Einheit City Justice and Injustice
An extremely important thing to be very aware of while role-playing here is that Einheit City is under the heel of a totalitarian reign of terror. Freedoms and everyday things we take for granted in the real world are often considered nothing more than a pleasant dream to those who live under the Ministry regime. As with any totalitarian society, there are many laws and de-facto laws used by the powers that be to maintain their authority. Breaking these laws and pseudo-laws, much like breaking laws in the real world, can have consequences. Hence it is especially vital to understand the risks that come with defying the system here in City Of Unity. Ignorance of the law is never an excuse.
While City Of Unity does take place in a make believe world with grandly unrealistic liberties taken with physics, science, and other elements used to enhance the sense of fantasy and fiction, this does not mean that we forego realism when it comes to cause & effect.
If you choose to play your character committing an action which could realistically have consequences, you are required to play out the results in a believable manner consisten with the game's setting. Sometimes your character can evade the consequences if he or she plays it smart, but in Einheit City, the more serious the crime is in the Ministry's eyes, the less likely it is to escape the consequences. Remember that the Ministry is the a terrifyingly cunning and powerful force, by far the most efficient military in known history, and that they are not easily outdone.
Your character committing violations listed here does not always guarantee that they will be punished, but committing one of these violations does mean that you, the player, are consenting to the possibility that your character may face consequences for it, whether the chances of punishment are 1 in 1,000,000, or 1 in 1. This can mean anything from your character being seriously injured, forced into "rehabilitation", imprisoned, or even killed.
If at any point you have questions about the material here, or if you're wondering about anything that wasn't covered on this page, please don't hesitate to contact us. Since this is a fairly large topic, this page may be updated in the future to provide more concise information or clarification as needed.
The Current State of Justice In Einheit City
Explanation of Ministry Extra-Judicial Activity and De-Facto Crime
The Current State of Justice In Einheit City
The current status of law and justice in Einheit City has changed drastically from how it was in its early years.
Under Dr. Frey, public law was enforced by the Einheit Civil Militia, and the accused were guaranteed the fundamental right to a defense attourney and fair trial. Although a paramilitary-police organization, the ECM was a microcosm of the general population at the time rather than an elite, and was heavily scrutinized by Frey's civilian administration to ensure against any abuse of power. This was a revolutionary contrast to the police and military systems of the distant Colonies which Frey and his people left behind, which were often little more than corruptly bureaucratic tangles of state-sanctioned racial supremacy which worked to serve the ruling species of a given Colony. The ECM was commanded by the civilian government, and thus bound to the laws agreed upon by the people.
With the assassination of Dr. Frey and the rise of the Ministry junta, several changes were made in Einheit City. These were fairly gradual, carefully applied at choice points in time rather than a sudden, violent takeover. By exploiting public fears of Colonial infiltration, using cunning propaganda and clandestine social manipulation, citizen rights were slowly restricted. By the time the Ministry's true nature became obvious to purebreds and their sympathizers, its power and influence had grown too strong to be conventionally challenged.
Presently, the legal system established by Frey has been largely erased from the code of justice. Under the Ministry's de-facto martial law, due process exists on paper only, and the accused are treated as guilty until proven innocent. Searches and arrests are conducted without warrants, often without any actual evidence of malignant activity. Individuals being placed under arrest are recited no rights as they were in Dr. Frey's time, but are instead subjected to verbal mazes of complexly bureaucratic edicts to give the illusion of rights or options. Those arrested are commonly forced under duress or outright torture to sign statements of confession. Trials are held in secret and without jury, more resembling grim military tribunals than they do legitimate civil hearings, with verdicts often decided well in advance. Public hearings, when and if they are held, are little more than telescreened kangaroo courts.
Even then, it is common for the Ministry to act as judge, jury, and executioner at the scene of an alleged crime. Although this is more uncommon for UniClassers, who are usually investigated prior to sentencing, it isn't unheard of for some outer classers accused of serious violations to be simply executed on the spot for the sake of judicial expediency, or to set a public example for the cost of making one's self an enemy of the City, of Peace, and of Unity.
