aefenglom | ☆ The Trial of the Rathmores

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☆ The Trial of the Rathmores

The trial of the Rathmores and their associates takes place on a cold, drizzly morning at the very beginning of Feoveuer, in a large audience chamber of Parliament, broadcast to the Watches by Sowilo (and Theodore, when Sowilo is speaking) for any who cannot or do not wish to attend personally. The trial itself is public; any who show up are allowed in, and any who were hurt by the Rathmores are invited, though not forced, to testify against them during the proceedings. Mhairi is present, as Speaker for the Coven, as are all those members who hold a Judicial Seat, and many of the Civic Seats, along with the Witches and Guards present at the raid. Mhairi and one Lady Denholm are outspoken about the Rathmores' crimes all throughout, prompting more hard-hitting questions when things grow too silent or sympathetic toward the wealthy elitists.

The proceedings last for several hours. During that time, the Judges hear testimony from Mirrorbound, those who were kidnapped and those who were affected by the fires and losing loved ones alike, refugees who were kidnapped or had their homes damaged during the fires, the aristocrats who were in on the kidnapping, and the remaining Rathmores themselves. Notably, two of the twenty-two Rathmores died when the Mirrorbound staged their escape, so are not present, and a few others are in poor shape, one even wearing a gauze eye patch, tended to by nurses from the hospital. This fact causes just a few furtive, disapproving, even fearful looks from a small section of citizens in the viewing boxes, and there are whispers during recesses coming from this group - you never know what they'll be like when they come out of those mirrors, some are nice enough, quite civilized people, but some are worse than animals, aren't they?...

Still, these mutterings have no effect on the progression of the trial. The presiding Judge Colton has a frown on his face throughout, though he listens to every word on both sides, stone faced and silent, except to ask probing questions. The truth comes out.

The 21 aristocrats who participated in the kidnapping all plead their cases that they did not know what was going to happen. They all thought the Rathmores had devised a spell to send the Mirrorbound home, but that the Coven wouldn't allow it. This is determined to be false. There was never a spell. Nerissa Bell testifies that no magic has been found to date that allows them to send Mirrorbound back through their mirrors, and this lie is determined to have been a ruse to encourage cooperation. The Judge sentences all who fought against arrest to hefty prison sentences with hard labor, up to 20 years, for crimes including kidnapping, arson, imprisonment, destruction of property, and resisting arrest. Those who gave themselves up to the Guard and the assault team are granted a bit of leniency - an average of 7 years of prison and hard labor. All are subject to fines as well.

Each aristocrat is taken away in chains after their individual sentencing, heads hung, miserable.

The Rathmores are dealt with last, in ascending order of perceived involvement, from the flunkies up to the head. Each is convicted of all counts brought against them, though the Judge waits on sentencing. For now.

Thomas Rathmore, long-term member of Parliament, approaches the podium last, stil cuffed. His speech is long, his words smooth poison. He talks about the Mirrorbound being obvious dangers to Aefenglom, invaders in their city who will turn it upside down the way they did Dorchacht. He points to nephews and nieces with shattered limbs in casts and splints, and asks, "These strangers are not held accountable. They are not subject to our laws. Who will pay for this? For the deaths of the children of my brother, Rodolphus?"

As an angry uproar begins in the stands, Judge Colton slams down his gavel and answers, "You will, Mr. Rathmore. And may all forgive that I ever called you colleague.

The atrocities you committed are not representative of the heart of Aefenglom and will not be condoned or brushed aside. You have not proven that the city is unsafe because of the Mirrorbound - only that it is unsafe as long as your extremist family remains here, using your influence to ruin everyone around you.

We have failed visitors to our city, blinded to the pervasive creep of corruption into our systems. The Rathmore family has been like the Cwyld upon us, infecting Aefenglom from the inside. The only thing to be done with infection is to cut it out.

To those who were hurt, you have Aefenglom's sincerest apology, and those who helped to right the wrongs done here, our sincerest thanks."

The court falls silent for the final sentences. All twenty Rathmores on trial today will meet the guillotine tomorrow. It will be a closed session, not open to the general public, but Mirrorbound will be allowed in to witness, in an effort to repair a broken trust and to reassure that no trick will be pulled to allow the family's escape. On top, the Rathmore family estate will be repossessed by the city, along with all their assets. The money will be used to repair areas damaged by the fires, especially in the Haven and the refugee housing, and to pay out a decent sum to kidnapping victims, about 4 months of an average salary, as a gesture of goodwill and to help cover costs of living while they recover from the ordeal.

