Magistrates-House Heads
The House Head serves on the Town Council and has the protections provided a Gentlefolk. The House Head also has authority to Issue Writ of Bounty, which they can use to request monies from the Baron or the Town Council and to Send Cavaliers out to apprehend criminals.
Magistrates
The local Magistrates have the power to convene a trial on any person accused of a crime. Trials may be conducted in the fashion dictated by the DeVris Magistrate. As such, many Magistrates simplify their own lives by merely deeming the accused guilty unless they can prove their innocence.
Cavaliers
Cavaliers are the Militant arm of House DeVris. When there is a known criminal loose, the Cavaliers are dispatched to track that person down and return them to town for trial. They also patrol the wilderness of Silverthorne with the authority to hold trials on the spot, if they see a crime committed. The crimes a caviler can try are recent crimes – within three days – if the crime is older, it should be turned over to a Magistrate. When Cavaliers are dispatched to retrieve someone, they will return with that person; alive or dead if the accused resist.
Mage Hunters
A recent addition to House DeVris, King Silverthorne moved the Mage Hunters into DeVris on the Death of the Mage Lucas. The Hunters are the LAW when it comes to rogue mages; they hold power over even the Magistrates. Acting as impartial judges of the mages of Silverthorne they protect the people from the ravages of necromancers, rogue mages and magical anomalies. It is also the duty of the Mage Hunters to help ensure that anyone capable of casting or reading magic within the Kingdom is registered with the Mages Guild. Anyone not registered who is caught casting within the Kingdom is subject to the purview of the Mage Hunters. While mages may avoid joining the Mages Guild through either joining House Toevass as an Arcanist or electively choosing not to cast while in the Kingdom of Silverthorne, they cannot avoid being registered as potential casters.
Order Trial
Although citizens and taxpayers have the right to request arbitration, peasants and non-citizen/non-tax payers do not automatically have this option. Normally, each Freeman may request a separate trial.
Any money or items collected from a condemned criminal will be split in the following manner:
– 30% to the Town Coffers.
– 30% to the victim or victim’s family (or local nobility if there was no obvious victim).
– 30% to House DeVris.
– 10% in taxes to the local nobility
Power to Arrest
If the Constable is not in town, a Member of House DeVris can have the Town Guard arrest someone suspected of a crime.