Police Attention (no ontology)

From Mazeworld

Maze Guards enforce a set of laws and will not hesitate to punish the perpetrators if they see them committing crimes. Those laws are, in theory, effective for everyone in the Mazes. This, of course, includes the contestant.

Depending on the gravity of offenses, Guards assign to perpetrators a Wanted Level, which is based on a color code. In order of gravity: white, which is not a wanted level but a color to design innocents, yellow, orange, and red. An additional code for the most dangerous cases exists: Code 11, which allows Maze Guards to shoot on sight.

For an offense or a crime to be detected, it must be reported by witnesses or seen by Guards themselves, at the exception of offenses affecting Guards directly, including murders, which automatically elevate the perpetrator's wanted level.

When trouble has been resolved, unless the perpetrator is killed or sent to prison, his or her wanted level goes back to white and all non-undiscovered crimes and offenses are erased from the records.

Definition of terms

• Concerned by the law: Being that must respect the laws.
• Protected by the law: Being that must respect the laws, but is also protected by them.

Although all humans, and all, non-wicked youkai are considered to be concerned by the law by virtue of them being sapient and not belonging to a group of creature that would be impossible to control (such as demons), not all of them are protected by the law. Generally speaking, only humans are protected by the law with the distinct exception of members of the military, which are exempt from police protection and are assumed to be capable of protecting themselves from aggressors by the very nature of their occupation. Other humans that are not protected by the law include criminals and those deemed dangerous, whose nature also exempt them from police protection. Lastly and most remarkably, Contestants ARE protected by the law and can call the police.

As an illustration of the above rules, a Maze Soldier could effectively be imprisoned for committing any of the offenses listed below, but won't be protected if he is victim of one. The law also doesn't protect non-humans for ethical reasons; creatures such as youkai are not protected by the law as a historical testament of the society being primarily human and only tending to humans - those issues are better explained as an aspect of the Human-youkai rivalry).

Offenses

In most cases, offenses are defined as being committed at least by someone concerned by the law, against someone who is protected by the law; though Guards may, at their own discretion and if considered reasonable or sensible enough to do so, arrest or otherwise intercept perpetrators if the offenses involve beings that are not under the scope of the law, whether perp or victim. (For example: Someone slaughtering unreasonably high amounts of peaceful or otherwise harmless creatures, is an acceptable reason.)

• Assault: Attempting to, or (lightly) physically harming or subdue someone in an abusive, unfair, or otherwise unreasonable way, through show of force. It is considered a lighter version of battery.
• Battery: Physically harming or subduing someone in an abusive manner, up to grievously, but without killing them, in an abusive, unfair, or otherwise unreasonable way. The step further is murder.
• Cannibalism: The act of eating the remains of a member of one's own species, if said species is sapient; though the law only affects humans towards humans.
• Complicity: The act of being associated, directly or indirectly, with people suspected of having committed criminal acts, financially, materially, or in any otherwise tangible way.
• Corpse desecration: The act of damaging, mangling, destroying, or mutilating the remains of a member of one's own species with malicious intent, if said species is sapient; though the law only affects humans towards humans.
• Bribery/Peer pressure: Attempt to subdue or pacify people, specifically Personnel, by either offering them money, gifts, specific items, or by threatening them, in order to avoid repercussions. Bribery, specifically towards Guards, involves pacifying them to dissuade them from arresting.
• Degradation: The act of damaging, dismantling and/or destroying objects and equipment, without authorization. Is particularly applicable to shrines, where altar desecration is legally considered degradation. Destruction with the use of fire is called arson. Small-scale destruction is generally referred to as vandalism.
• Impersonation: When a person concerned by the law is wearing the outfit of a member of the Maze Personnel also concerned by the law, and is posing and/or acting as such - and has been busted. Most frequently happens if the person wearing the disguise has the wrong equipment, gender, or attitude.
• Indecent exposure: When a person concerned by the law (and sometimes even those that aren't) is publicly revealing certain of their body parts (buttocks, genitals, breasts) outside of certain roomstyles where they would be acceptable. Contestants may be affected by indecent exposure if they do not wear sufficient clothing to hide the concerned body parts (and may bust disguises, thus potentially putting them at risk of committing impersonation (see above)).
• Murder: The act of killing, with or without intent, malicious or not, another person protected by the law. It is not considered murder if the killed being is not concerned by the law - this is another problematic aspect of the ongoing Human-youkai rivalry as youkai are not protected by the law. Murder may also be considered justified if it has been determined to be in legitimate self-defense.
• Rape: The act of sexual intercourse committed against a person protected by the law, if it has been determined that the latter was not consenting.
• Robbery: The act of extorting items and equipment that belongs to someone else, using threats and/or force to force those items' owner to give them away.
• Sexual assault: The acts of inappropriate physical contact of an otherwise intimate or sexual nature, committed by a person concerned by the law, against a person protected by the law, without consent. It must be noted that attempted and failed rapes are considered this. The step above is rape.
• Theft: The act of appropriating objects and/or equipment that belongs to someone else without the original owner's consent. Confiscation is not considered theft, if performed by authorized people and for acceptable reasons (such as a punishment for crimes, done by a Guard.)
• Unauthorized firearm discharge: Considered a light misdemeanor more than anything, Guards may see fit to fine people (whether concerned by the law or not) if they are shooting their firearms in an ostensibly dangerous manner, especially in highly populated rooms.
• Verbal abuse: Insults, threats, foul language used in repetition - though technically a misdemeanor that Guards can fine for anyone using them against anyone else, it is most often used for people insulting Guards themselves.