Then there is the matter of clandestine extrajudicial enforcement, which the Ministry holds no qualms about utilizing if it can further its aims. Every so often, cases arise where an individual avoids stepping over the line into official legal violation territory, while still carrying out activities which the Ministry would not condone. It isn't unheard of for such undesirebles to mysteriously perish in "tragic accidents". For example, a UniClasser who has proven to be lazy, antisocial, or getting too friendly with outer classers might die in a mysterious freak accident, or perhaps as a result of "random purebred violence", which may be used by Ministry-controlled media to further paint the UniClass as an innocent victim, and purebreds as violently untrustworthy savages.
Explanation of Ministry Extra-Judicial Activity
As you read this page, you'll notice several punishable violations are listed as "de-facto crime". These are actions that the Ministry punishes, even though they are not officially illegal acts. This means that there is no actual, official city legislation which defines these acts as criminal, meaning that they are technically legal, and that technically the Ministry is grossly overstepping its limits by punishing people for these acts which are protected under the Frey-era's original legal codes. Many of the old laws and citizen rights documents are still in place in Einheit City legislature, such as legal codes outlining the requirements for arrest/search warrants, humane treatment for prisoners, right to an attourney, fair trials, privacy rights, and of course racial equality.
The great problem for those punished for committing these nominally legal activities or hoping for due process is that the Ministry simply does not care what the city's written law is. The UniClass-dominated civilian government under Chancellor Kadesh currently turns a blind eye to these extrajudicial activities, or even outright endorses them. Although the civilian government and the Ministry are two very separate entities, the policy of the Einheit City Consulus under Chancellor Kadesh has been one of appeasement towards the Ministry.
Perhaps the greatest act of appeasement to the Ministry was People's Rights Protection Act 101, which granted the Ministry "indefinite emergency powers", basically giving the civilian government's blessing for a state of martial law, without it being worded as such. Although the Ministry had already been carrying out extrajudicial activities long before it was signed into effect by the then-newly-installed Chancellor Kadesh, PRPA101 is largely what allowed the Ministry to come a bit closer to legitimizing its activities and reducing the power of the civilian government and the Einheit Civil Militia.
So while someone who is being punished for something that isn't even technically crime might indeed be able to cite their right to an attourney or demand to see a warrant for their arrest, the sad fact is that the Ministry simply does not care.
UniClass Violations & Penalties
Because of the vast resources and manpower devoted towards crafting this young utopian society, the UniClass is very tightly monitored by the Ministry. Surveillance upon the UniClass is extremely heavy, and Ministry informants can be anywhere and anyone. Just as most of the UniClass respects their Ministry "protectors", there is also a climate of fear fostered in the UniClass as a deterrent against non-conformity. Hence, crime rates among the UniClass are extremely low. Still, violations do occur. Here you will find a list of most of the common ones, though this is by no means a complete list.
An important thing to remember is that unlike the outer class criminals who are often given a verdict in mere minutes or hours, the Ministry conducts itself in a precise and thorough manner as possible in any criminal case involving UniClass citizens. While the Ministry will sometimes punish outer classers who in fact never committed the crime(s) they are accused of, this is not the case with the UniClass. The Ministry will never intentionally punish a truly innocent UniClasser, unless there is some rare exception which makes it a necessary evil.
Additionally, it is much, MUCH more dangerous to commit a crime as a UniClasser than it is an outer classer. Because the UniClass is under such heavy surveillance and scrutiny from the Ministry to ensure against corruption, it is far more difficult to, for example, hide possession of an illegal weapon or take part in dissident activities than it is for an outer classer to commit to do the same. Not reporting a fellow UniClasser exhibiting signs of corruption can lead to you yourself being accused of enabling their corruption through inaction, and in turn sharing their fate. It isn't unheard of for UniClassers to turn in their own co-workers, friends, or even family to the Ministry for crimes against Unity, or even simple suspicion of such crimes. Thus, the few "corrupt" UniClassers who have manage to hide their crimes inevitably lead lonely, secretive, and terrified lives.
