“Freedom without Order to temper it just leads to anarchy, while Order without any Freedom to mollify it is just a prettier name for Tyranny. A ruler needs to know how to balance Freedom and Order to rule their people well.” - Saying attributed to Caliph Mughada Al-Youssef of the Hassid Caliphate.
“You know, Miss Aideen, something still struck me as rather odd about the lichdom,” said Celia as they walked on the roads the next day. “I noticed that I’ve never seen any guards or constables around in any of the towns or villages we’ve been to so far, not even in Tohrmutgent. Are the undead the only form of law enforcement around here?”
“It’s a little more complicated than that,” replied Aideen thoughtfully. “The undead we have as sentries everywhere serve mostly as sentries and guards. One of the easier things to attune an undead to is violence, so they’re generally left in place with the command to prevent any violence from happening in their vicinity. Anyone getting into a fight or a wild animal attack happening, they’ll be there to stop it.”
“If there’s more complicated situations that the simple directive to stop violence and protect the people could not solve, the magic that kept them animated was designed to alert the necromancer in charge of them,” she continued. “That necromancer would be stationed nearby, so they would then take care of the more complicated matters.”
“Are those necromancers the ones in charge of the towns or villages then?” asked Celia with some curiosity.
“Again, it’s a bit more complex than that. A Necromancer who has guard duty is generally part of a team who worked in shifts throughout the day, to ensure that there was always someone available should they be needed as well as to keep the undead powered properly,” explained Aideen. “They technically have a supervisory role over the region they were assigned to, but they are expected to work together with the local authority in more complex matters.”
“The locals generally choose their own village head or town mayor, and these would have subordinates under them where needed. They’d work together with the necromancers in more complicated cases like crimes and the likes. I guess the necromancers are technically above them in the power structure, but the norm is to treat each other as equals.”
“Does the Lichdom never have issues with people abusing their power to like… enrich themselves or worse?” asked the younger woman with some doubt in her voice. “I’ve… seen that happen more than once, I guess, even before we met. All too often people in power ended up using their power for their own desires rather than do what they were supposed to do…”
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“Oh yes, we had such issues from time to time. Those types never last long here. If lucky, they'll be banished from the Lichdom, never to return.”
“And the bad cases?” asked Celia with a mixture of curiosity and dread in her voice.
“Those would be used as examples,” replied Aideen straightforwardly. “You see, unlike in most other places, if say a town mayor here was to exploit their position, they don’t only have to watch out for those above them like the local governor or the likes. They also have to hide those activities from literally everyone else. Otherwise someone would just report it to one of the supervising necromancers, and those would then handle the case as appropriate.”
“And there’s never been issues like those amongst the necromancers themselves?”
“Ah, you see, there’s one major difference there, compared to most people,” noted Aideen. “The majority of necromancers in the Lichdom live here not only because we are far more friendly and accepting to necromancers, but also for the opportunity that living here provided,” she added. “That opportunity being the chance to draw the eye and maybe gain some knowledge straight from someone that most everyone agreed was the greatest necromancer to have ever lived. As such, what greed the necromancers here might have were towards Grandpa Aarin’s attention and acknowledgement, rather than the typical money and power.”
“Grandpa also really hated corruption, so over the generations it had become practically tradition for junior necromancers who were doing supervisory duties to keep an eye out for those cases,” Aideen continued. “They all have a tacit understanding that cases like those were best taken care of judiciously before it ever grew to a scale that would bother Grandpa. Nobody likes the results that would inevitably happen if Grandpa had to make a move himself, since it would also mean those supervising had been negligent in their roles.”
“Huh. That makes sense, I guess, two sets of people in power with very different priorities who keep an eye on one another…”
“And that’s just the necromancers who came here to seek knowledge and acceptance. Most of the ones who had been born and raised here tend to be quite a bit more religious,” elaborated Aideen with some hand gestures. “Grandpa Aarin is also Tohrmut’s highest priest in the mortal realm, so in quite a few ways, many of the locally raised necromancers have feelings that were close to worship on him. With him around, none of them would even think of doing something that would earn his ire or disappointment.”
“Ah, then I assume those groups of supervising necromancers would always have some locals amongst them.”
“Precisely. Grandpa’s rules for people who wished to live on his lands are pretty lax overall. Generally if you avoid making an asshole out of yourself you’d be fine here. He doesn’t meddle with the lives of the people, as long as they don’t do something that annoys him,” said Aideen with a bit of a smile. “Most of the people who live here nowadays are decent people, though sometimes I suspect that’s because we threw out all the bad apples long ago.”
“Well, that’s one way to do things, I guess,” admitted Celia with a chuckle. “And it certainly worked out for you all.”