As the trial concludes, Lady Denholm spots Sowilo filming with a Watch, and approaches to deliver a sincere apology to the Mirrorbound for all that they've had to suffer.

"It is clear that we in Parliament do not understand the needs or the struggles that you and yours face daily in our city. Many of us tend to be secluded by our privilege, in a way, but that is no excuse. With the Rathmores sentenced, that leaves three seats open in Parliament." She gets a certain glint in her eyes as she regards the camera, and those who have gathered in person to watch the trial. "Perhaps it is time the Mirrorbound come to the table and represent themselves. If you have an interest or a knack for politics, send a letter to my office, and we'll start the process."

This is just a summary to give everyone an idea of what happened. Feel free to use this post to mingle with each other and discuss in person or over the network, but none of the NPCs will be replying. The guillotining will be open to Mirrorbound to attend but we will not be posting anything separately for it.

In lieu of IC letters, if your character would be interested in working with Parliament as a sitting member, EDIT: comment to this dedicated Council post! Don't let numbers stop you - we've got something in mind for if more than three characters would be interested that will let everyone get a chance. This is a way for PCs to make their needs known through representatives outside the Coven and advocate for themselves on a higher level.

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[ Azura attends, and she does give her testimony, which she remains entirely flat-faced through despite the things she has to recount, same as everyone else.

It's the execution that rattles her more. She debates not going, but most people seem to be, and...maybe this might give her some kind of satisfaction? It doesn't, though, it just makes her stomach twist and an ache go through her broken arm despite the painkillers she'd taken. ]

...I don't understand.

[ said very, very quietly, only so as the people nearest her can hear ]

Would it not be more fitting to put them in prison for the rest of their lives? Does the blood they shed have to be met with more blood?

[ She knows saying that might make some people think she's soft, but. This all feels so off. Like a really hollow victory. ]

Isn't there a phrase for this?

[ flat looks at azura with a somewhat confused look. his gaze is distant, like the punishment had knocked him off center. ]

An eye for an eye...makes the world blind?

I can't say I'm fond of that particular diction, but that's the one, yes.

[ a soft sigh ]

What a mess...

It really is...

[ and yet, he smiles, although equally as distant as his previous expression. ]

Lots of people agree with it though. It makes me wonder if my opinion is wrong?

Well, you aren't the only one who thinks so.

Is that so...I guess that makes me feel a little better.

[ flat sighs. ]

You won't be going to the execution tomorrow, will you?

I haven't decided. I've seen enough executions in my life already, but...something tells me it would be more proper of me if I did attend.

Proper? [ he tilts his head, somewhat confused. ] Why?

I was one of the ones taken. [ a shrug ]

[Emet-Selch had turned up for all this, to watch, detached. Though he'd chosen not to offer testimony of his own, he had been there in the back, observing. And from there, it had been natural enough to follow to the execution. And so it went.

And so it was 'over.'

Oh, the Ascian had no problems with them all being killed. He knew well enough that if he'd had the opportunity he would've killed them himself. He also knew there would've been little satisfaction in it- just as there was no satisfaction in this result either. Just a sort of dullness. Nothing was fixed.

He only just catches the voice of the woman next to him, glancing sideways at her with his good eye.]

'Tis no true punishment, is it? Their deaths won't undo what they've wrought. Bit of a barbaric practice, honestly....

[It's not the sort of thing he'd wanted to bring up around his friends, particularly the ones who'd rescued him, seen the condition he'd been in, and who were a bit more... approving when it came to this result.]

Yet if they remained alive, the resentment among those afflicted would have only continued to fester. And so the easier choice was made.

[It was the mortal way, after all- using violence to solve violence, and then wondering at the cruelty of the world.]

[ a nod. she gets his reasoning. ]

I'm not one for revenge in the first place, but this feels like an exceedingly empty victory regardless.

[ ... ]

Is it really just easier to kill them instead of managing it? What a cruel situation.

[ says the woman with a broken arm, covered in bandages, courtesy of the people currently being beheaded. honestly, lady. ]

It feels empty because it is. There's no satisfaction in this place.

[A slightly uncomfortable shrug, as he crosses his arms.]

Easier, in the sense that it saves them from working out a true solution. So long as people fear the different, and lash out against it- and so long as their victims reply by burying their fangs in the flesh of their captors- there will be no answer. This will happen again.

[He has Thoughts on this, apparently.]

