Marra hardly ever sends a representative to a trial. She is opposed to Asmodeus, but does not fight Him in this area. Judges tolerate when Heaven and Nirvana cooperate, but would balk at a representative outright arguing against their own alignment, whether devil or marrenai.

Marra's followers, at least those who intend to serve in Her infernal realm, are Lawful Evil enough to outweigh a devil's mild deniable incompetence.

So this case was a surprise. A traveling merchant, accosted by brigands, froze to death and was found by a desperate innkeeper, who cooked him into a stew. Thus a Marran cult staying at the inn consumed his flesh. Unknowingly, but Marra's compact with Asmodeus for the souls of the damned didn't say that Her faithful had to know what they were doing.

There was a cleric in the group - Marran cult chapters always have a cleric - and Marra has the domain of Evil (Cannibalism). The merchant was not of particular importance to Asmodeus, had no clear alignment, and was in a region of Andoran where Asmodeus's view was weak. Marra called dibs on representing Hell and gave Her ex-lawyer-angel an urgent command to attend the man's trial.

With no likely resurrection, a lesser psychopomp had judged him Chaotic Neutral and published the case. Nirvana immediately appealed, as always. The Maelstrom didn't comment, but the Abyss did and the case was forced to go to trial. The decedent had been dead for several hours before Marra noticed him, so Kireh had barely minutes to prepare before her summoning to the trial.

She lands in the courtroom poised and calm, surveying the room, thoughtfully, guided by her habits. (She loves being a marrenai.)

There's a vividly green snake with a determined gaze.

A ball of machinery radiating beams of light.

... a plant?

And an elephant with a bunch of bloody tentacles.

Ah, she was wondering if the demon would show up.

The plant is actually a snake-like creature with a smattering of disk-shaped fronds, who whispers something to the snake agathion and snickers hissingly.

The judge strides out of the shadows, a looming humanoid with a set expression and black feathers for hair.

A winged skeleton leads the decedent, a human named Victor Malosloff, to the opposite station, and stands guard perched behind him.

"Do you know where you are?"

    "... Elysium?"

"You have not been tried yet. This is a court of Pharasma in the Boneyard. Does it sound to you like we are speaking in a language you understand, using words you are familiar with, at a speed you can follow?"

    "What happens if I say no?"

The judge gives him a stern look.

    "...Yes."

"Do you understand that you had, while alive, the capacity to take actions, and that those actions had effects on the world and on other people?"

    "Yes."

"Do you understand that the purpose of this court is to determine your alignment and which afterlife you are assigned to?"

    "Yes."

"Very well. Here opens Maelstrom vs Malosloff." (As this case is and will be known, wherever Malosloff ends up.)

"I vote for Elysium!"

"This isn't Andoran. The decision is mine, informed by the arguments of your various advocates. You may participate in the debate. If you wish, I will grant you the first opening argument."

Headshake!

"Thank you, Your Grace.

Well I'm Good because I didn't hurt anyone and I always traded fairly. And I'm Chaotic because I didn't settle down, I couldn't stand the idea of staying in one place."

"Dealing fairly is Law, not Good."

"Not always. Abyss vs Brun 3044: completing a deal as an act of altruism may be Good, if betrayal is 'so commonplace as to cast doubt on all such agreements'."

"Which is not relevant to a merchant in Andoran traveling the same route repeatedly and maintaining a reputation."

"Travel is not inherently Chaotic, but rebelling against the expectations of one's family and culture is. Furthermore, the decedent's mouse breeding was culturally transgressive and an 'innovation intended to be disruptive', Maelstrom vs Nakamoto 2985."

"And it hurt people."

When the demon doesn't continue, she jumps in: "specifically, the people who he refused to aid, keeping his resources for his own project, and the creatures he planned to enslave, and arguably did."

"Farm animals are not slaves, Asmodeus vs Erastil undated."

"They weren't intended to be mere animals."

"Even so, 'involuntary unremunerated servitude' is not sufficient to establish slavery, it must also be 'ego-dystonic at some time in reality or a near hypothetical', Hell vs Bales Sertes, 4701."

She has no recollection of that case. It sounds like a threat to Marra's Law (Slavery) domain. She is not alarmed (yay being a marrenai), but she'll have to report it later...

"That case is so far out of jurisdiction I don't think it technically exists."

"They were intended to coexist peacefully with the extant races. That's why the decedent chose mice."

"That was a careless choice, which could have been prevented by researching mouse behavior in advance, and could have been revisited after the decedent became aware of his own mice injuring and killing each other."

"I didn't have space to keep them properly!"

"Careless cruelty."

"The decedent removed the aggressors from the breeding population. He saw the conditions he kept the mice in as a necessary sacrifice. He was neither careless nor sadistic."

"However we categorize the mice, as they exist and as the decedent intended them to become, his behavior of considering some of them unimportant and expendable for the sake of the others is Evil."

"That is a trade that people of all alignments may make."

"I said he considered them 'unimportant'. He went beyond the necessity of a trade to considering some of his mice to be unworthy of care."

"Let's hold off on slogging through his minute-to-minute motivations unless that becomes necessary for Leudorfell. And also wait on a 'myriad daily actions' ruling. He intended to cause broad changes to society, I quote: 'a cantrip-mouse in every home, a healer-mouse in every town'. At the very least, that would cause a population boom. Chaos."

So is Elysium trying to get him ruled Chaotic on the hopes that Axis and Hell will then stop trying, leaving Good with two advocates (one, Nirvana, presumably very experienced) against Evil with one (a random demon who thought this sounded fun), and no Neutral? Even if that works it's only a small expected effect on the likely verdict (and the demon seems pretty well-prepared), and if the decedent is ruled Lawful that leaves a stronger imbalance for Evil.

"I concur, let's focus on the Law/Chaos of that particular act for now. He did not intend to disrupt any systems, so we can only speculate on the likely results. Golarion has many species already, adding one more isn't a big deal. We could draw analogy with other acts of establishing trade." She can't recall any of the case law...

