"You can't be serious"

[Madmoonie]

By the way -- I still don't think Lady Rose's visitors are wearing clerical collars. I think... Quentyn's been drafted.

You know what? I agree. I think the government is going to make Quentyn do something for them, some mission or another. And that is what Lady Rose doesn't like. Her image of a "harvest princess" questor (just for show, is what I mean) is being broken again.

[Jaydub]

The thing that really bothers me is whatever was done was done in ABSENTIA without the those being charged being informed. Absentia can be used if a accused person flees and cannot be found but they knew where Quentyn was but made no attempt to contact him. I don't know the laws there but I would like to protest by saying This Stinkuth out loud!

[RebelSqurl]

::smiles the smile of the Sphinx::

I recall an IRC conversation I had with Ralph a long time ago, in the early days of the comic, about the world of the Rac'conen and Quentyn's future adventures. As a result, I have a sneaking suspicion what's about to happen next.

And if I'm right, then folks, we're about to see the REAL "Tales of the Questor" begin! Everything up to know has just been prologue....

-- Reb

[StrangeWulf13]

*chuckles evilly* Oooh, yes... you are right about that. Ralph's finally putting his real plan into action. This will be the plot twist to end all plot twists!

And we're not telling. So nyah.

[Jaydub]

*chuckles evilly* Oooh, yes... you are right about that. Ralph's finally putting his real plan into action. This will be the plot twist to end all plot twists!

And we're not telling. So nyah.

So Quentyn is going to be sent on a Quest into the land of humans. That should be interesting......

[EdBecerra]

The thing that really bothers me is whatever was done was done in ABSENTIA without the those being charged being informed. Absentia can be used if a accused person flees and cannot be found but they knew where Quentyn was but made no attempt to contact him. I don't know the laws there but I would like to protest by saying This Stinkuth out loud!

Or as my old DI used to put it...

"This stinks on ice, children, and we're about to get hit with frozen shitballs the size of VW's."

[Dalak Lutra]

Ahhh~ My curiosity is going wild again~ Just prologue to the Real TOTQ? wouldn't doubt it. Adventures into the human world? O.o That would be interesting, very interesting. Or maybe he goes to explore more about the fallowers of Rosad Biether? Perhaps he travels down into the depths of the earth to find where they're situated and then has to fight all of the labyrinth monsta's along the way to find the leader and woop his arse~ Or maybe he's assigned a squad of soldiers and becomes a commander to hunt them down, or maybe him fen and crestel work together as their own party to do some crazy mission.
Must...Know...What...happens...Next~
^ ^ just throwing some ideas out there.

[Maxgoof]

The thing that really bothers me is whatever was done was done in ABSENTIA without the those being charged being informed. Absentia can be used if a accused person flees and cannot be found but they knew where Quentyn was but made no attempt to contact him. I don't know the laws there but I would like to protest by saying This Stinkuth out loud!

Or as my old DI used to put it...

"This stinks on ice, children, and we're about to get hit with frozen shitballs the size of VW's."

"Ve haf unpimped your ride."

[Calbeck]

Mmm. I've seen some near-misses and a lot of wild speculation, but...

Me? I'm of the "let a bastard live, with your name and address, and he WILL try to get back at you for stopping him" school.

The gang kids know that they were hit by "the freaking QUESTOR OF FREEMAN DOWNS". The one that got his face slammed in the bars is not going to have missed that. By this point everyone in both of the gangs knows Quentyn handed them their collective keesters.

The gangs may not want to face Quentyn directly, but they're connected with people who have more resources and a similar desire for payback; the "back-street traders" who were buying up various magic junk. Someone's hard-wrought plan went right into the toilet, and at least some of them are well-placed in Sanctuary City. We get to watch the guard Captain giving one of them a polite warning that he's now going to be watched for further underhanded activity.

However, the legal system, ANY legal system, can be abused if you know the right tactics and the right people, and have the right leverage. It's already been established that the Questor can't be held liable for the damage incurred by any of his actions...