While the UniClass does enjoy far greater security, stability, and all around opportunity than the outer class, being a member of this genetic elite comes at the cost of personal freedom and privacy.
Note that for minors (any UniClasser 15 or under) who commit any criminal acts, punishments are generally less severe than they are for adults. But some circumstances can lead to the guilty party being tried as an adult, if the Ministry deems it necessary.
These are acts which, although nominally legal, are disapproved of by the Ministry, and usually do not result in open punishment. Committing these acts will not necessarily get a UniClasser in actual legal trouble, but may result in drawing the Ministry's suspicion. These can lead to increased surveillance and/or the individual being subject to uncomfortable verbal pressure or questioning by the Ministry.
However, it is known that in a few cases individuals who carry out these activities sometimes happen to die in "tragic accidents". Extreme caution should be taken.
Examples of Discouraged Activities include but are not limited to:
Violations which, although criminal, result in what the Ministry considers to be corrective or rehabilitative penalties rather punishment (though individuals assigned these "corrective" measures might think differently), though the Ministry methods used are anything but minor. Typically, the most common measures taken is that the individual in question will be arrested, investigated and issued a Citizen Rehabilitation Collar. In many cases they may also be sent to a mandatory re-education facility within the Toride, in an attempt to correct them of their undesired traits in conjunction with the Collar. Failure to respond positively to Ministry rehabilitation typically results in the individual disappearing altogether and never being seen again.
However it is possible that a Minor Violation can result in Major Violation-levels of punishmets. Usually one would need to commit a Minor Violation in a manner that is judged by the Ministry as a symptom of incurably malignant citizen tendancies, or result in some kind of serious harm to the UniClass. As with any military regime weilding absolute judicial power, the Ministry does reserve the right to adjust the degree of punishment if deemed necessary.
Examples of Minor Violations include but are not limited to:
These can be punished by a sentence to a Corrective Labor Facility (CLF) in the Nightlands, or even by execution. When UniClassers are caught committing such acts, they could simply disappear without a trace and never be seen or heard from again. Though in some cases the Ministry will make a public example if it is deemed necessary or beneficial.
Examples of Major Violations include but are not limited to:
Outer Class Violations & Penalties
Crime among purebreds is a different matter altogether than it is with the UniClass hybrids. In the UniClass, if one were to try and establish a drug cartel or vehicle theft ring, the Ministry response would be swift and brutal. In the outer class, however, such crime goes almost entirely unstopped, simply because these crimes do not harm the UniClass or challenge the Ministry's authority. Hence, most violations which the Ministry enforces among the outer class only concern matters of perceived political/social rebellion or threatening the UniClass.
The devastating result of this can be seen at every corner of the MidCity and Undercity. The Underlords and their minions know to avoid meddling with hybrid affairs, due to the swift and deadly punishment that would come from the Ministry. But while outer classers are punished just as harshly as UniClassers when caught committing acts of rebellion against the State, virtually no effort is made to protect purebreds from other purebreds, who are thus left at the mercy of the Underlord crime syndicates, and the countless smaller street gangs which prowl the dark streets outside the safety and order of the Toride. For this reason many outer classers who would have otherwise been peaceful or upstanding citizens have resorted to gang membership for strength-in-numbers protection and support. To this end, the Ministry silently tolerates the Underlord syndicates, knowing full well that the inter-species feuding sown by the violently competitive crime organizations serves to keep the outer class too divided and weak to unite in a successful rebellion against the Ministry.
Raids upon outer class citizens, as well as their homes and establishments, are common and conducted without warning, and with quickly-issued warrants. Such searches, when they are carried out, often yield some form of illegal weaponry or other, resulting in the execution or imprisonment of the guilty (or at least accused) party. Yet due to the sheer size of the MidCity and its purebred population, and the fact that the Ministry often has larger threats to contain, such searches do not necessarily happen to every outer class character.
