RULER: Amethyst | EX-CONSORT: Ruby -- NEW CONSORT: HELIODOR

[dramatispersonae]

"As a ruler, I have many responsibilities, and one that I am -- at least, to the best of my knowledge -- relatively known for is my willingness to hear people's cases and provide some form of legal ruling on them. It has always been important to me to be fair, merciful, and kind. Of course, I need not do this all by myself.

In this game, I will present to you some suits and ask you to discuss between yourself and the team you are partnered with to rule on their situations and their requests."

Guinevere finishes speaking, and you find yourself in a tent with one other team.

RULER: AMETHYST
CONSORT: RUBY

((OOC: For various reasons, I need to move along the teams reeeeelatively at the same pace at various points, so there may be occasional delays for some teams. I apologize in advance if this happens!))

Comments

ROUND 1

[dramatispersonae]

A wealthy man has gone away to war and left behind his wife. It has only been three months and the war isn't over, so he isn't expected to return yet, but all her neighbors have been receiving letters and money from their spouses and she has received nothing, and her marriage contract gives her no rights to the wealth of his estate until he dies. She has sent letters to the front and received no information at all, nor have any of her attempts to learn more of his situation brought any news. She can only assume that he has died, and in light of that, wishes to both keep his estate and remarry a man of her acquaintance. Should she or should she not be permitted to either or both of these?

DISCUSSION

[dramatispersonae]

Re: DISCUSSION

[laruetheday]

What is this?

Re: DISCUSSION

[fourthsaken]

... Are we really the best people to help make these decisions?

Re: DISCUSSION

[dothehustle]

[looking troubled] This story is awfully sad, can we have a different one maybe?

Re: DISCUSSION

[badnewsboy]

How very serious, um ...

Shall we get down to biz? We've much to discuss.

[says the "I do what I want" entity.]

Re: DISCUSSION

[ihulk]

Just let her remarry, who cares?

Re: DISCUSSION

[adogchasingcars]

[arrives 45 minutes late with ale]

Don't see why not.

Re: DISCUSSION

[pchaaair]

[I'M EVEN LATER THEN MIKE

alas with no starbucks]

DECISION

[dramatispersonae]

Re: DECISION

[fourthsaken]

We want to give her any part of the estate that belongs to her immediately, so that she can live off of it. The rest of the estate will be saved for her husband, in case he returns. We, uh, think it'd be best if she waited three months before remarrying, and if she still hasn't heard anything from her husband after three months, she can remarry. She'll also get the rest of the estate if her husband's confirmed dead.

ROUND 2

[neverhesitate]

Three months pass, and the war comes to an end right before she can remarry.

Her husband returns from the war. He finds himself at quite a loss; his wife is still his, but quite unhappy with him and in ownership of quite a bit of his property by rule of the crown, which has overridden his marriage contract. This time, he brings the case -- unfair loss of property and violation of legally binding contracts. Who owns the property that was granted to her? Who owns the wealth it brings in? By rights it should be his, but it was handed over to his wife, and yet it was only meant to be handed over on his death. This is a legal mess. He was too busy to write, he claims, but there's no reason to assume him dead. How do you rule on this?

DISCUSSION

[neverhesitate]

Re: DISCUSSION

[fourthsaken]

He wasn't dead...

Re: DISCUSSION

[dothehustle]

So he did come back! I worried this would happen.

Re: DISCUSSION

[badnewsboy]

Of course.

DECISION

[neverhesitate]

PARTNER SWAP

[neverhesitate]

A wind fills the area, bringing a sense of both sadness and heart-pounding excitement -- you can tell the feeling's not yours, can tell it's external much in the way of viewing someone else's memory -- and when it fades, the "Consort" team that was previously here no longer is. Instead, a new team is here; you know instinctively that you are now partnered with this other team as the game continues.

RULER: AMETHYST
CONSORT: HELIODOR

((Ruby, please exit this post and go play in THIS post instead. ))

ROUND 3

[neverhesitate]

The husband purchases back his estate, though he seems quite offended as it is his familial estate. The wife divorces him, and remarries the other man.

Another three months pass, making nine altogether. The woman gives birth to a healthy baby boy. She claims that it is the child of the original husband, conceived right before he went away to war; the original husband agrees. However, her lover claims the child is actually his and wants to take the son as his own. The birth registry requires that it have one female parent and one male parent, or will be listed as her child with an unknown man and be declared illegitimate to ANY possible inheritance. How do you rule?

DISCUSSION

[neverhesitate]

DECISION

[neverhesitate]

ROUND 4

[neverhesitate]

At this point, the people are talking, quite distressed at the idea the law could get changed in its entirety over this case, and individual families are scrambling to try to figure out the inheritance policies and what this means in the case that a man dies without leaving a will, etc, etc. Discontent is on the rise generally and steeply.

The men are unable to come to an agreement over whose the child should be. The wife and her current husband decide to raise him, but the previous husband will not reject his claim.

After ANOTHER three months -- what an intense year this has been for this trouble-causing family -- another woman shows up with a newborn baby and claims that the original husband had married her while he was abroad, and got her with child while there. This new woman has one of the original husband's rings, which is something as close to proof as she is capable of. She has come with the intent to live with him in married bliss in his estate. The husband denies it and says that while he was out, the ring was stolen from his belongings and he had never been infidelious to his (original) wife. She wants her marriage to him to be considered legal, to live on his estate, and raise the child as heir to the estate; otherwise, she wishes an ongoing stipend for raising the child and quite impressively large financial recompense. However, she has no money and status, and he claims that she did all this under false pretenses and doesn't want to marry her. Moreover, in light of the fact that his claim on the other child is in dispute, she wishes that he abandon that claim as he would now have an heir in this new child. How do you rule?

DISCUSSION

[neverhesitate]

DECISION

[neverhesitate]

RESULTS

[neverhesitate]

The men seem quite annoyed by the abrupt change with no slow movement toward it, though a lot of the women seem extremely happy about these new changes introduced. There's likely to be turmoil in the future.

The woman leaves with her baby.

Go to Endgame