A Youthful World View (Quest)

[Fyrra Na'Limndra]

Basics of Law and Accounting Starter Quest.
12 years ago, 188 ATD
-Korasuan Academy.

The classroom was a circular room in a tower on Ne'Turk Balika. The initiates in the Kalimbra's guild each sat on their own pillow facing the center of the room. There were no tables. There were no bottles of ink or quills. Just the lesson delivered in words and magical lights. Fyrra was at the back of the classroom nearly eleven years old, staring into space.

"Initiate Fyrra, are you paying attention?"

The instructor of the class rapped the young Fyrra on the head with her knuckles. Fyrra had not noticed the instructor move behind her in the first place. The old woman was a merciless harpy. She did not want to draw her ire any more than she already had.

"Ah! Sorry ma'am!"

"You will be if you ever make it to apprenticeship or mastery and you don't know how to handle your finances. The audit will render you destitute and you will likely commit suicide to redeem yourself to your family. Do you want that?"

"No, Ma'am."

"Then I suggest you pay attention to the lesson. As I was saying one of the main things you can do to protect yourself from funds seizures is to have a good accounting system. Keep a ledger, receipts, and issue invoices for your work. Do not accept money that you cannot prove the source of. Gifts will seem highly supicious, do not accept them. The one offering the gift may be seeking to call in a favor later, which could lead to you being removed from the guild in disgrace. The point here is that if you show where the money came from and how it got into your accounts, and that it is from a reputable source you will not have any trouble from the council. Once you have income you will certainly have expenses. As you are tax exempt when you receive your membership you will not have to worry about keeping a perfect record of expenses outside of property. What I mean by property is things like apartments or land or livestock and investments. Are there any questions before we begin exercises?"

"Yes, ma'am. If we are traveling and come upon found money, how would we prove that the coins were found on the ground?"

"A simultaneously good and stupid question, initiate Fyrra. Good because you are young and haven't had time to fully grasp the lesson. Stupid because it shows that you don't understand your own example. If you found the money on the ground you cannot prove where it came from. Best to leave it there for someone else."

Fyrra shifted in her seat. She was uncomfortable now that the old harpy had her attention on her again. But she thought her question had merit.

[Fyrra Na'Limndra]

Fyrra struggled with the mathematics that went into learning the accounting part of her trade. Being a Kalimbra was something her mother wanted out of her and she did not aim to disappoint. Of course her father would say something along the lines of following her dreams. He was good at inspiring but was bad at offering practical advice. Her mother instead coached her through the required exercises which helped make the lessons learned at the Academy on the subject more permanent.

Several weeks of lessons went by and her grade in the subject saw marked improvements over the length of the course. From starting at abysmal failure her end of course assessment of passable was something of a miracle. Especially considering that the advanced subject was only taught to scholars who had several seasons of lessons on mathematics and initiate Kalimbra.

Another season passed and she found herself sitting in the same classroom with a different instructor entirely. This one was a tall and lithe woman, with long white hair and crows feet at her purple eyes. She was a full breed unlike Fyrra, and obviously felt superior about it. She separated the students by race, putting the other gray skins like Fyrra together in one corner of the room and refusing to acknowledge them or answer their questions. However, the lesson went on and it was the topic of Law. Which was necessary for a Kalimbra to grasp.

[Fyrra Na'Limndra]

Law in reference to Kalimbras was very different than general law in the colony. Korasus had a very simple way of looking at justice. Most crimes fell into one of three categories. Touching a Kalimbra was akin to murder, the most heinous crime.

"When you reach your mastery there are some things that you will find complicate the law forbidding physical contact with you. For instance the rule of consent, or arrest. Just because you are Kalimbra doesn't mean you are above the law. The law is above you. It is above the council. If you commit a crime an executioner does not need your permission to arrest you, they do not need your consent to put you in bindings, strip you, and execute you if the crime fits the punishment."

There was a pause, Fyrra stared at the back of the instructors head waiting for her to continue. She did after a while.

"But that only applies to executioners if they suspect you committed a crime. Do not be surprised if a crowd take things into their own hands concerning you and this law. Should someone accidentally bump into you, do not be surprised but also do not interfere if the crowd executes them on their own. Though it is an extra-judicial killing it was lawful given that you were touched in the first place. In that case describe what happened to the executioner when they arrive and let them do their job."

Another long pause. More staring. Fyrra began to get sleepy.

"All law should have a basis in text. Much law is open to interpretation. Murder for example can be construed as both theft and murder. Theft for taking a person away from their family, murder because they were killed."

More pausing... more drifting... off to...

"In respect to your chosen profession, one of the hardest things will be knowing when to grant consent to be touched. For instance when your life is in danger and you have a bodyguard there is implied consent that the bodyguard can act accordingly to protect you. If that requires physically covering you or moving you they may do so, unless you specifically forbid it. Intimate relationships are outside of the norm, though many may approach you for such things it is generally expected that you should turn the advances down. An intimate relationship, though it implies consent, is not respected by the law as such. The person you had been intimate with may think they have consent because you have given it before. They do not. It has to be expressed because they are not a bodyguard. A role that the law specifically recognizes. The difference here is that the law does not offer protection to the individual that you are intimate with because that person can just as easily lose the respect that your station would deserve via familiarity. A good law is both flexible and easy to consistently interpret, with applications that are also easy to enforce. That concludes this introductory lesson. You are dismissed."

Fyrra got up with the others and practically shambled out of the room like a stumbling skeleton, groggy and not entirely sure what had been discussed or lectured upon.

[Azuloth]

Quest Complete:
-Rewards:

Accounting I
+1 Stat point

Law I
+1 Stat point.