Theoretically these sudden searches can happen at any time or place to anyone in the MidCity. But in practical application, the Ministry usually carries these searches out when there has been an informant tip, or there is some other reason to conduct a search, such as being in close proximity to a serious crime against the UniClass. So it is possible to live several years in the MidCity while possessing reasonably concealable contraband without being caught. It's just not a guarantee.
One aspect setting the outer class apart from the UniClass in terms of punishable violations is that because the UniClass is under much heavier surveillance, committing crime as an outer classer can be safer than doing it as a UniClasser, depending on the nature of the violation. For example, speaking negatively of the Ministry among fellow outer classers is much safer than being a UniClasser doing the same thing. Likewise it is easier as an outer classer to hide possession of illegal weapons or other contraband than it is as a UniClasser. Still, the consequences of committing those acts when the Ministry or its informants are around can be terrible. The simple solution is to exercise common sense and not draw unecessary attention to one's self when unfriendly eyes may be present.
Also, because the Ministry now considers purebreds to be little more than evolutionarily obsolete savages, to some degree it is expected that they engage in religion, homosexuality, and general contempt for Unity. For this reason the Ministry is far more concerned with acts that may threaten or corrupt the UniClass than it is with activities which it considers corrupting an already corrupt outer class.
On top of this, the Undercity is almost entirely devoid of Ministry enforcement, save for a network of undercover agents and covert surveillance used for locating only the most serious of threats, such as concentrated rebel groups or powerful weapons. Thus it is much more possible to commit normally serious crimes there and escape notice or being captured than it would be in the MidCity.
Because of all this, the outer class in some ways has more personal freedom than the UniClass so long as they exercise common sense and avoid drawing Ministry attention. But this "freedom" comes at the cost of being limited to an impoverished and dangerous society plagued by inter-racial violence and crime.
Note that for minors (any outer classer 15 or under) who commit any of the offenses listed below, punishments are generally less severe than they are for adults. But some circumstances can lead to the guilty party being punished as an adult, if the Ministry deems it necessary.
Selectively Enforced Violations
Listed here are crimes which, when committed from one outer classer to another, are rarely ever prevented or punished by the Ministry. Even though they are technically listed by many of Dr. Frey's original legal codes as violations by city law and UniClass press often fabricates accounts of the Ministry enforcing these laws to protect the thankless outer class, in reality the Ministry turns a blind eye to these crimes the vast majority of the time, so long as they are not committed in a manner which harms the UniClass. Committing them against a UniClasser is a different matter altogether which will surely incur the Ministry's wrath.
The reasons for the Ministry's apparent apathy to these crimes are simple. For one, the Ministry considers purebreds to be far more prone to corruption than hybrids are, and thus views crime among purebreds to simply be a biological inevitability. For this reason the Ministry considers it ultimately futile and a waste of resources to attempt to police the outer class for crimes which do not directly threaten the UniClass.
Plus, the Ministry simply has greater priorities to divert its efforts towards; namely, staying in power. Purebreds harming one another keeps them from uniting against the Ministry.
Lastly, by indirectly fostering an environment of violence and corruption among purebreds, the UniClass is made to appear as a more ideal society, which leads some purebreds to doubt their nature and apply for the Ministry's Genetic Re-Assignment program.
NOTE that is still theoretically possible to be punished for these crimes. It is just very unlikely unless you are a complete fool about it. Perhaps only 1 in 500 of these crimes ever goes investigated by the Ministry, and even fewer of these cases are resolved. In the few instances when those guilty of these crimes are caught and punished, it is done more for good publicity rather than out of any concern for protecting purebreds from crime.
In these extremely rare yet still possible scenarios, usually the perpetrator foolishly commits a Selectively Enforced Violation in the physical presence of Ministry personnel who happen to be lacking in any other duty to attend to, in which case arresting the offending purebred would be a chance for the Ministry to gain some positive PR from the event.