Axis can!

"Those analogies break down because mice require much less food than most sentient species and reproduce faster."

"The mice he planned to breed, with the average Intelligence and lifespan needed to have a first-circle wizard in every town, would disrupt the balance of power."

"Not necessarily." Coordinating to overthrow a lord is hard for any mortal species and thank Marra for the Intelligence that let her remember the decedent is from Andoran before she said that aloud.

"It's possible to keep a wizard enslaved. See: Cheliax. That would avoid disruption of existing social structures."

"That's enough factual speculation to establish the hypothetical consequences of this act to be of unclear systemic alignment, thank you. Are there any further legal arguments?"

"The decedent obeyed all laws relevant to his project. In observation of the Bellis prohibition on bringing 'vermin' into the city proper, he camped in The Pit, at personal inconvenience, loss of custom, and danger."

"That's a 'myriad daily actions' argument."

"Yes. I do not hold Axis to be out of order, but unless there are other legal arguments about the systemic alignment of the decedent's project, considered as having singular import, let's move on to its moral alignment."

"Forcing a slave to bear children is Evil, as is enslaving those children. However we decide the status of the mice as they are now, at some point they would have unambiguously been more than just farm animals."

"This slavery stuff is nuts! I just wanted to improve people's lives, and I wanted the mice to be happy too!"

"Shh."

"And yet he did not take care of them as if he saw them as more than playthings, casting doubt on all of his supposedly-noble intentions."

"What, so my good intentions make it worse for me? That makes total sense, tentacle dude."

"Mortals are assumed not to be legible unless proven so, Abyss vs Freeman 0831. By correlating feelings and actions, we gain information about the feelings."

"I advise you not to argue without training."

"So I just sit here helplessly? Nothing I do matters?"

"Continuing this conversation is not in your interest."

"Objection!"

"In the opinion of Nirvana."

"I still object. If Nirvana is going to advise the decedent, backed by the reputation of Sarenrae, then I, representing Marra, who has a claim on his soul should he be found Lawful Evil, ought to be allowed to advise him backed by an explanation of what Marra would offer him."

"Denied. This court is no place for proselytization. Hell may advise the decedent, to be interpreted how he pleases. Factions within each plane are irrelevant."

"Are you a devil, wolf girl? What is it that the snake doesn't want me to know?"

"Your Honor?"

"She's a marrenai, not a devil. If you don't know what that means - I only found out when I checked the roster an hour ago - that is not a matter for this court."

"And to answer your second question, actually Hell agrees with Nirvana."

"Go rend yourself."

"Order!"

"There are four things a decedent can do that matter: draw attention to particular aspects of their life, make legal arguments, think thoughts which they overlooked in life, and take real actions affecting other people."

"Of which the first is by far the most common. You are not trained to argue in this court, did not have your thoughts particularly suppressed while you were alive, and while it is theoretically possible to change alignment after death" sharp glance at Kireh "it is very rare. Focus on searching your memory for examples of behavior characteristic of the alignment you want, and stay silent unless there's an opportunity to use your examples to disprove an unfair generalization."

"So, as a pure hypothetical, if I were to go punch miss fang-y not-a-devil and then strangle her with the snake, would that affect my alignment?"

"In theory, yes, towards Chaos, and Evil if you consider us to be people."

"He does."

"The bailiff would stop you before you got that far, anyway.

Axis agrees that the decedent's project, if successful, would have caused increased population of extant mortal species, which is not inherently Good or Evil; Abaddon vs Mozi -0391. By analogy, creating the new population of mice is also neither Good nor Evil. The relations between them and the other species, and any resulting Good or Evil done, is too speculative to be attributed to the decedent."

"Hell concurs. On a more personal scale, though, we can predict a few hundred slaves being created and distributed. With some Good results, sure, so let's start the Leudorfell."

"I object to the term 'Leudorfell' being used in this colloquial manner. The decedent had a non-Evil alternative. Also, the balancing test of Leudorfell looks at results, not hypotheticals."

"Well then I would argue that he did not actually have a non-Evil alternative, so we do the balancing test, and the actual results of the decedent's project so far include negligible Good and plenty of Evil."

"Keeping fewer mice in better conditions. Not doing the project at all. Hiring a wizard for research, or a druid to Speak With Animals. Becoming a wizard himself."

"Most of those proposals are not feasible, and 'not acting' is too vague, Elysium vs Friston 2006. That leaves treating the mice better at the cost of slowing the project.... Fine, there was an alternative. If we're just looking at results, the project still wasn't Evil, because keeping farm animals in 'conditions better than natural' is not Evil, Asmodeus vs Erastil undated."

"The unusual aggression implies that the conditions were not better than natural."

"That was quickly fixed."

While they argue about this point that doesn't matter because they're not actually using literal Leudorfell, she's going to think.

So far she's been reacting on habit - which is fine, her habits are working - and periodically reorienting (yep, still in a court in the Boneyard, no threats, no other opportunities). Time to strategize.

Goals: stay alive, do her duties, seek fulfillment. Her relevant duties are to argue for Lawful Evil, argue for Law, set useful precedent, deal fairly, and represent Marra to potential recruits. Personally, she wants to use this opportunity to practice mental skills and become more useful to Marra, advance Marra's interests, and, to the degree permitted by her duties, get a judgement that pleases her.

(Yes, advancing Marra's interests is a personal goal, not a duty. Marra demands specific duties from her feudal vassals, not 'take My goals as your own'. In fact, using your superiors for your own purposes is a Marran virtue.)

Actually one of her reactions was incorrect. Elysium made an argument about what counts as slavery. She was worried that narrowing the definition would hurt Marra, but Marra's 'slavery' subdomain is bundle of god-magic that has nothing to do with the word.

