ the naew government that shall take us intae the future… With our accords writ and signed, naew cooms a part that shall secure this peace…”
He looks over the crowd as men pass out a scroll. “As yae mae see naew… a poster shall be placed upon ev’ry square… this man shall bae a threat if’en he is nae brought tae justice… 'e ius a man who cares nay for ‘is brother…”
“Nor ‘is son naeither… Hang the sunnobytch…” came cries from the crowd.
“Nay mae friends an’ countrymen. We are nay like him… 'e shall bae arrest'd and broot tae just'ce.” Adam replied, his arms extended, his hands moving up and down, calming the audience.
“Here, here… Ah second the motion…" "Aye, Ah bae thirden’ it…” cries came from the Parliamentary audience.
“Motion declared…” Adam spoke as the gavel once more resounded.
The outlaw, men who directly defied the law, men who broke the law as a way of life. They have much more in common with the futurist Mafioso. Outlaws often survive by exploiting the peasantry, and the most successful often rely upon powerful connections to shelter them from prosecution. The professional criminal is more likely to be a member of the landed gentry than a champion of the downtrodden peasants and often acted in concert with local nobility, usually as a hired thug. Life on the fringes could indeed be a difficult one, but the true outlaw was able to thrive both outside of society and within it.
To be declared an outlaw, a man was accused of a crime or misdemeanor; a private suit of purely civil character was not enough. If a man is suspected of being an accessory to a crime and failed to appear in an audience before a judge, he was declared an outlaw. Even after a man had been accused of manslaughter and acquitted, if it was brought to light that he had took to flight in fear of justice, he still may have been subject to many of the legal penalties awaiting an outlaw.
The consequences for criminal action can be extremely harsh. The outlaw most often faced the justice of the trailbaston, commissions that are first given to selected justices. Their purpose was to deal with a crisis in public order, by enquiring into violent crimes and punishing not only the perpetrators but those more powerful and shadowy figures who instigated such crimes and shielded the criminals from justice.
An outlaw loses all of his legal rights and can be turned in to the authorities by anyone at anytime. In the parlance of the times, “outlaws bear wolves heads, which may be cut off by anyone with impunity.” The outlaw loses all property and rights and any contract he is party to fell void. His chattels come under the possession of the Mo’r Triath, and any land he owns will often be restored to the chief lord in the surrounding territories.
“The snow, the frost, the rain,
The cold, the heat; for dry or wete,
We must lodge on the plain;
And, us above, no other roof
But a brake bush or twain”
The cold, the heat; for dry or wete,
We must lodge on the plain;
And, us above, no other roof
But a brake bush or twain”
While this may not sound exactly like a thief’s paradise, it is definitely preferable to the alternative: a date with the gallows, “hanged to be / and wayver with the wynde”
The woods are not the only refuge available to the man fleeing prosecution. Throughout Europe, the right of sanctuary is observed; a criminal who is able to escape to a church can claim refuge therein and can not be taken into custody. The church is a world unto itself and anyone who crosses its threshold is under the protection of God. It is considered sinful and a violation of holy sanctity to use armed force to remove a man after he claims the right of sanctuary. In theory, sanctuary is limited to those who killed or injured by accident. Deliberate killers, habitual criminals, and convicts will be excluded, but church records reveal that thieves, debtors, and all manner of criminal are among the ranks of the sanctuary seekers. This abuse of the right of sanctuary often vexed the civic authorities who were often forced to find a way around ecclesiastical law. Convicted criminals sometimes use churches as bases for attacks and raids against the surrounding areas. The common response is to surround the church in order to starve the criminal out or apprehend him as soon as he stepped foot off of holy ground.
Many outlaws are able to find security in yet another custom of society. Powerful lords often maintained criminal knights and gentlemen, and those who the lord supported often acted as his private army. This lord and retainer relationship is symbolized by granting liveries or capes of the lord’s colors to a man of lesser rank which is representative of their aristocratic connections. Many retainers use their associations with the nobility to further their criminal careers. They regard liveries as licenses to carry weapons and armor, and to behave in a generally lawless manner. A lord with enough retainers under his command has the equivalent of a personal militia and is almost totally immune to local authority and, as such, regards himself above the law. This practice became so widespread that even the lesser nobility are able to accumulate a personal power base of men who are ready and willing to do his bidding. There are records of gangs of retainers terrorizing the local peasantry and “liberating” land from neighboring lords all in the name of their lord. The maintenance of criminals is considered illegal in the Gaelic Nations, and the Mo’r Triath attempts to curb the practice of accumulating large numbers of retainers but are, not always, successful.
Now that England has been defeated and is a duchy of the Gaelic Nations, certain members of the English gentry graduated from brigandage to organized crime. These men exploit their aristocratic power in order to run personal criminal enterprises. Criminal gangs have free reign over a part of the country. These are no common criminals but "gentlemen."
Undoubtedly spurred on by greed and a sense of aristocratic propriety, these criminal gangs often develop organized hierarchies and even laws. These gangs were often organize as a federation of a number of lesser units under one overall command rather than one large cohesive structure. The men who lead these organizations often regard themselves above the law; some even considered themselves self-styled monarchs.
The life of an outlaw can be harsh and penalties for lawlessness are strict. Many times, criminal acts are not a form of social rebellion, and are rarely committed with a sense of social justice in mind. It is rare to find an outlaw who would risk his neck to steal from the rich, only to give it to the poor. Many men turned to outlawry out of necessity and others were motivated by local conflicts or greed.
