Miniature Judgment

A Miniature Judgment is a set of figurines dressed as clan elders from a long-passed age, carved of dark, highly-polished wood. If arranged on an appropriate dais, altar, or other foundation, they have the ability to impose a society’s laws and customs upon all present. For this to work, the foundation upon which they stand must contain those laws in some way – often through placing scrolls, books, or tablets in a hollow space; less commonly by simply writing on the surface. The effects they can impose depend in part on how many members of the Judgment are present. Note that a Judgment is an objective but morally and ethically neutral arbiter of whatever text it is given to enforce.

There are many sets of Miniature Judgment figures, of varying make and number. They are based on The Judgment, a circle of larger-than-life marble figures on a tel in Hollin. Originally there were twenty figures in the Judgment, although two have been destroyed over the years. A heavily-armed priesthood occupies the underground complex dug into the tel and presumably guards a copy of Hollin’s laws therein.

• 1: Nobody present may misstate the contents of the laws present in the foundation.
• 3: All Knowledge checks pertinent to solving the case at hand gain a +1 bonus per figure present.
• 5: Nobody present may lie.
• 6: To the extent that the law may be carried out through physical punishment, upon a guilty verdict the Judgment immediately inflicts pain or damage on the accused accordingly.
• 7: Nobody present may quibble, prevaricate, or otherwise knowingly misrepresent the truth while avoiding lies; nobody present may ask misleading questions.
• 9: Nobody may fail to answer a question when they have some knowledge about the answer.
• 11: Each person present and involved in the trial may ask one question of the Judgment, and the figures will answer it to the best of their ability – they are not omniscient, but do have perfect memory of all law codes they have ever been linked to, and all evidence that has ever been presented before them.
• 12: Upon a guilty verdict, the accused is transported into an isolated bubble in Dream, where they suffer the crimes that they committed until they repent and swear to make recompense in a manner acceptable to the law. Failure to obey the terms of this oath result in death. Changing the composition of the laws while the punishment is underway may affect its course in unexpected ways.
• 13+: Any attempt to unlawfully tamper with the text of the laws results in instant death.