(And of course Her related areas of concern, Paternalism and Feudalism, are god-concepts that do not depend on the definitions used by anyone else, but that's not what Kireh was thinking about.)

Queue revisiting that question. Queue, at lower priority, figuring out why she made that mistake.

What is the shape of this case? No more grand speculation. Shorter term speculation is clearly Lawful Evil. In fact, wanting to own people and shape them to be powerful and useful and satisfied with their place is very fitting for Marra. The 'myriad daily actions' lean toward Law and Evil, in her opinion from skimming the notes - she'll have to improvise on that. (Would the decedent help, as the agathion advised him, if his preference for Elysium were ruled out? Queue that.) A literal application of Leudorfell either gives no alternative, and the project as a whole is Evil, or an alternative, and the results of how he carried it out are Evil.

(Speaking of which: orient. Are they still arguing about literal Leudorfell? Okay, keep thinking.)

...No more grand speculation on the effect of the project on society. But: What alignments would mice have? What alignment did Malosloff want them to have? (Neutral Good) What gods would they follow? At what point would they have souls? 

The answers to those questions lean Chaotic and Good, unfortunately. (If only he had picked rats instead of mice.)

Pop from the queue. How would narrowing the definition of slavery affect precedent? It would allow new precedent for not-technically-slavery, which might make rulings of Law and Evil easier. Or harder. Which would get Marra more or fewer souls - wait no. Marra's followers are easily ruled Lawful Evil. It would get other gods more or fewer souls.

The goal, then: make Law easier, make Evil harder.

How would this affect the world?

More things-that-Marra-likes-that-aren't-technically-slavery.

More crime by not-technically-slaveowners, if they get a big enough boost to Law. Kireh doesn't like that personally, but Marra would be fine with it as long as they fulfill their duties. ...Prioritize making Evil harder, if there's any precedent to be set.

While simultaneously winning the case and not offending the judge.

"It's not cowardice to obey five armed men when they order you to strip and jump into the snow."

"I'm not contesting that, but he could have mentioned the mice to the bandits."

"And then what? They kill the mice, or sell them, or maybe take great care of them - it's too speculative. A scry on the current conditions of the mice is permitted, but, without information on the counterfactual, is of little use -"

"I am not convinced that this point is important enough to delay for a scry."

"Limiting ourselves to standard discovery, the decedent was panicking at the time, a standard Calvonar impairment under which simple oversight may be excused, and he did regret this later."

"Objection, In re Crouse -"

"The oversight 'is considered to have no moral or systemic alignment'."

"Thank you. Hell concurs with Nirvana that nothing important to this trial happened in the last hour of the decedent's life. Let's return to the medium-term local extrapolated effects of the project."

"Yeah you all are showing classic dramatic-death bias.

Anyway, the project wouldn't have worked, so that leaves his 'myriad daily actions', which are clearly Chaotic Good."

The azata sure seemed to be acting earlier on the assumption that the project could have worked! Well, that's Chaotic people for you.

(In re Crouse establishes that the court is for sorting the decedent; the court itself is Neutral. Therefore, the court does not 'excuse' Evil. In re Calvonar can in fact be used to discard acts of any alignment. The objection was not critical here, but some judges don't like when you pass up an opportunity to object and then try to raise the same objection later.

Personally, Kireh really hates when Good assumes that everyone agrees with them.

Systemic alignment could maybe be divided into a few separate qualities: self-consistency, keeping promises, obeying mortal laws, god-stuff she doesn't understand...but it's still a fundamental part of the world. Good, however, is just someone's preference. Not even Pharasma's preference, just something She decided to sort on!

Good is not altruism. Good is not hedonism. Good is not pride in others. Good is not friendliness.

You could just as well divide the world along, say, Awesome/Boring. Marra and Iomedae are Awesome; Zon-Kuthon and Erastil are Boring. Or Diverse/Uniform: Cayden Cailean is Boring Uniform. Desna is Boring Diverse. Milani is Awesome Uniform. Kofusachi is Awesome Diverse.

Marra is Awesome Diverse and Asmodeus is Neutral Uniform.)

"It's hard to say if the project would have worked or not. My point about the use of hundreds of slaves in the near hypothetical has not been addressed. The decedent's death falls under the unforeseeable disruption exception of Hell vs Ulianof, so we should still consider the likely results of the project if it had gone as planned."

"That's unjustified speculation. The decedent might have identified precisely when the mice became people rather than farm animals. The populace of Andoran strongly disapproves of slavery - yes, I can cite data on that."

"That's a bold claim that the decedent would know when the mice became people capable of being enslaved."

"There is a circus cult traveling on a route close to his which provides subsidized castings of Early Judgement. Even if they charged full price, that was readily available -"

"An attack by bandits is not an unforeseeable disruption to a merchant traveling alone. So Hell vs Ulianof applies and this speculation is irrelevant.

Failure to plan ahead for the mice's care after his death falls under Heaven vs Shepherd -10000 and is not Evil."

(Kireh knew full well about the Marran cult chapter - some of them are going to be hers! Too bad the agathion noticed the trap but this is almost as good.)

"If the mice are farm animals, then Shepherd, fine. Are they?"

The judge takes a silent deep breath, looking around the room. "Before considering a fact-finding mission, does anyone have an argument that might make the mice's factual nature irrelevant?"

"Supposing that the mice are fully people capable of being enslaved, the decedent did not believe that. His assessment was that the most impressive ones behaved like, I quote, 'moderately smart dogs'. If that mitigating factor is strong enough, and the duration and counts of the slavery minimal enough, we don't need additional facts.

I believe that the mitigating factor is very strong. He paid a lot of attention to their behavior!

To be clear, I propose a mitigating factor on any slavery actually committed, as district from our previous discussion of the decedent's possible mistaken beliefs about the future under Hell vs Ulianof."

"And it's unlikely that the mice could spontaneously become capable of deceiving the decedent about their capabilities without any signs leading up to this development."

