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The Civic Code of Wildoria

On the Rule of Law

"The State guarantees liberty to its citizens in exchange for the diligent performance of their civic duties. Where the duty is abandoned, the liberty is suspended."

  • Preamble to the Civic Code of the State of Wildoria.

The Civic Code is the body of law under which the State of Wildoria sentences its citizens. Every imprisonment in the city - whether for unpaid debt, theft, assault, or a contract left undone - is handed down under a named Article of the Code. The article is read aloud in the verdict the convict receives in their mailbox, so that no citizen can claim they did not know the law they were bound by.

The Chapters of the Code​

The Code is organized into chapters, gathered by the nature of the offense. Financial matters fall under the first chapter, property under the second, violence under the third, and the dereliction of sworn duty under the fourth. Beyond these sits a reserve chapter for the State's administrative measures - detentions ordered outside ordinary criminal procedure.

The articles in force today are:

Laws Database

The Civic Code - every article and its effects

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The Code and the Road​

The bench is not the only place the Code reaches a citizen. An offense committed and seen in a power's territory does not end when the citizen walks away from it - it is written into that power's ledger as a standing warrant, and the watch that guards the open road reads that ledger on every traveler who crosses. A citizen wanted by a power, riding through its lands, may be stopped, shaken, wounded, or taken outright and sentenced under Article M-501. The full account of how a name is marked, how the mark fades, and how the road treats the wanted is given in The Roads and the Watch.

The Recidivism Clause​

The Court does not sentence a first offense the way it sentences a habitual one. Under the Recidivism Clause, every conviction for the same article within the past thirty days lengthens the term: a first offense draws the opening term, a second within the month draws twice as much, a third twice again - until the article's own ceiling is reached, beyond which the Court will not go.

The clause applies to most articles. Debt offenses follow the separate Cascade Doctrine, sentencing by stage rather than by repeat count, and administrative detentions stand on their own and ignore prior history altogether.

On Fortune at the Bench​

The Pen That Hovers

"On a quiet shift the duty officer reads the report twice, sets the pen down without signing, and writes a margin note: matter closed at dispatch. The citizen never learns how close it came."

The Civic Code is applied to every citizen alike - but the Court is not blind to character. A citizen of unusual fortune draws less scrutiny at the moment of charging: a watch officer's daybook entry stalls, a clerk routes the file to a slower stack, the wronged party presses no further. The State does not name this in the Code, and the verdict carries no record of it. It is felt only in its absence.

A citizen's Luck (LCK) lightens the weight of the article that would otherwise attach. The effect is real but bounded: the most fortunate citizen in the city still answers for the great majority of their offenses. Fortune is the margin, never the rule. And the margin does not stack with the Recidivism Clause - the two are weighed independently, on each chargeable contract.

The Bench​

All verdicts are signed by Judge Hope Long, the State's presiding magistrate for criminal affairs. The judge dispatches the verdict to the convict's mailbox the instant a sentence is recorded, naming the article cited, the term imposed, and - where applicable - the repeat-offense clause that doubled it.

On Liberty Within the Cell​

Imprisonment is a suspension of certain liberties, not a deletion of the citizen. The convict retains chat, savings, inventory, and friendships; what is suspended is travel beyond the city, marketplace listings, and the right to incur new debt. Two prison professions - Laundry and Kitchen - remain open to the convict, and each completed shift trims a small measure of time from the sentence. The State's mercy is procedural: a diligent prisoner serves a shorter sentence than an idle one.

On Bail​

The Code reserves the right of bail for offenses where restitution is meaningful and the offender's continued liberty does not threaten public order. The right is now in force, but not for every article.

Bail is open where the harm is one of property or of the road - Theft (M-201) and Capture of a Wanted Citizen (M-501). A convict held under these articles may pay a fine at the bench and walk free without serving the term. The fine is never a flat sum: it rises with the Recidivism Clause, so that a habitual offender buys their liberty at a price that climbs with every prior conviction, while a first offense is settled cheaply.

Bail is withheld where the offense strikes at the person or the public order itself - debt default (M-101), assault (M-301), dereliction of sworn duty (M-401), and any escape from custody. These sentences must be served in full or worked down through prison shifts; the bench will not sell a way out of them.

One caution holds for every bailable article: a fine answers the sentence, not the standing behind it. A wanted citizen who buys their freedom under M-501 walks back onto the same roads still wanted, and may be taken again. Liberty bought at the bench is bought against a name that is still being watched.