Generally, the only other time the Ministry will bother with Selectively Enforced Violations would be when these crimes are committed against a purebred who is due for Genetic Re-Assignment, and is a high priority applicant who the Ministry would consider beneficial to the UniClass and therefore deserving of protection.
Selectively Enforced Violations include but are not limited to:
Crimes in this category sometimes go unpunished by the Ministry due to its efforts being directed to larger matters, as well as the fact that the Ministry expects purebred society to be a social cesspool as it is. Although still definitely crimes, Outer Class Minor Violations are considered low-priority and low-threat, and the Ministry will rarely go out of its way to apprehend individuals guilty of these offenses simply because there are always more pressing matters to handle.
However if one were to foolishly commit these violations in the immediate vicinity of Ministry personnel, there will be consequences. Nominally, the Ministry policy is to treat these violations with corrective measures, though "corrective measures" can now mean anything from severely beating the offender to set a public example, confiscating/destroying property (especially in cases of contraband media possession. Illegal literature for example can result in a torched / wrecked apartment), and/or in-city detainment.
During the latter-mentioned detainment, the guilty individual will be held a temporary detention facility within the city, anywhere from a few weeks to several months, sometimes even years. Although not quite as dangerous as the dreaded CLF concentration camps in the grim depths of the most remote reaches of the Nightlands, these holding facilities often entail extremely poor cell conditions, malnutrition, psychological torture, and brutal interrogations, with the sole aim of breaking down the individual into a terrified, feeble, traumatized thing that will stay out of the Ministry's way in the future.
Although the Ministry does not tolerate pointless or reckless sadism among its ranks, it is common for Minor Violation detainees to be severely injured or sometimes killed due to the extremely rough handling and poor living conditions they are likely to be subjected to, as the Ministry guards stationed in these facilities, much like CLF Ministers, are typically ones who have been considered unfit for normal duties, yet not quite warranting discharge or more severe penalties. Additionally, it isn't unheard of for weaker ones to be abused by other detainees should they be placed in shared cells.
Remember that it is still possible to die due to being arrested for committing a Minor Violation, though not necessarily likely. For the most part, players of characters arrested for Minor Violations do not need to worry about their character dying, unless their character complicates the situation by resisting, attempting escape, or is discovered to be guilty of Major Violations.
Overall, it is not that difficult to avoid punishment for Minor Violations, so long as one exercises common sense and does not try to draw the Ministry's attention.
Minor Violations include but are not limited to:
These are more serious crimes which, if/when caught, can be punished severely. Obviously, not every single perpetrator of the listed acts is caught and punished, but it can be a very serious gamble with your character's life if you choose to have them carry out some of these actions. If played wisely, your character can perhaps evade capture, depending on which crime was committed and how it all transpired. If played unwisely, the chances of escape plummet accordingly.
Punishments for these crimes can entail a sentence to a Corrective Labor Facility (CLF) in the Nightlands, or outright execution.
Examples of Major Violations include but are not limited to:
Weapons Code Violations & Penalties
Nominally, Einheit City weapon laws are the same in all parts of the city, yet the actual enforcement of those laws is more complex than it is on paper.
For the UniClass, the matter is fairly straightforward, due to the fact that Ministry scrutiny upon the average hybrid is far heavier than it is on the average purebred. While the Ministry can afford to allow the outer class to spiral into near lawlessness, the UniClass must be kept as orderly and obedient as possible, meaning that the smallest weapons code violation among hybrids will not go ignored, and that it is extremely difficult to conceal illegal weapons as a UniClasser. To enforce this, the Ministry has an entire covert surveillance network devoted to monitoring the UniClass, not only to detect weapons violations, but the more obvious political/social crimes outlined in the previous sections.