Code Yellow offenses

Low-gravity offenses and minor trouble. Such offenses are resolved by a fine, which can go between 50 and 500 P$ per fine.

Yellow-level offenses include:

• Bribery/Peer pressure (Maze Guards can punish people trying to offer them money or make them quit their jobs)
• Indecent exposure
• Abuse, assault, battery of an ally, pet or colleague (with reservations if the concerned person is a youkai)
• Unauthorized firearm discharge, weapon usage
• Verbal abuse, threats, insults to Citizens and Personnel
• Degradation, destruction of equipment belonging to Citizens and Personnel

Code Orange offenses

Medium-gravity offenses. Such offenses are usually resolved by cuffing the perpetrator, and confiscation of equipment. Most of the times Guards confiscate the weapon in hand when the offense was committed, but they may also take away other items and/or issue fines.

Orange-level offenses include:

• Abuse, assault or battery, or attempt thereof, on any encounter protected by the law, except in blatant self-defense.
• Sexual assault, rape, or attempt thereof, on any creature
• Theft, robbery, extortion, on a petty or medium scale (such as mugging)
• Disguise busting (if the perpetrator is revealed to wear clothes for impersonation purposes)
• Repeated unauthorized firearm discharge, weapon usage
• Abuse of dangerous or unauthorized items, substances, or attempt thereof (high explosives, drugs…) in a way that blatantly puts the lives of others in danger
• Desecration of a shrine altar
• Committing corpse desecration on a human dead body
• Resisting arrest

• Repeated Yellow-level offenses may lead to an elevation of Wanted Level to Code Orange.

Code Red offenses

High-gravity offenses which may endanger lives or property in the Mazes. Perpetrators elevated to Code Red must be arrested and sent to prison. This includes the contestant.

Red-level offenses include:

• Murder, or attempt thereof, of a protected encounter, except in blatant self-defense.
• Theft, robbery, extortion on a grand scale (such as bank robberies).
• Committing cannibalism.

• Repeated Orange-level offenses may lead to an elevation of Wanted Level to Code Red.

Code 11

In rare situations, where a Code Red perpetrator hasn't been stopped by the Guards and continues to commit offenses, Guards may be allowed to tag this perpetrator to Code 11. This situation simply allows them to make use of their weapons offensively, and are allowed deadly force. In other words, Code 11 means "Shoot to kill".

Prison

If a contestant is caught and arrested by a Maze Guard with a wanted level at least at Red, he/she will be cuffed, and forcefully sent to a prison room. A time skip occurs if an arrest is made, during which 3d6 turns pass, and no rooms are added to the counter. There, they will be stripped of their weapons, clothes, equipment and backpack, bound to the wall then given jeans for sole clothing so that the contestant is recognized as a Prisoner.

Afterwards, a Guard Chief will join the Guard who arrested the contestant (unless said guard is himself/herself a Chief), and will make the list of all the offenses committed. Once the list is done, a punishment will be given by the Chief, and the contestant will be stuck in prison with a Guard until the end.
The punishment includes time in prison, and confiscations + fines.

Prison time may be between 20 and 100 turns, in which the contestant will be stuck and won't be able to move or do anything. Every 10 turns, minimal amounts of food are furnished. If the Contestant came in with severe medical conditions, then relevant medical assistance is given.

The player may choose whether or not he/she wants to RP the prison time. If yes, then the contestant will be given the chance to RP with a Maze Guard guarding the prison cell, plus a random amount of prisoners, between 0 and 2.

After the time has been served, depending on the gravity of crimes done, the contestant will be confiscated, in order of gravity:

• One weapon
• One weapons and compatible ammunition
• All weapons and ammunition
• All weapons, ammunition, and body armor

And will then be fined, in order of gravity:

• 500 P$
• 700 P$
• 1000 P$
• 1000 P$ and all valuables carried.

If the contestant does not have enough money to fulfill the fine, all of his/her money will be taken away.

After prison

Once the contestant has served time and was punished proper, the Guard Chief will first uncuff, then restitute clothing. Then, the Chief will take the Contestant outside of the police station they were taken to, where crates containing the Contestant's (and, if applicable, the ally's) weapons and load-bearing gear are sitting. The Contestant may then re-gear up, and leave through the doors as usual.

See also

• Maze Guard