"Do you have data on that? Because I think it's entirely possible. He talked to them, as is common to talk to dogs, not actually trying to teach them any language, spoken or otherwise. His evaluation was mostly based on their dog-like friendliness and their performance on physical puzzles.

Would they have tried to initiate communication? Not any more than a feral child does."

"How about instead of wasting your time, Your Gr- Honor, Fangs and Slithery just slug it out right now?"

"I would like to analyze your systemic alignment further before agreeing to that particular set of combatants, but I admit that that sounds appealing compared to a fact-finding mission followed by tedious precedent-setting."

"Thank you, Mr. Malosloff, for that remarkable display of humility."

"And cruelty."

"Your Honor, I was summoned here with a spell that prevents me from fighting. If Hell is to engage in a trial by combat, may I nominate a substitute?"

"Absolutely not. No more than Hell may swap out an Imp for a Pit Fiend on the occasion of a trial by combat."

"Then I decline, Your Honor."

"If the decedent is found Chaotic, will you fight, Abyss?"

Smirk. "No, Your Honor."

(He doesn't bother asking Axis.)

"Are there any other points?

Very well. I plan to request the assistance of two Ember Weavers. I will scry a mouse. An Ember Weaver will Plane Shift me and its kin to Material and both cast Locate Creature, Flying apart to triangulate. I will Greater Teleport to the mouse by myself, investigate, return to our landing spot on the Material, and the other Ember Weaver will Plane Shift us home.

Any adjustment proposals?"

"I propose to join the mission and use my 3/day Detect Anxieties and Detect Desires to examine the mice. Dismiss me, requisition the wand of Summon Cantor, summon me again after Teleporting to the mice. Dismiss and resummon me back here."

"I don't have Use Magic Device, but I can summon the Catrina who used the wand the first time... I will accept that cost, but will Hell pay for the additional two charges from the wand?"

"For this case only, without setting precedent, speaking as a vassal of Marra officially representing Her, Hell will pay that cost, Your Honor."

(Which means Marra will pay, routed through the fiction of a unified Hell.)

"Are there any objections to this proposal?"

Suspicious glare!

Sigh. "No objection, Your Honor."

"I think it's great."

Glare glare glare glare glare

"I accept Hell's proposal. Any other adjustments?

This court is now in recess in the matter of Maelstrom vs Malosloff."

Axis lays still, making whirring and clicking noises, light dimmed.

The demon sharpens each tusk with a tentacle-held iron bar.

Elysium shuffles notes frantically. (One might say, chaotically.)

"Mr. Malosloff, how are you doing?"

Shrug.

"Please answer only yes or no: have you made progress searching your memory for examples of behavior showing your preferred alignment?"

"Moderately."

"Do you want advice? Please don't say any details."

"No."

"So it looks like we're going to consider your moral alignment next. If you're found to be Neutral or Evil, do you have a preference for your systemic alignment? Once my own alignment is ruled out, I'll be allowed to argue for whatever you prefer."

"Your Honor, may I proselytize now that your court is in recess?"

"Yeah, sure. Don't interrupt me again, I'm going to start scrying now."

"Please leave me alone. Both of you." He curls up with his arms over his head.

The agathion says nothing and immediately slithers over to the Elysium desk, climbs up the leg, and looks at the azata's notes.

"I know this is unpleasant, but it's important.

Your beliefs about Hell, from what I skimmed in the brief, are mostly accurate, but irrelevant for you. You got very lucky by accidentally meeting the requirements to belong to my god, Marra. She's new and obscure and much cooler than Asmodeus, who rules most of Hell, the parts you've heard of. She will let you keep almost everything you like about yourself, and as much of your memory as the average angel or agathion keeps.

Asmodeus only lets people be happy in narrow ways, which in practice means that devils are usually miserable. Marra is indifferent to most happiness and actively in favor of vanity. Also, once you definitely belong to Her, She will make sure you succeed at becoming something awesome.

The Abyss is worse than you think. You can't just 'wander forever in the dark'; it's eat or be eaten, and both are unpleasant. You might find a demon lord to follow who will protect you and make you awesome, but probably not. You might obtain followers of your own who you can shape to be awesome, like your mice, but almost certainly not. Marra can give you a guarantee on both.

If you agree to push for Law, if you're found to be Evil, then if Evil is ruled out I'll argue for your preferred systemic alignment." (Normally she has a duty to argue for Law then, but she's choosing to prioritize the duty of winning outright, which is allowed. In the unlikely case that she's making a mistake, she might be punished for it later, but fairly, in a way which teaches her how to think better and serve Marra better.) "I can read your mind if I touch you, to verify your agreement and learn your preferences - it's slightly better to keep them secret."

"Don't touch me."

The bailiff spreads a wing between them.

Victor Malosloff startles, gaping at the winged skeleton, which apparently he had forgotten was lurking behind him.

Kireh's 14 Splendor is enough for her to know that she's not going to get any further in this conversation!

She ambles over to eavesdrop on the plant-snake and the snake-snake.

Glare

"...which means the decedent was a slave of the mice. Tricky little creatures. Of course the paladin knew that but was oath-bound - can I help you?"

"Yes, actually. I promised to argue for the decedent's preferred systemic alignment if he's not Evil, but I don't know his preference. Of course, I'll tell you if I find out first."

"Agreed.

The paladin was oath-bound not to say, but Malosloff was blackmailing her to break her oath. Normally that would be Chaotic and Evil, but since she was secretly a bard and kept Modify Memory-ing him..."

With nothing else to do here, she asks the clerk to have her dismissed early.

(Yeah, there's been a clerk unobtrusively taking notes this whole time.)

The clerk leaves, and a few minutes later -

- she's back in Stonepeak, in the Marran library. The window shows swirling snow and the distant glow of Avernus.

Kireh's first duty is to check on her charges.

