WORLDBUILDING CLASS - PROJECT #7 - CRIME AND PUNISHMENT IN DEOS

tw: discussion of rape

While physical conflict is encouraged between Xan tribesmen as a method of rooting out the weakness in one another, this controlled violence as much an act of brotherly love as it is an expression of bitterness and hatred, such skirmishes are only permitted under strict regulations and do not usually end in death. To deliberately single out your comrade and undermine them through cowardly means is unacceptable. Xan prize courage and strength first, not sneaky backstabbing, especially for avarice's sake. An insatiable need to dominate others is meant to be directed to the outside world, against rival tribes, not turned inward.

Betrayal, indolence and selfishness - theft, rape, and murder. If you murder someone, you have ultimately allowed your petty squabbles with that individual to overwhelm your obligations to the survival of your clan. You have not only betrayed your tribe-sibling but the tribe at large.

Theft, rape, and murder are the three crimes that Xan do not tolerate, though theft is judged less severely than rape and murder.

Minor infractions such as theft, combined with an overall propensity for sowing dissension among those in the tribe, will result in the offender being exiled. This is tantamount to a death sentence, but meant more as a message: you're not worth the energy it would require putting a blade through your skull. Go off into the world and end your life by your own means so you can finally have control over your death. Obviously, those who have been exiled rarely survive in the wilderness, as it is unlikely they will be accepted by other tribes (a lone Xan is not usually alone by their own volition, which is indicative of their circumstances, and Xan tribes already dislike outsiders). Their only hope is to be accepted back into their tribe or to find shelter elsewhere.

As for murderers and rapists, they are usually killed outright after a short trial process from the leader of the tribe, as well as a regiment of onlookers. This usually includes those who were impacted by the accused's crime, the accused's family (if they are still alive), and the victim (if still alive). The tribe then votes on what to be done with the accused. While death is normally the final outcome, on rare occasions the community has advocated for the detainment and prolonged torture of the offender, who remains alive and invalid as a statement against betrayal within the tribe. This does not happen often because to keep a criminal alive would be to expend precious resources on their undeserved survival. Hence, dispatching the criminal to ensure they will not only never offend again, but drain the colony, is the preferred resolution.

There are no prisons and there isn't necessarily a proper judicial system.