Book of Bone and Ebony

(as opposed to civil suits), Master Amenti always provides
a prosecuting barrister with a Bureaucracy of at least •••
and a Manipulation + Performance dice pool of (the
severity of the offense + 4). Defendants are not guaranteed
a barrister in Stygian law, and those too poor to afford a
barrister must defend themselves.
Should a defendant’s player botch his legal roll, the
punishment leveled against the defendant by the courts is
either slavery (if he’s useful) or exile (if he’s not) to the
wilds that surround Stygia. Should his player merely lose
the contest, the defendant suffers a fine equal to the
severity of his crime, or his Resources, which ever is lower.
This is the most common result of a trial, and these fines
serve as the grease for the wheels of Master Amenti’s
bureaucracy. The poor suffer at the hands of the Stygian
legal system, and any ghost who has Resources • or less
that is convicted of a level-two or higher offense suffers as
though he botched his roll. Success indicates vindication
and innocence, and the defendant need merely pay legal
fees that are, inevitably, out-of-pocket expenses (one less
than the ghost’s Resources). Truly spectacular displays
during the trial may impress the Stygian elite that frequent
the trials. At the Storyteller’s discretion, extraordinarily
high rolls may result in a dot of Contacts within Stygian
high society. The worst penalties of the Stygian legal
system are seldom meted out. Soulforging occurs rarely,
THE TRUE POWER BEHIND THE DUAL MONARCHY
While the Dual Monarchy outwardly appears to rule Stygia, any deep examination of the true political
situation will reveal the Monarchs to be powerless figureheads. The legal system is out of their hands. Decisions
are made by the Deathlords and imposed upon a powerless Stygia. Real politics occur in the City Council not in
the Court of the Dual Monarchy. In reality, the Monarchy exists only as a ritual tool: Essence batteries that
constantly recharge the economy of the Underworld.
Yet, the Dual Monarchs are incredibly mighty ghosts. They predate the Deathlords by millennia and have
access to nearly limitless stores of Essence. They know Stygia better than anyone, for they were at its founding.
They have access to an enormous amount of knowledge, whether it takes the form the secrets of the newly dead,
mastery of the Calendar or the voice of the Abyss. Only the Deathlords exceed their occult might, and none surpass
their wisdom.
In truth the most powerful of the dead, the Dual Monarchs are far from the least politically potent. As a matter
of deception, they have reached out with bejeweled hands and intentionally tangled the bureaucracies and courts
that surround them with red tape and pointless intrigue. They have receded into their ritual, allowing others to
believe they are governed by their constant ritual propitiations. While so hidden, they advance their agenda
through both overt allies, such as Master Amenti and the clerics, and more concealed friends, such as the Hollow
King. They also make use of the less obvious methods of courtly gossip and well-placed arrests. Their ultimate
objective is to continue the rivalry between the Deathlords and prevent any kind of unity between them. In so
doing, they hope to ensure the continuing safety of Stygia and, perhaps one day, freedom from the Deathlords’
grasp. However, should their conspiracy ever be discovered, the Dual Monarchs know that they will cease to
function as free-thinking rulers, assuming the Deathlords even allow them to continue to exist. So, they remain
quiet, playing a deadly and secretive game of cat and mouse with Deathlords who are too busy with their own
machinations to notice.
19
CHAPTER ONE • STYGIA
but for the worst offenses and the most dangerous ghosts,
it is a possibility. In the most truly heinous cases, the
criminal is cast into the Mouth of the Void. Discounting
the ravages of the First and Forsaken Lion, this punishment
has been issued only thrice in the history of Stygia,
and each instance was a somber and dreadful affair.
THE COUNCIL OF STYGIA
In contrast to the Dual Monarchy’s palace, the housing
of the City Council is unattractive, built with gray
stone and buttressed with square, efficient pillars. Within
the ugly, scarred exterior, a maze of handsomely decorated
rooms and hallways spiral around a grand central room,
where the squabbling and powerful legislature sits. The
City Council of Stygia serves to counterbalance the pomp
and opulence of the Dual Monarchy with practical, if
argumentative, politics. Those who seek real power find it
in the whispered conspiracies of the Council’s back rooms
as well as in the melodramatic speeches given on the floor
of its congress.
Due to the machinations and assassinations of Stygia’s
politics, the membership of the Council changes from year
to year. A perfect and current list would be impractical,
and so, only five of the current thirteen are presented
below. For further details on the districts each Council
member leads, see pages 21-33.