One ex-angel is still out flying in the storm meditating. The others are doing fine. The ex-axiomite has questions but they can wait.

The petitioners need more work. She spends five minutes with each, talking and occasionally listening to their thoughts (which she can do at will, but intruding on a person's thoughts too much distorts them). The infant silently clings to Kireh's fur. The new arrival is still being punished. Kireh holds her and tells her how it's almost over, just a few days more, and then she'll never be punished for anything from her mortal life ever again and she's going to be so so awesome.

And then, baby still attached, to the library!

The Marran library does not have a large legal section.

She can only find one reference to Asmodeus vs Erastil undated, in a book from five centuries ago. According to Beyond the Boneyard Basics: 216 MORE standard citations:

Asmodeus vs Erastil (no date). Farm animals are not slaves. FUN fact: this case was decided by Pharasma Herself while the world was so young that time didn't exist!

Great, so probably the actual ruling is in god-concepts she's literally incapable of containing in her mind. The book doesn't mention 'conditions better than natural', the quote the agathion gave. Also, he said 'is not Evil' not 'is not slavery'.

Do the stone giants have anything better?

The stone giants do not have any books on soul-court law at all.

She flags down the meditating ex-angel and sends him to the main camp to request use of the wand of Planar Inquiry. (He wants to be a Sietaziz Marrenai, so flying though the storm with genuinely urgent orders is good for him.)

She wants to spend how much on this case? Ohhh, wow, yeah the budget is pretty large then. (Queue looking into getting some better books so we don't have to use a Planar Inquiry in the future. Blocking task: estimate budget for books. Actually delay all of that until after this case is resolved and Kireh can be consulted.)

She summons an Arbiter Inevitable. They negotiate payment of:

• 6 songs, an ocarina, a tapestry, and a book of math puzzles
• An IOU of sexual favors
• Some ordinary gold pieces
• And the rest in "I'll have my god talk to your god"

"Okay, so the ruling was made before the legal term 'slavery' was defined, but obviously that's what it was about, from dicta as early as -5305: not hurting animals, but keeping them. In -4002, Nirvana vs S'aBatu officially clarified this: One, the Evil referred to by Asmodeus vs Erastil is in fact 'slavery'. Two, that in order to apply, the conditions of the animals must be 'better than natural'. Three, that physically containing animals is not relevant, but 'controlling them as possessions'. Hell vs Pech -4002, a day later, further stated that 'controlling them as possessions' means concrete actions, real or near hypothetical, to control the animals, and thoughts related to those actions. Other thoughts are not relevant, nor are thoughts or actions about controlling as possessions beings which are not farm animals."

"The reason the conditions have to be 'better than natural', not merely as good as natural, was because the judge considered it impossible to precisely know the quality of life of another being and so any claim of exact equality is suspicious. With modern statistical techniques, this opinion is disputed, but there has not actually been an opportunity to challenge this part of Nirvana vs S'aBatu -4002 in the last eight thousand years.

What is a farm animal? Simply, an animal covered under Asmodeus vs Erastil undated, as interpreted by later rulings. A similar term appears in other jurisdictions' property law, but not in Pharasma's courts.

Abaddon vs Callow -3289: goblins are not farm animals. Officially because they have souls, but the transcript shows that most of the court was incredulous at the idea, implying that there were other obvious reasons. Axis vs Catchall -2407: pets are farm animals, confirming that the term 'farm animal' has nothing to do with agriculture. In re Smith -2328: feeding an animal only counts as 'controlling' it if the animal's behavior was modified significantly or in a way that made it dependent on continued feeding, and the person intended the feeding to have some lasting effect on the animal. Erastil vs Aolar -1210: any entity with 3 or higher Intelligence is not an animal."

"I'm curious about feral children."

(A Planar Inquiry only gives you one question, but her question ended with 'with elaboration on anything else you think I might want to know'.)

"I assume you mean, if they have measured Intelligence of 2 or less. They would normally be covered under 'medical' and 'disabled person' law... Because their natural state is in a society, right? Actually that's debatable, and I'm not an expert on the Green Faith. Ask three-vertical-dots hollow-diamond long-zig-zag; she's an Arbiter who lives in Aktun and charges about my consulting rate.

Anyway, Hell vs Masks 3340 stated that a population of Intelligence 2 Halflings were not farm animals, but they were being deliberately poisoned."

"If they had been bred to have 2 Int, I don't see any reason they would be excluded from Asmodeus vs Erastil undated. You're asking about the reverse: breeding animals to have higher Int, which means they're clearly not animals anymore under Erastil vs Aolar. But since they don't have any natural environment at all, Good might argue that they're also not covered by 'disabled person' law, which is much more strict, requiring such a person to be treated 'as a common person' by default, with all deviations justified."

"That's In re Williams 1905. I expect Good will try to carve out a narrower exception, relying on the decedent's certainty that the mice were not people, which is partially justified by the novelty of the situation because he didn't have a good reference class."

"Wizard familiars? Which are not slaves."

"True. Familiars are not slaves because they can leave, which the mice couldn't.

If a familiar is made from an ordinary animal, most of its mind is crafted artificially, and it's designed to be loyal to its wizard. By analogy, if the mice had been able to leave, but didn't because of being bred for affection, that would not be slavery."

"That sounds perfect. What's the citation for familiars not being slaves?"

Blink. "Abyss vs Liadon -5005. Wow, you've lost a lot, have you ever considered switching again to Axis?"

"No, and we're on a time limit."

"Obviously I'm not going to charge you for unrelated chatting!

For the second part of your question, I recommend The 614th Encyclopedia of Afterlife Case Law and the patch pamphlets for the 615th and 616th editions. 613th is okay if you're tighter on money than time - the 614th patch is several hundred pages. Disputes of the Gods by bowtie checkered-square trefoil and Judge Gloming. Calmly Facing Evil across the Bench from Salvation Press is useful whatever your alignment, assuming you're going to be training students, oh and also Pragmatic Persuasion: 16 Soul-Court Transcripts with Commentary."