...but it's also true that the gangs and "junk dealers" weren't engaged in illegal activity insofar as their deals. The gangs certainly were, but you can't be held liable for buying stolen goods as long as you can reasonably claim that you didn't know they were stolen, so the traders are technically off the hook. Commission of a crime, beyond that of misdemeanor, requires intent.

All of this means that the "traders" can lawfully file suit for recovery of damages incurred by the collapse of the warehouse, any goods purportedly lost in said collapse, and even restraint of trade. They might even be able to claim reckless endangerment regarding the stampede of the giant plants (regardless of how little actual damage was done).

They can't sue Quentyn, but they CAN sue the people who gave Quentyn his mandate. That's the Council, which explains why the Racs in Black are speaking to them and not him. Either they have collectively been found liable, or it may even be possible that the entire town will be held liable on their behalf (if the amount is large enough).

[Dalak Lutra]

OO. Never thought of a law suit... That would be bad, very nice intricate thinking Calbeck, very nice indeed.

[Narnian]

OO. Never thought of a law suit... That would be bad, very nice intricate thinking Calbeck, very nice indeed.

The most evil meance that ever walked the earth - more terifying than a T. Rex, a Great White Shark and an Alien combined - a lawyer.

99% of lawyers give the other 1% a bad name.

[Chaser617]

/rant

This is one of the major things I personally think is the most broken with our leagle system, the sue-happy culture.

Someone sues you, even if its idiotic, and it goes to court, and you win, your still probably out anywhere between a couple hundred, and a couple thousand dollars. That my friend, for me, is what *I* personally call 'real money' (while Bill Gates and Steve Jobs would probably call it 'pocket change'). Said person continues and sues you again for a slightly different purpose, if it is not dismissed outright by the court, but you still win, another slug of money gone. There have been actual incidents where people (and more often companies) have had frivolous lawsuits brought against them, and they actually were brought to financial ruin because, simply, even though they won, they were sued till they had no money because of court fees.

I'm a firm beleiver of the fact that, if you sue someone, and you loose *YOU* as the plantiff that lost, should be required to pay the defendent's court costs. After all, this was not an expense that the defendent chose, you forced it on him, and you should bear the burden of your actions, not the defendent if he is proven innocent in the case.

/rant off

[Squirrelly61104]

I find the concept of 'tried in absentia' difficult to fit into a society whose unofficial motto is 'no racconan is ever unarmed'.
I suspect a lot of summons servers wouldn't last long under those circumstances.
Tar and feathers isn't fun even for hairless apes (well, not on the recieveing end).
Imagine it if your body is covered with fur!
I agree with the wild theorists who think this is all part of a ploy to get Quentyn to do something, probably something he wouldn't normally be willing to do. I mean, heck, if it's just an insanely dangerous job they know his office hours.

Slim chance of success.
Zero chance of survival.
What are we waiting for?

[RHJunior]

I like how it's assumed that, because the Racconans are well-armed and jealously guard their right to self-defense, that they're little more than a mob of violent lawless yahoos waiting to explode into a riot at the drop of a hat....

Well armed communities in FREE countries tend to be LAW ABIDING and to have lower rates of violent crime across the board. That's not rhetoric, that's statistical fact.

The two attorneys--- for that's what they are, in effect--- are serving papers on a legal decision made by the adjucators in absentia. There are obviously going to be differences in their legal traditions from human ones, and in absentia decisions are one of them. No system of law is 100% perfect, due largely to the fact that governments and legislative bodies tend to rule "from crisis to crisis," and make quick decisions that, in retrospect, could have been far better thought out.

In most any society, you have the problem of people contriving to escape the consequences of the law through flight--- people "jumping bail," people who actively hide from lawyers serving papers, even the case of the Texas legislators who literally fled across the border to thwart a vote they would have lost..... In our society we hire bounty hunters and the like to track down miscreants like this (though in the case of the texas legislators we should have declared their citizenship revoked and shot them if they tried to get back across the border.)
But it shouldn't take much to speculate that in absentia rulings became part of the Racconan legal tradition in response to this sort of problem. Fortunately, the Racconans have a legal system that requires "sunset provisions" on nearly all legislation.... unfortunately, the In Absentia law is a relatively new one, and the shortest sunset provision is on the order of a decade or so.