Standard Ministry procedure for detected UniClass Weapons Code Violations is brutally simple, regardless of how powerful the weapon is:
For the outer class, it is a different matter altogether, and a complex one which requires further explanation. Officially, the Ministry may arrest or eliminate any outer classer caught with any illegal weapon. Yet the fact remains that there's still an enormous number of illegal weapons among the outer class, and the Ministry is well aware of it.
The reasons for this are several. For one, outer class weapons are far more likely to be used against other outer classers than they are against the UniClass, largely thanks to the influence of the Underlords, gangs, and other elements which have served to keep the outer class divided amongst itself. Over the years the Ministry has devised several ways in which to accurately predict if a firearm in combination with a certain group or individual will be a threat to the UniClass, and what action would be most appropriate for that given instance.
For example, no sane Underlord who cares about his or who syndicate empire would dare to even think about meddling with the UniClass, for they are all aware that such a move would simply suicidal, as seen in the past from the elimination of the few foolish crime lords who challenged the Ministry's authority or assisted anti-Ministry rebels. Since becoming a direct enemy of the Ministry is extremely bad for business, virtually all Underlords limit their racketeering exclusively to outer class and avoid supporting anti-Ministry rebels. Because of this, the Ministry merely keeps a close watch on them, but does not take direct action against their possession or usage of illegal weapons so long as they never take aim upon the UniClass or aid those who do. No professional syndicate member would be foolish enough to ever carry arms where the Ministry is likely to detect it, consider it a threat, and in turn dispense punishment. In this sense, the Ministry and Underlords exist in an unspoken symbiosis; the Underlords keep the outer class too divided and weak to resist the Ministry junta, and the Underlords in turn are given free reign to rule as urban dictators over their fellow purebreds so long as they keep out of the Ministry's interests and do not get caught carrying weapons.
This leaves the rest of the outer class. For the average purebred who isn't a traditional criminal, but merely someone who owns an illegal weapon or two for personal defense against common thugs, the chances are generally low that they'll be caught and punished for their weapon ownership, so long as they exercise common sense about it, and have a little bit of common luck on their side. In the Undercity the chances of being punished by the Ministry for weapons ownership are microscopic, given that the Ministry simply doesn't care what transpires there unless it happens to be a true threat to their authority. Even in the MidCity where the Ministry is more overt, many purebreds still have some form of illegal weaponry hidden away somewhere. Presently the Ministry has far more pressing concerns than to spend the massive amounts of manpower and time to look behind every brick and under every floorboard for hidden pea-shooters which are more likely to be used against other purebreds than on hybrids. Yet it is those who are either foolish enough to be caught with them, or unfortunate enough to be simply at the wrong place at the wrong time, that are the ones punished for it. 9 out of 10 times, if a purebred character happens to own, say, an average handgun or other concealable but illegal weapon in the MidCity, they will not encounter any trouble for it, so long as they play it smart and avoid drawing the Ministry's attention. Still, players should accept the risk of Ministry consequences, unlikely as they may be.
Then there's the matter of those outer classers who's weapon ownership is considered a definite threat. These are usually groups or individuals with definite anti-Ministry, anti-Unity and/or anti-UniClass agenda, and some form of intent to use their weapons to support that cause. Some call them anarchists and terrorists, others call them freedom fighters and revolutionaries. Regardless, these purebreds tend to have the shortest average life span of anyone in Einheit City rivaled only by that of outer class hybrids. Only a tiny handful of these individuals have proven cunning enough to consistently avoid death or apprehension by the Ministry for any considerable length of time, and the overwhelming majority of these bold (or foolish) rebels quickly meet a violent and unexpected end at the Ministry's claws. Through extensive use of stealth surveillance, informants, undercover Ministers, and possibly other methods yet unknown to those outside the grim halls of its Toride command center, the Ministry has ensured so far that the numbers of these armed dissidents has been kept too low or too fractured to suggest any realistic possibility of the Ministry regime being at risk. Players who's characters fall into this latter category must accept the possibility that their character can come to a sudden and bloody death at any time, unless that character is cunning enough to realistically evade the Ministry for an extended, or possibly even indefinite, period.