"Marrenai don't have issues with emotional regulation."

"Cool! Neither do we!

Oh and From Leudorfell to Lily-Rose: Tracking Structure Like the Pros.

See you in court someday!"

Zoooooom poof

She gets the baby settled with the nearest Gofiere Marrenai and waits for her summon, skimming through Beyond the Boneyard Basics.

Maelstrom v. Ndaya, 0454. Actions still count when taken under Charm Person. Charm Person is considered to be a way of lying to someone, not changing who they are. Examples: Breaking a rule while charmed counts against Law. Helping an apparent "friend" is Good, but is considered to be helping a friend, not a hostile stranger, even if that's what they actually are. (See Abyss vs Guilliard -5041.) Killing the caster is self-defense, but is also still the murder of a friend.

Abyss vs Guilliard, -5041. Restricts Sarenrae vs Erastil, the principle that helping someone close to you is 'less Good' than helping a stranger or enemy. Amends 'less Good' to 'less indicative of Good'. The direct effects of the two actions on moral alignment, in result and in intent, are judged identically. However, the distinction may be factored into assessments of the decedent's character, such as used to evaluate hypotheticals.

Note: This ruling compares identical acts. It does not restrict the weighting of acts which differ in intent or result. For example, favoring a friend in expectation of reciprocity is different from aiding a stranger with no further expectations, and may be either more or less Good depending on the details. Feeding one's family is different from feeding a desperate starving stranger.

FUN fact: This case was actually about Evil acts, not Good ones, even though Evil acts are excluded from Sarenrae vs Erastil!

Elysium argued that a serial killer sparing his own family, whom he specifically wanted to kill, was an act of Good that more than cancelled out the smaller number of actual murders. Abaddon agreed that it was Good, but invoked Sarenrae vs Erastil to argue it was not sufficient Good to balance the actual killings. The judge initially rejected this argument.

Hell argued by analogy with Boneyard vs Ket; Elysium countered that the analogy was flawed: taking and then freeing a slave is closer to killing and then resurrecting someone than to wanting to kill someone and refraining. Abaddon proposed a thought-experiment where a person was forced to kill exactly one of a pair containing a friend and a stranger. The judge accepted the point as now restated, and used it to justify partially overruling Sarenrae vs Erastil instead of expanding it to cover Evil as well as Good.

Hell finally argued that the acts being compared were not the same, given strong social norms against harming one's family, which had influenced the decedent. Thus Sarenrae vs Erastil did not apply either before or after the modification, the decedent was Evil, and sparing his family was Lawful. Verdict: Hell.

See this is why the whole idea of 'friendship' is a mess!

And here's her summon. A summon. Not at any of her scheduled times so it's either the right one or someone is having a spiritual emergency.

What's the offering?

A piece of paper that says 'Maelstrom v. Malosloff, engrave peppermint orange circadian'.

What a good offering, just what she wanted.

And now she's in a small gorge dotted with twisted pine saplings. It's a cold winter night. A red wagon sits, with no horse.

The Catrina gives Kireh the paper offering and returns the wand to Judge Rectibius.

"No one is around but the mice."

Detect Anxieties.

There are creatures with anxieties.

There are about 120 creatures with anxieties. Most are shaken, some are frightened, and a few are cowering. Wisdom 13 on average, min 7, max 16.

They're worried that food is late, the Creature with the Big Warm Hands is missing, and they're cold. One of them dropped a puzzle piece.

Detect Desires.

There are creatures with desires.

There are about 120 creatures with desires. Splendor: average 4, min 2, max 6.

They want food, warmth, new toys (usually particular ones from neighboring cages), to explore the wagon, to get into the male/female cages (some of them want sex; some of them don't know what they want just that it's vitally important), to figure out this really hard puzzle, to go back to sleep. One wants to go looking for the Creature with the Big Warm Hands and drag it home like a pup. Another wants to find the Creature and eat it.

She reports all this to the judge.

He steps into the wagon for a minute.

"We're finished here."

And a few minutes later, she's summoned to the courtroom again.

"Here reopens the court in the matter of Maelstrom vs Malosloff.

The fact-finding mission went exactly as planned. The mice mostly have Intelligence 3. One has 4.

I experimentally determined that they do not have sufficient life force to constitute souls capable of traveling the length of the River of Souls.

Hell, report."

She describes her observations truthfully and completely.

"Does anyone dispute a finding of Evil?"

"What are you basing that judgement on, Your Honor?"

"Their Intelligence."

"You can't just decide that! You have to let us actually argue the point!

Your Honor."

"While technically a judge may use any fair mechanism, if you are still using standard legal protocol, Your Honor, then your introduction of Erastil vs Aolar -1210 was out of order."

Sigh.

"Fine. I have another case in an hour, so keep it quick. Remember we still haven't decided on the decedent's systemic alignment and that's going to go to his 'myriad daily actions'. Hell, say what you're thinking."

Wait what, say all of what she was thinking or just her next step in the dance?

"Per Erastil vs Aolar -1210, creatures with greater than 2 Intelligence are not animals. Thus the mice are not covered under Asmodeus vs Erastil undated. Thus they are slaves.

They don't have souls, but that doesn't make them animals any more than wizard familiars are animals."

"Familiars are not slaves because they stay voluntarily, Abyss vs Liadon -5005. Many of the mice liked him, leaving just a few counts of slavery, mitigated by ignorance as we discussed earlier. So we have to go to his 'myriad daily actions' for moral alignment after all."

Yes! "I'll accept that."

"I don't. You can make any slave like their master if you try hard enough. The mice couldn't leave."

"Do you have data on that? Nevermind, even if you can make a slave like their master with enough magic and mind reading and torture, that's itself Evil, and requires them to be a slave to start with, which is not what the decedent did. He bred them to be affectionate."