[Madmoonie]

Will you tell us what they are doing there?

[UncleMonty]

Will you tell us what they are doing there?

Oh, I'm sure he will... One comic strip at a time.

[Sariah]

Will you tell us what they are doing there?

PLEEEEEEAAASE?!?!?!?!?

[MikeVanPelt]

Will you tell us what they are doing there?

<voice=Margaret Hamilton>All in good time, my pretty, all in good time.</voice>

[Wanderwolf]

I like how it's assumed that, because the Racconans are well-armed and jealously guard their right to self-defense, that they're little more than a mob of violent lawless yahoos waiting to explode into a riot at the drop of a hat....

Now, now, Ralph, he didn't say that. But summons servers in Real Life tend to come in for a lot of abuse and the occasional attack; it's reasonable to suppose that such things would happen in Rac'Conan society as well. Nobody likes the bearer of bad tidings, after all.

Well armed communities in FREE countries tend to be LAW ABIDING and to have lower rates of violent crime across the board. That's not rhetoric, that's statistical fact.

Yes and no, Ralph. Different countries have different crime statistics, and guns are only a small part of the equation. It's true enough that Switzerland requires gun ownership, South Africa heavily restricts gun ownership, and Switzerland has far lower crime rates; it is also true that gun-controlled Japan has less violent crime than America, even though we have more lax gun control laws. As Colin Greenwood pointed out so well, just because we have more of a given type of crime doesn't speak only to the availability of the means, but to the prevalence of the desire.

The two attorneys--- for that's what they are, in effect--- are serving papers on a legal decision made by the adjucators in absentia. There are obviously going to be differences in their legal traditions from human ones, and in absentia decisions are one of them. No system of law is 100% perfect, due largely to the fact that governments and legislative bodies tend to rule "from crisis to crisis," and make quick decisions that, in retrospect, could have been far better thought out.

There, that helps. Ralph, if we're flying blind, crashing into mountains is de rigeur. My own wild guess was based strictly on a few statements regarding the church which has all the benefits and drawbacks of the old Catholics. Now that we know they're attorneys, however, the range is considerably narrowed.

In most any society, you have the problem of people contriving to escape the consequences of the law through flight--- people "jumping bail," people who actively hide from lawyers serving papers, even the case of the Texas legislators who literally fled across the border to thwart a vote they would have lost..... In our society we hire bounty hunters and the like to track down miscreants like this (though in the case of the texas legislators we should have declared their citizenship revoked and shot them if they tried to get back across the border.)

In the first place, Ralph, the legislators fled across our border with Oklahoma the first time, New Mexico (not Mexico) the second. Kind of hard to revoke their citizenship when they're still in the United States (unless you're backing those "Republic of Texas" idiots, of course). Second, the problem was a redistricting bill that was blatantly, and openly, designed to give more House and Senate votes to the legislature-controlling Republican party at the time. You had to expect some resistance from the Democrats.

(Thirdly, it didn't matter in the long run, anyway. A Democrat defected, giving the legislature the quorum; but the Republicans immediately fell to squabbles over which district got which new votes. Ah, politics. )

But it shouldn't take much to speculate that in absentia rulings became part of the Racconan legal tradition in response to this sort of problem. Fortunately, the Racconans have a legal system that requires "sunset provisions" on nearly all legislation.... unfortunately, the In Absentia law is a relatively new one, and the shortest sunset provision is on the order of a decade or so.

For those of us unschooled in legal terminology: What Ralph is saying is that most legislation enacted by the Rac'Conan leadership will be automatically repealed in a decade or more, unless the leadership then in power passes the legislation all over again. Handy, especially when you look at the Texas constitution... trust me, it's a mess. Outdated laws, typos passed into law, unenforced and unenforceable laws...

Yours in Texas,

The wolfish,

Wanderer

[Madmoonie]

GOD BLESS TEXAS

<I-----born there!