...Though I'm surprised to find someone else not baying for blood. And not, perhaps, simply for a lack of stomach for it.

Well said.

[ Azura shifts uncomfortably. ]

I don't like the idea of paying for blood with blood, is all. It's a brutish concept, even if satisfies those who are hurting. And at the end of the day, is it not a worse punishment for someone who has committed a truly heinous crime to be imprisoned for the rest of their days, living with the knowledge of what they'd done, knowing that they would never again be free, all due to their own actions?

If someone is satisfied by simple blood, dreams of retribution, then they either suffer from poor imagination, or are alarmingly simple-minded.

[Who could walk away from a sight like this and think, 'yes, now all is well'?]

Imprisonment is probably the best compromise... as you say, it is at least lingering, rather than quick, to satisfy the more patient revenge-seekers. But even that could lead to other dissatisfied nobles seeing it as not much of a deterrent. And with the calls for blood from our compatriots, t'would be easy to paint us as the vicious lot we are, a group that perhaps deserves this violence.

On the other hand, this execution causes much the same thing... an old family was killed on our behalf. What resentment will come from this, I wonder.

[Mild, polite, utterly pessimistic.]

If I may ask, what would the best solution be, in your opinion? If imprisonment would not even work long-term.

[ three adjectives that also describe her pretty well, so hi-five...? ]

[Myr had not been among the kidnapped; any harm he'd accrued from the Rathmores' crimes was entirely peripheral. It hurt no less, for all that; but it also kept him cognizant that his word on what should happen to them mattered much less in the end.

He'd still come for the executions. A solemn and necessary evil like that bore witnessing--

And after hearing out the victims' testimonies, hours on hours of them, he can't say there isn't a part of him that wishes he were holding the sword.

Yet:]

I'd rather more use was made of them, [he's equally quiet, thoughtful--contemplative.] They'd so much to atone for.

Use? In what way?

[ she hadn't considered that angle ]

Prison labor of some sort?

Mm. Or something more direct--have them rebuild the houses their flunkies burned, for one. Make bandages for the wounded. Serve the people they'd hurt, however it's safe to have them do so, until they understand it was people that they hurt--not some faceless mass of enemies.

This, [a gesture around them, to take in the thinning crowds, the guillotine, the lot of it that he cannot see,] draws the line that others like the Rathmores will then fear to cross, knowing it may be their heads next. But it mends nothing and changes no one's beliefs.

Do you think they would, though? Sometimes it feels like there are some who just don't, or can't understand that sort of thing. There are some people so set in their ways it's impossible to change them.

[ she breathes out, not quite a sigh ]

Mmm. All it does is put up a sign on the gate to warn away trespassers, not inform the by-passers of what's inside so they would not be tempted to trespass at all.

[He dips his antlered head in acknowledgment of that but does not immediately reply; it's a question worth due thought, being the thorny knot at the heart of all his ideas of justice.

(It is also a moment to review his own recent judgments on who could change, and who couldn't, and who was worth saving from their own ingrained patterns.)

Quietly, then,] There surely are those who are gone beyond all but the Maker's help, but I don't believe them so common our first resort should be the executioner. We're often so quick to conclude those who've wronged us belong to that category--and maybe the heinousness of the crime is its own argument they do--

[He trails off, huffs out a breath, gives a shake of his head.]

Forgive me; these--people-- [He has to give them that, given his own beliefs on the matter, but it is hard,] Hurt their victims terribly and here I am making this an academic exercise.

[Because it's how he quiets and channels his own rage; because giving sway to it back home had awful consequences.]

No, it's alright. I did ask. It's something to think about other than the gruesomeness itself.

[ a hesitant pause ]

...were you not among those of us taken?

[ she thought he was, the way this conversation started, but after that remark, maybe not? ]

I wasn't, no. [There's a moment of hesitation of his own, a searching through memory. Hours of testimony--hours of cruelties small and great, recounted in the kind of detail the judiciary requested--are not so easy a thing even for him to recall (and he quails to retrieve some of it).]

You--were; you testified. I-- [I'm sorry seems hollow here.] I can't begin to imagine how this must weigh on you. Did any of this help?

[With earnest concern. So much about justice was ostensibly for the victims, and yet...]

In all honesty, no. Having them meet such a fate after all of this does not comfort me.

[ Like she said. It would have been more fitting to give them life sentences. ]

But there's naught to be done about it at this point.

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☆ The Trial of the Rathmores

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