Most online worlds make the game itself the judge. A rule is broken, an algorithm decides what happened, and punishment follows automatically. The City of Gold takes a different path.
Justice belongs to the players.
The world supplies jurisdiction, offices, Courts, prisons, records, and enforceable boundaries. It does not decide whether a wrong should be forgiven, settled through compensation, or placed before a Judge. Players make those choices, argue their cases, weigh testimony, and live with the consequences.
Civilization must be ready for law
Formal justice does not exist in every new community. A Hamlet is still securing survival. A Village is learning hospitality. Only at Town rank—61 to 150 active Citizens—may a Settlement establish both a Guard House and a Courthouse. A City expands that administration, and a Metropolis supports its largest form.
Population creates promotion eligibility; it never promotes a Settlement automatically. Justice begins only when an explicitly promoted Town possesses the civic institutions required to exercise it.
The Mayor appoints the Town's Marshals and Judges. The same structure continues upward: Counts appoint County officials, Dukes appoint Ducal officials, and Kings appoint Royal officials. Every appointment derives authority from the ruler who made it.
That authority is territorial. A Town Marshal cannot arrest beyond the Settlement. A County Marshal cannot act beyond the County. Ducal and Royal authority end at the borders of their Duchy and Kingdom. The game enforces those boundaries mechanically: without jurisdiction, an arrest cannot occur.
Arrest is not guilt
Marshals maintain public order and possess real executive authority within their jurisdiction. They may arrest anyone they believe should answer before the Court—even another Marshal or the sitting Judge.
An arrest is not a verdict. It places the matter before judicial authority.
The Marshal presents the facts to a Judge, but only a Judge can officially open a Court Case. The Judge decides whether the matter deserves proceedings. If accepted, the case begins.
A Court inside the Golden Messenger
Every opened Court Case creates a dedicated conversation in the Golden Messenger. The Judge administers it and may invite the accused, victim, Marshals, witnesses, lawyers, supporters, accomplices willing to testify, or anyone else who should be heard.
Participants can write messages or record voice testimony. Because the Court is asynchronous, nobody must be online at the same moment. A witness may speak today, the accused may answer tomorrow, and the Judge can review the complete retained conversation before deciding.
There is no hidden evidence score and no automatic guilt calculation. The game does not decide what is true. The Judge evaluates testimony, arguments, explanations, witnesses, and supporting statements, then decides what they believe.
Justice has deadlines
An ordinary case may remain open for no more than one real week. A capital case—one in which execution is a possible sentence—may remain open for no more than two real weeks. If no verdict is issued by the applicable deadline, the accused is automatically released without penalty.
The additional time for a capital case reflects what execution means in this world: irreversible Character death.
Bond, prison, and forced labor
A Judge may release an accused person on bond. Money is physical in The City of Gold, so the required coins must be delivered to the Courthouse and placed in its official Treasury Chest. Only the Mayor, or officials granted treasury authority by the Mayor, may access those funds. The Court decides whether bond is available; the Settlement government safeguards the payment.
Imprisonment may be passive, or a Judge may impose forced labor. A prisoner might quarry stone, cut timber, mine ore, transport materials, build public works, or complete another lawful task. The Judge defines what must be completed before release.
Everything produced through forced labor belongs to the State and is delivered to the Courthouse Treasury. The government may later compensate victims, finance public construction, strengthen its treasury, or use those resources for another governmental purpose.
Judgment and the final sentence
Judges have broad discretion. A case may end in dismissal, warning, fine, restitution, imprisonment, forced labor, release on bond, or execution.
Combat itself cannot permanently kill another player's Character. Defeat may cause unconsciousness, grave injury, robbery, or a need for medical treatment, but permanent execution belongs only to the Justice System. If execution occurs, the deceased Character's estate follows the established House succession system and their legacy continues through their heirs.
Most judgments are final. Only a death sentence may be appealed, and only when a higher territorial Court exists. The appeal travels upward through the political hierarchy and reviews the prior decision before execution can proceed.
No Judge stands above the Court
A Judge cannot judge their own case. If personally involved or arrested, the ruler who appointed them removes or suspends them and appoints a replacement immediately. The replacement inherits the existing case, conversation, testimony, and participants. Proceedings do not disappear because an official does.
The world remembers
Every concluded Court Case enters the permanent historical archive. Every officially added participant—Judge, Marshal, victim, accused, witness, lawyer, or other invitee—is permanently associated with that case through their public Account-level identity and the Character who participated where applicable.
Future generations will be able to read famous trials, notorious convictions, celebrated acquittals, and the legal history that shaped their world.
Justice in The City of Gold is not an attempt to reproduce modern law. It is a framework for medieval authority, politics, persuasion, reputation, and consequence. The game does not decide who is right. It gives players the institutions to build a civilization—and the responsibility to live with what their civilization decides.
The complete permanent design is available in the Golden Encyclopedia Justice reference.