"I think we've had enough of this. A few counts of slavery remain, mitigated, but he's still Evil. Arguments on systemic alignment?"

"He followed laws and dealt fairly his whole life, with some imperfection, but he strove to respect the law."

The agathion does not look happy. "Nirvana concurs."

"Any other arguments?

Very well. Lawful Evil."

Miracle. Victor Malosloff disappears.

She won. Yay?

A few hours later, a devil flies to the border of Stonepeak with Malosloff's burnt and lacerated body and throws him over.

A Sietaziz catches him and brings him to his assigned Cantor (not Kireh), who comforts him and tells him that Asmodeus's transport is horrible but he wasn't in any actual danger, and now he's safe forever.

Interesting background, does he want to aim to be a Cantor?

And Kireh gets an unexpected summon!

The offering is a check for 300gp in Axis currency.

She tells a Gofiere to inform her charges that she's taking a summon.

She's in the Boneyard. "Welcome, Ms. Kireh, Cantor Marrenai of Stonepeak. Is that the best way to refer to you?"

"If you want to be really precise, my full mortal name was 'Kireh Sarl' and I was the eighth Cantor who used to be an angel."

"Thank you. Please follow me."

The Catrina goes into a courtroom. Outsiders of many alignments crowd around the edges, and all nine advocates' desks are occupied. There are two extra desks in the middle, with the demon from the trial and Judge Rectibius.

She leads Kireh to the empty decedent's desk.

"And here she is, my first witness -"

"Kireh Sarl, the eighth formerly-angelic Cantor Marrenai, resident of Stonepeak."

"Were you present at the trial of Maelstrom vs Malosloff a few hours ago?"

"Yes, representing Hell."

"Please summarize the course of the trial."

"The trial focused on the decedent's mouse breeding project. We decided that the hypothetical large-scale impact of the project could not be determined, and then discarded all hypotheticals, leaving only actual results. In order to determine if the mice were enslaved the court performed a fact-finding mission to find out more about them. They were capable of being enslaved, according to case law. Finally, the decedent's 'myriad daily actions' were agreed to be Lawful."

"Do you recognize this person's form?"

"That's the form I know Judge Rectibius by, but of course it isn't his real form?"

"Of course not."

"The point is to identify his ring, not his body. Thank you."

"How would you describe his behavior during the trial?"

"Normal... It's been a while since I attended a soul-court and I lost a lot of memories in the meantime, so my idea of normal might not be reliable.

He was in a bit of a rush at the end, after returning from the fact-finding mission."

"What happened during the fact-finding mission?"

"That I personally observed? I was summoned to a place that appeared to be north-west Andoran, with what appeared to be a recently-abandoned merchant's wagon. Judge Rectibius and - that Catrina over there - were already present. I used Detect Anxieties and Detect Desires to examine the mice. Judge Rectibius went inside the wagon. The Catrina dismissed me."

"How many times did you use Detect Anxieties and Detect Desires?"

"One time each."

"Let's go back to the trial. You described Mr. Rectibius as 'in a bit of a rush'. Can you say more?"

"First he jumped to assuming that Erastil vs Aolar had been cited when it hadn't, but I assume he had been thinking about the case and forgot which standard citations had been mentioned yet. Then he said he was in a rush. Finally, he cut off argument about whether the mice were slaves."

"When Mr. Rectibius went inside the wagon, how long did he stay in there?"

"Not very long... A minute, give or take a few rounds."

"After the fact-finding session, when the trial resumed, what were your goals?"

"Your Honor?"

"It's relevant."

"Win the case, deal fairly, represent Marra to potential recruits. If the decedent was found not Evil, argue for Law, or for his preferred systemic alignment if he expressed a preference, as I promised him. Create precedent for a category of beings between animals and people, who can be kept without counting as slavery or as Evil."

"In your assessment, did Etham Rectibius judge fairly?"

"Yes. I was disappointed not to have the opportunity to set precedent, but I don't think he did anything improper."

"Did he change his behavior based on your unexpressed thoughts at any point?"

"Oh. Yes, he did. He told me to say what I was thinking, when he reopened debate on the decedent's moral alignment.

My mistake. As I mentioned, I had significant amnesia recently and, when answering your previous question, I failed to recall that that's out of order."

"At the time, why did you think he said that?"

"I thought that probably he knew that I was going to cite Erastil vs Aolar -1210, as he had mistakenly sort of done, so letting me speak made the trial proceed smoothly.

I wondered if he was trying to arrange an opportunity for me to set precedent, but then he cut off discussion soon after."

"Is supporting or impeding an advocate's legitimate legal strategy proper behavior for a soul-court judge?"

"I don't know."

Judges have a lot of discretion? If Pharasma were Lawful she wouldn't use such a weird complicated system? But during the trial Axis said judges can use any fair mechanism, implying it has to be fair, in some not-necessarily-Lawful sense?

"That's all."

"Does the defence, panel, or gallery wish to cross-examine this witness?

Yes, Heaven."

"What were you hoping to accomplish with your precedent setting?"

"Deprive Marra's competitors, particularly Asmodeus, of souls. Increase the amount of Marran Feudalism and Paternalism on the Prime Material once mortals notice that there's a way to do it that's not Evil, making it more appealing than slavery. Make mortals more inclined towards Marran thought and thus eventually more valuable vassals for Her, and also, more immediately, provide Her more and better clerics. Spread Marra's faith."

"What effect would this have on the well-being of all life on the Prime Material plane?"

"That's speculative."

"In your opinion, getting as close as you can to your state of mind during the trial, what would you say to my previous question?"

"Well I suppose it would be better for those who would otherwise have been enslaved!

I wasn't consciously thinking about anyone's well-being, but I suppose my thoughts included the connotations I have with slavery and feudalism, and comparing the two. Also my personal feelings about - disliking when people are wasted, wanting Marra to be strong so that everyone gets to be awesome. Which doesn't necessarily mean happy, but given the significant formerly-celestial population of marrenai, especially Cantors, happiness is a likely outcome."

