Justicar

The position of Justicar is one of several Council positions common at every level throughout The Kingdom of Somercrag. They are responsible for writing and enforcing the council's laws within their lands. This position often requires the ability to command soldiers if not to fight directly, and the ability to project authority. It can also involve some degree of reading and writing, and so it is common for it to fall to a Knight.

Council Actions

Each month the Justicar may be directed to take one of the following actions. Bolded actions require the Justicar's presence for the month, making them unavailable for any other duties.

Fabricate External Claim - The Justicar spends the month researching, or in some extreme cases falsifying legal and historic claims on a particular piece of land that the council can use as justification to sieze territory outside their borders. They take a Justicar skill check against a varying difficulty. If they succeed, the claim is found or created, whereas if they fail a claim cannot be made. Significant failures may have other consequences. While a claim is not required for a house to sieze land, having a legal claim to land may affect the way others react to the action.

Revoke Title or Holding - The Justicar spends the month researching, or in extreme cases falisfying laws around the appointment or revocation of lands or titles with the intention of allowing their liege to revoke a title or reclaim a holding that they have given out. They take a Justicar skill check against cc. If they succeed the means to revoke the title or land is found in time for the next council session. If they fail the revocation cannot happen and the current holder will become angered. Note that the current holder of the title or land may not give it up peacefully, even if legal justification can be made.

Oppose Crime - The Justicar spends the month in one of the council's settlements, actively opposing crime networks there. Before the settlement generates income next month, the Justicar takes an Order vs Crime check. If they succeed, the Crime does not affect the settlement's income that month. If they fail the Crime affects the settlement's income as normal and there may be damage to the settlement's Order depending on the severity of the failure.

Root Out Dissent - The Justicar spends the month directly opposing one Development in one of the council's settlements. Before the settlement generates income next month, the Justicar and any forces under their command will have an opportunity to act against the Development. If they succeed the council will be able to begin an Ongoing Project to lower the rating of that Crime Development (with the same Cost and Duration as if they were upgrading that Development). If they fail there may be damage to the settlement's Order and/or the forces involved depending on the severity of the failure.

Create New Settlement - The Justicar spends the month negotiating land rights and borders in order to establish a new settlement with the council's lands. They spend 5 Revenue and take a Justicar skill check with the difficulty and outcomes detailed below, following the rules for split settlement creation if they are creating a new settlement from part of an exisiting one, or the new settlement creation otherwise.
Split Settlement Creation

Choose one settlement that is at least a Town.
Then, choose one Development within that settlement to be the centre of the new settlement. Often this will be a Farm, as those are usually on the outskirts.
Remove that Development from the existing settlement and reduce its Attribute by 1. Then record that Development on the new settlement, along with the same Attribute value.
The new settlement's other Attributes (except derived attributes) begin at 0. Its Location Bonus remains the same as its parent settlement and its Specialisation matches the Attribute of its founding Development.
Then, take a Justicar vs dd check.
s: increase one Attribute by 1 (maximum of 1/Attribute) ;
a: remove one Development from the parent settlement and add it to the new settlement;
s/aa: change the Location Bonus of the new settlement;
t: Add one new Development to the new settlement;
h: one Development in the parent settlement has its level reduced by 1;
d: the parent settlement has its size reduced by one step (though it will generally still meet the requirements, it will need to succeed at Settlement Progression checks to return to its previous size).
If the check fails, the new settlement is not created (but the development is still removed and the Attribute change is permanent)

New Settlement Creation

Choose a location. Agree with the GM on what the Location Bonus and Specialisation would be for a settlement built there. Perform a Justicar skill vs cc check, applying any additional bonuses or penalties based on the settlement's Location. On a success a new settlement is created with its Specialisation at 1 and all other Attributes at 0.
s: increase one Attribute by 1 (maximum of 1/Attribute) ;
s/aa: Add one new Development to the new settlement;
t: Change the Location Bonus of the settlement to something not indicated by the map, create a new map feature if relevant;
h: Increase the cost of creating the settlement by 1;
d: reduce one Attribute by 1. If this reduces all Attributes to 0 the settlement creation fails.

Create Roadway - The Justicar spends the month drawing up paperwork and securing land rights to create a new roadway to connect two settlements in their own lands or a settlement to one in a neighbouring land. When they begin the project it will have a goal equal to the number of days' travel the road will cover (5 per square on the map if taking the most direct route) and a difficulty agreed with the DM. This also begins an ongoing project with a total cost equal to the goal.
Each month that the Justicar works on this project, they take a Justicar skill check against the agreed difficulty. For each s and every aa they make a point of progress toward the goal. They cannot make more progress than the amount of Revenue that has been invested into the project so far. Once both totals reach the agreed target the road is completed. Unlike other Ongoing Projects this does not have a fixed cost each month but at least one Revenue must be invested each month or the project will fail.

Commission Minor Title - The Justicar spends the month drawing up paperwork and preparing offices for a new position in the Holding. A suitable NPC must already be present for the position. Choose one specific Council Action when the position is created. Whenever the chosen action is taken, if the Minor Title Holder is present, they may choose one of the following:
- the Minor Title holder's presence substitutes for the Council position holder's presence.
- the skill check for this Action automatically results in shh, no dice are rolled.
- the skill check for this Action is upgraded once.
- the Action may choose an additional target. Each target will incur seperate checks where relevant, and each of those checks has one of its d upgraded. Where that action has a cost the cost must be paid separately for each target.

Attract Courtiers (Claimants) - The Justicar performs a Justicar skill vs ddd check and attracts a number of individuals to court. This check may be influenced by spending Revenue to upgrade the check. It will also be influenced by recent events. Attracted individuals will include those with claims on nearby lands or titles that the council may be able to act upon.