State of the Commonwealth - Summary Justice!

One of the things that sets 'Knights-Marshal of the Commonwealth' apart from a lot of other RPGs out there is that the Knights-Marshal are THE LAW on the Edge of the Commonwealth. The default understanding is that the player characters will constitute a 'Lance' of Knights-Marshal, Sergeants, Donati, and possibly Bondi [See the 'Glossary of Commonspace' for definitions of these and other terms salient to the Knights-Marshal], and that puts a lot of power in the hands of the PCs - power that a lot of games hold for NPC authorities; power that is often used in other games to keep the PCs in check.

'Knights-Marshal of the Commonwealth' gives that power, and the attending responsibility, to the heroes of the game - the player characters. The application of Marshal Law - in keeping the peace, adjudicating disputes, and in punishing the guilty, is part of the mandate of the Order. And full Knights of the Order carry the burden of determining, and dispensing that justice on the edge, sometimes to an unwilling population.

One of the greatest powers of Marshal Law is that of Summary Justice, in which the Knight-Marshal acts as judge, jury, and administrator of whatever punishment is merited - even to the point of execution. Knights-Marshal hold the terrible power to legally kill by their own determination. Sometimes, this is a simple matter - the perpetrator of a horrible crime is caught red-handed, or when a renowned marauder is finally captured, or slain in pursuit. The Knight-Marshal can rest assured that they have done right.

But it is not always that simple.

A custom has arisen in parts of The Edge, to call upon the Order to administer Summary Execution of those that the local authorities, for any number of reasons, don't want to have to execute themselves. The local authorities have already determined the guilt of the accused, and they await a Knight-Marshal to carry out the death warrant. This is not strictly legal according to the tenets of Marshal Law, but the Order has not seen fit to challenge the practice, fearing that to refuse this duty would encourage otherwise peaceful locales within their jurisdiction to look elsewhere for the force of Law. So the practice has been allowed to endure. Few Knights-Marshal enjoy dealing Summary Execution any more than the Order does its acceptance of this 'fait accompli'.

In the circumstance where a Knight-Marshal is sent to carry out Summary Execution, however, some Knights-Marshal choose to interpret it as Summary Justice, and conduct an investigation of the guilty and the crime, if it is seen to be warranted. The Order does not officially condone such actions, but no censure has fallen on those Knights-Marshal who have done it. That having been said, no Knight, thus far, has failed to either:

A - find the true guilty party and Execute them, thus fulfilling the Letter of Marshal Law, OR,

B - execute the one whose name originally was on the Death Warrant.

Summary Justice, and Summary Execution, are open to terrible abuses in the wrong hands. Only a Full Knight, Belted and Spurred, is ever called upon to perform Summary Execution. In this way, the Order salves its conscience with the knowledge that its most devoted members are the ones who carry this burden.