World systems
Jail System
Beleghost runs a real crime-and-arrest loop, not a cosmetic one: strike the wrong target and a guard will notice, name the charge, and walk you to a cell for a timed sentence - all off one shared include, bele_crime_inc.nss.
What counts as a crime
Damaging a non-hostile creature counts - a civilian, a guard, anyone who wasn't already fighting you. Monsters that are already enemies from the moment they spawn never trigger it, so ordinary monster-slaying is untouched. The one wrinkle: if a civilian's faction flips hostile after your first illegal hit, later hits on that same target - including the killing blow - still register, so a civilian who survives the first swing but dies on the second still counts as Murder, not just a forgotten Assault.
| Crime | Trigger | Sentence |
|---|---|---|
| Assault | Struck a civilian, non-lethally | 3 minutes |
| Murder | Killed a civilian | 12 minutes |
| Assaulting the Watch | Struck a guard | 6 minutes |
| Murder of a Guardsman | Killed a guard | 20 minutes |
A first Assault on a civilian is a warning only - no cell time. Every guard murder, every civilian murder, and any repeat civilian assault is jailable outright. The worse of two pending crimes is always the one kept on record, never silently overwritten by a lesser one.
The arrest
- The nearest free guard in the same area is pulled in immediately. If none are free, the charge just waits - the next guard who perceives you picks it up instead, so nothing is silently dropped.
- You're frozen for a few seconds while the guard closes the distance and names the charge aloud - "Halt! You stand accused of …"
- A moment later, the guard resolves it: a warning, a full cell, or - if every cell at that guard's jail is already full - a shrug and a release, rather than leaving you stuck waiting on a cell that will never open.
Serving the sentence
You're free to walk around your cell - movement isn't blocked - but a standing watch (ticking every 0.4 seconds) cancels any spell, item use, or object interaction the instant you attempt it, with a reminder that "the manacles bind your will." One authoritative timer releases you and unlocks the door when the sentence is up; there's no duplicate or competing timer to disagree with it.
Different guard corps send prisoners to different jails - Beleghost's Watch to Beleghost Keep, Aventhine's to a cell in Aventhine Hold - each tracked independently so the two sites' cells never collide with each other.