History: Nearly every city with a sizeable population of Neighbors has a Pentacle. A Pentacle was a five-member group deputized to bring in those individuals that were a menace to the Neighborhood. In San Cibola Neighborhood law enforcement, up until the middle part of the 19th century, was the duty of the Pentacle. The San Cibola Pentacle had taken control of the city and was extorting money and power. Since the Pentacle was formed and funded by some members of the Ormond Sacker’s Club, these select individuals eventually began using the Pentacle as muscle for their own ends. Eventually the corruption became unbearable and the city allowed the Order of the Scale to step in and wrest control from them. Since then, the Order has become an independent law enforcement system not connected to any other organization of the city and is subject to audit by the Neighborhood Disciplinary Committee.
Basics: For the most part the civil code of conduct is not necessarily iron clad; written down; or structured as with modern society. This is mostly an artifact of history and to accommodate the variety of people the Neighborhood must cater to.
Disputes and disturbances are divided into civil and criminal. The distinction being that civil suites are between individuals while criminal are threats to the Neighborhood as a whole.
Minor disputes and grievances are handled in forums where a tribunal dispenses verdicts between the parties involved.
Major offenses are handled in a similar manner, except there is no open forum. They are dealt with in closed court.
Tribunals are picked from the Neighborhood Disciplinary Committee. Members of the Committee are invited to join by those already on the committee. Originally the members were rotated from the membership of the Ormond Sacker Club.
Laws: The penal code that requires Order intervention are usually divided into three types: Minor, Major, and Exposure.
- Minor: Listed here are various forms of fraud, theft, disturbing the peace, and destruction of property.
- Major: Major crimes are those that are related to assault. The assault can be physical, arcane, or sexual in nature. Assaults that result in death are taken with a high degree of seriousness. Because of the vagueness of this code, things like drug use and distribution have been pursued. However, this has always been up to interpretation of the Order and the Tribunal. Another interesting point is missing persons. Usually not consider a crime, as individuals of the Neighborhood have always valued their privacy, in extreme cases the Order has investigated occurrences of missing people.
- Exposure: Any activity that can expose Norman to the events and activity of the Neighborhood is taken with extreme prejudice. This includes harming or killing Norman.
Jurisdiction: The Order’s responsibility ends at the city limits in the north, the ocean in the west, Trinity in the south, and the mountain range in the east. Because of these vague limits there have been many occasions where the Order has arguably overstepped its jurisdiction.
There are no formal extradition or cooperation treaties with any other city. It has been customary for the Order, however, to trade information with other city Pentacles and to cooperate with them whenever possible. Like many aspects of the Order this custom has not always been enforced.
There is no immunity or special dispensation for being part of a foreign nation or body.
Vendettas: A Vendetta is a warrant that allows an individual to kill or cause harm to another. It stipulates that the person who takes out the Vendetta has to do the deed themselves; they are not allowed to hire anyone to do it for them. The victim has the right to defend themselves, even in a preemptive manner.
All Vendettas are made public and only registered citizens are allowed to take out a Vendetta, although the target could be any Neighbor - even those not in San Cibola. There is no limit on the number of Vendettas one can take out, and there is no statute of limitations. They are only good for action taken in the city of San Cibola.
Historically, when the Order first established the Vendetta system a large number of Vendettas were taken up. Person A would take one out for person B. Person B would then get a friend C who is more powerful than Person A to take out a Vendetta on A, etc. Eventually a massive web of interconnecting Vendettas was created, such that no one wanted to carry out their Vendetta for fear of retaliation. Currently there are hundreds of outstanding Vendettas.
The procedure for a Vendetta is that after it is fulfilled the individual has 48 hours to report it the Order. Willful cover-up of a Vendetta resulting in a murder investigation is considered fraud and will be dealt with accordingly.
Members of the Order are not allowed to take a Vendetta.
Procedure: The Order’s duty is to enforce the law. With that said there are certain procedures that must be taken. These rules were put in place so the Order does not over step its bounds and compromise any citizen’s rights.
The Order is in charge of investigating a crime. They may detain a person for questioning. Said person has the right to counsel and the right to notify anyone they see fit at anytime about their questioning. Questioning must stop until counsel arrives and may continue thereafter. Counsel has the right to talk privately with said person without the intrusion of the Order. Questioning cannot endanger the subject and cannot be of an unusual or cruel nature. A member of Neighborhood Disciplinary Committee may be present to ensure the Order has not crossed the line.
When the Order has collected enough evidence they go to the Neighborhood Disciplinary Committee and obtain a warrant for their arrest. More than one individual or party may be warranted for the same crime. (Arrest them all and let a Tribunal sort it out.) Members of the Order may not take lethal or near-lethal action unless a subject has done so first.
The Order may be called upon to hunt or eliminate an individual. To do so the Order must have a warrant from the Neighborhood Disciplinary Committee. The entire Neighborhood Disciplinary Committee must approve this warrant unanimously.
Security: For certain public functions (like the Goblin Market) and a select private galas (Like the Halloween Party) the Order is called on to do security. These functions are those that are known to cause some disturbances to the public.
Mediation: One service that the Order provides on an unofficial level is to act as neutral mediator for some disputes. While not part of its official duties, individuals and organizations have at one time or another acted as mediators.