Obviously these questions aren't about her opinions, they're about what judge Rectibius might have read from her mind.

"What alignment would you assign to your intent and actions during the trial?"

"As an Evil servant of an Evil god, acting to directly support Her interests, Evil, obviously. Arguably Lawful by the same argument, but if you prefer, I could also look at likely results, namely increasing use of and obedience to the Lawful practice of feudalism."

"And reduced use of slavery, with a disruptive transition period."

"That wasn't my intent, and the results are speculative and highly dependant on many other actions."

"You skipped the part about denying souls to Evil gods.

I state that the witness's actions were Lawful Good, or possibly Neutral Good."

"Reversing Leudorfell to apply to Good done in the service of Evil, we would look at my results, none, and my intentions, Evil." And not speculation, thank you Axis for that pedantry earlier!

"I am done cross-examining this witness."

"Does anyone else want to cross-examine?

Okay. Ms. Kireh, please stay here for the duration of your summon. I accept comments from the gallery; clearly think at me if you want to speak.

Mx., uh, plaintiff, please proceed."

"I now call the defendant, Etham Rectibius, Yamaraj Psychopomp, soul-court judge."

"Were you the judge presiding over Maelstrom vs Malosloff a few hours ago, in which the witness we just saw was advocate for Hell, and in which I was advocate for the Abyss?"

"Yes."

"Do you dispute any of her statements?"

"No."

"Why did you act 'in a bit of a rush'?"

"I was in a rush. I was surprised to find both Hell and the Abyss suddenly much better informed than they were earlier and didn't want them to waste the court's time trying to set precedent, on such an important authority as Asmodeus vs Erastil, in a case that didn't require such argument at all."

"The advocates you impeded are both Evil. Were you biased against Evil?"

"No. Whatever is made of Heaven's argument that the infernal advocate was acting for Good, you and she had directly opposed goals."

"We both wanted to alter 'such an important authority as Asmodeus vs Erastil', with Chaotic world-shaking results. Were you biased against Chaos?"

"No.

I admit that I didn't want the bother of dealing with such a large change, but that is not Lawful."

"Please separate the questions of your own alignment, Mr. Rectibius, and your behavior on the bench. Did you behave in a biased manner?"

"No, I would have acted the same no matter which advocates were acting as you two did."

"What did you do on the fact-finding mission?"

"Located the mice as planned. Examined the mice and the surrounding area with Detect Thoughts. Finding myself alone, I summoned the Catrina, who summoned the advocate for Hell. When the advocate was done examining the mice, I killed them to observe the ability of their life force to stay intact and join the River of Souls."

"How did you justify that intervention on the Prime Material?"

"They were going to die anyway, since the bandits left them to freeze."

"That's false. When Mr. Malosloff failed to arrive in Northford as he intended, one of our, hm, agents went looking for him, and discovered the abandoned wagon, containing a mysterious swarm of beetles instead of mice.

Yes, Mr. Rectibius, your actions have significantly disrupted the efforts of the Abyss. On several occasions, an Oolioddroo Demon was used, of course without Mr. Malosloff's knowledge, to help evaluate and cull the mice."

"You didn't know any of that before."

"Of course. But I demand redress, for that act, and for subsequently preventing argument on Asmodeus vs Erastil."

"What do you want, plaintiff? Maelstrom vs Malosloff has been concluded, and I believe there are no issues with the verdict. A retrial with no decedent would be a farce. If I find that the defendant behaved improperly, I might suspend him for additional training - would that satisfy you?"

"How much slime and pain and filth are involved in Pharasma's training?"

"I am currently inclined to suspend him for three days, during which he will study Pharasma's teachings. This will go on his permanent record.

Yes, Nirvana?"

"Your Honor, while the defendant is suspended, perhaps he could use his Miracles to resurrect nine mice, perhaps of the plaintiff's choice. Mr. Malosloff wanted the mice to be Neutral Good - we could find some other person who would have similar ambitions, perhaps at a Sarenran temple, give them the mice in some deniable way, and let events play out as they may. The Abyss will have a chance of making their argument at some future soul-trial."

"Not a Sarenran temple! Malosloff wasn't actually doing a very good job of making the mice Neutral Good."

"They were affectionate, as animals go."

"Which means very little, when they don't actually have alignments. Malosloff had no concrete plans other than raising them like children, and obviously that doesn't work for children.

Also, I don't want them in reach of Sarenrae, or any other god who isn't Chaotic Evil. I know a perfect cleric of Lamashtu, how about that?"

"Malosloff was not Chaotic Evil. 

How about we keep them in the Boneyard with the babies?"

The judge and just about every other psychopomp in the room glare at him.

Excuse me, Your Honor, I have an idea.

"The Cantor in the gallery."

"It happens that Marra does not send visions, or choose Her clerics' spells, or grant Commune, etc. Within a Marran cult chapter, the mice would actually be unusually protected from divine inference. Malosloff was Lawful Evil, so it's fitting to give the mice another Lawful Evil host.

But if that's not Neutral enough, well Heaven was just arguing that I, a perfected outsider of Marra, had acted for Good, and you, demon, were just arguing that I had acted for Chaos, so I don't think you have any grounds to complain."

It's a overcast winter morning. Chunks of ice float down the river, echoing the logs in the summer.

The Marran encampment's magic shop has just opened.

A person oozes in, wearing a leather jacket that appears to have more life growing in it now than it did when the cow was alive.

"What do you want? The clerk will be here in a moment."

"Greetings on this foul morning, sister in perversion. In the name of the Pallid Princess, I give you, hm, the gift, hm, of vermin."

How many mice can you fit into a rotting badger skull? At least nine!

Squeak!

"I don't understand, uh -"

The person is gone.

(The drips on the floor are still there, already growing mold.)