The Social Structure of the Fair Play Inn c. 2164
When their brave men and women revisited old scavenging sites, the wilderness surrounding the Fair Play Inn proved to be much more dangerous than expected. Entire towns were converted into massive ant hives, including Lavonia right across the road. To the north, dangerous plants and animals roamed, wolves and shadows and bears oh my. To the south, zap moths and death claws prowled. And their nearest neighbors proved hostile or disingenuous.
Death and inhumanity have changed the Innsitters. The Raider Companies of the North Georgia Badlands, once proud and among the thousands, then tamed to a few hundred under Sassy’s care, were culled again and again in the recent attempts to tame their surroundings. In every battle, victory was the daughter of the Grubbers, and their casualties and losses were the province of their enemies. Old rivalries fell away, replaced by new bonds of fellowship and hardship. They were fewer, but wiser, and in a way, stronger.
With the new discovery of civilization to the south, Sassy saw her opportunity. However, she is also keenly aware that her hold on information is growing looser. Krispy Grubber, Salty Grubber, Sick-eye Sam and others have won names as well. Therefore, she had carefully built bonds with the conquered community of Hartwell, to ensure it’s loyalty, and she had sent tendrils of trade and cooperation across this bend of the Lake. Her plans grew and grew, even more ambitious than the wildest dreams of her youth. But she knew she was 51, and not growing younger. She must focus less on building an empire, and more on building a foundation and then passing along this structure for the Grubber Dynasty to fill out.
The Fair Play Rules
The Fair Play Inns were built on the legend of Granny Grubber, the cunning of Reb Grubber, and the Table Rules and the Neutral Zone Rules. It became a beacon of safety and shelter for the most downtrodden and defeated, and a place for the mighty and victorious to celebrate triumphs without fear of their rivals.
However, Sassy knew that these Rules were too restrictive to establish all across the Georgia Badlands. Even the Neutral Zone rules were difficult to establish along the trade route to Hartwell. And she knew that as the Inns become franchised and grow, there are many peoples of the Badlands. Vault dwellers. Survivors. Tribals, or even other untamed Raiders. Thus, Sassy, along with the most respected leaders of the Raider Companies and the craftsmen of the Innsits established the Fair Play Rules that consisted of two parts.
First, is a code of conduct that regulated interactions among the Innsit, and between the Innsitters and the Outsiders.
Second, are Icons of Greatness for any Innsitter to aspire to achieve, along with guidelines for any to achieve said image - be they self-driven (or as punishment). These Icons are derived from legends of various Badasses of the Georgian Badlands, from Skinny Snakeskin, who crawled down a well shaft to discover a vast treasure of abandoned tools, to Tom Too Tall, who once killed a gigantic bear by ripping out a tree and using it as a club. Another popular story is that of Justin Coleman, the vengeful hunter who dealt righteous punishments for the weak after he lost his own family. Their stories are subtly changed and injected into the oral culture of the Inns, for it to spread and to inspire.
Then, she undertook an ambitious program to reorganize the Fair Play society…
The Justices, Judges, and the Community Rules
Below the Fair Play Rules, which will encompass all territories walked by her followers, each individual community may establish their own rules and precedents. They can establish their own structures for leadership as they see fit. However, the rise of leaders outside of the formal structures is protected by the Fair Play Rules. These leaders, known for their wisdom, their decision making, or other skills are to be known as Judges, in the Canaanite Biblical sense.
Although anyone may decide and interpret the Fair Play Rules in a variety of situations, Judges become known for wise and helpful interpretations, punishments that are farsighted and that rehabilitate the rulebreakers or provides proper restitution for the victims. They often get appeals by members of their community, asking about what to do with wayward children, or a potential cheater, or other day to day incidents. No community may make rules to outlaw these sources of alternative authority and information - indeed, Sassy sees the Judge-system as a way for the Grubbers to maintain their influence long after Fair Play Inn itself becomes but another Inn among many.
The rulings of the Judges however, may be constrained by community rules. For example, one constraint could be that an individual Judge could not advise and then conduct an execution. Additionally, any ruling needs to be justified by an existing rule - Judges cannot make rules out of nothing.
The Justices are a group of official Judges, the most exalted and respected members of the various communities that follow the Fair Play Rules. Once a Judge becomes a Justice, he or she becomes a Justice for life, and he or she will be held to a much higher standard of conduct. Every community should have at least one Justice to send to a Supper Court - another incentive for them to tolerate the soft authority of Judges among them.
The Justice are Judges that must be confirmed in two ways. First, a majority of their community must support a potential Justice’s bid. They must accept that this Justice, if confirmed, will represent them. This potential Justice must bring stories of their Rulings and Judgement to a Supper Court, along with witnesses. Then, the Justices of the Supper Court must accept this new Justice as one of their own.
Individual Justices have all the authority of Judges but also represent their communities and their word is often seen as having the power to overrule Judges.
The Supper Courts are groups of Justices that make combined rulings on a variety of tough issues. How do community rules apply when members of different communities wrong each other? What if two Judges are in conflict, either indirectly through rulings, or directly through rule breaking? How about crimes on Innsits by Outsiders, or vice versa? There are various rules on what makes a proper Supper Court, but the most important one is that there has to be at least one Justice from each Community for the questions that are raised.
Judges and Justices are not full time jobs. They are expected to be full members of their communities, offering their opinions mostly only when asked, and intervening only when they deem necessary.
At the start of the Fair Play Rules, the Grubbers tend to be overrepresented among the Judges, but Sassy is careful in choosing the first Justices to avoid accusations of overt favoritism.
For the communities: Fair Play Inn will still be lead directly by Sassy Grubber as the Innkeeper. However, Hartwell will be lead by Salty Grubber, who led the attack on Hartwell, in the position of Chief. The Hartwell Inn remains less influential than the Fair Play Inn. In the future, other communities may have their own government structures, but so long as they accept the Fair Play Rules, the Inns, the Judges and Justices, they could be considered part of the Innsit family.
When Sassy retires, the Fair Play Rules will be lead by the Chief Justice of Fair Play.
The Raiders and The Shirifs
The Raider Companies, who operated under the falsehood of independence for a decade, will now be integrated. However, their identities will not be erased. Instead, their history will be whitewashed, celebrated, and made to bring pride and honor to those who serve.
The Raiders will now be known as Shirifs, a title that brings both respect and responsibility. They are the ones who will bring Humanity to the wilderness and the wasteland, and will oversee Fair Play within the communities of the Fair Play Rules. Instead of Raider Companies, with Raider Captains, they will now be Shirif Companies, lead by Shirif Captains.
Every Shirif Company will have at least one second in command, the Lootman or the Head Lootman. The Lootmen are responsible for managing supplies, and lead the Companies in absence of the Shirif Captain.
Additionally, every Shirif Company will recognize at least one Judge among themselves - and this Judge could not be either the Shirif Captain or the Head Lootman. (However, those two may be Judges or even Justices of their community). The Company’s Judge(s) will be the ones responsible for representing the most difficult issues the Companies face to the Supper Courts, and is another example of distributed authority Sassy wishes to implement in her new society. (This role is already played by the extended family Grubbers among the various Raider Companies.)
The Shirifs will retain their history and some of their independence. Their information and service is still highly valued, and their suggestions and decisions are respected. However, the informal information web that Sassy has woven will be formalized and, instead of quests, their missions will be allocated directly as per the needs of the community they’ve decided to serve with or even by the Supper Court itself.
The Shirifs can be recognized by a metallic badge each Shirif is issued, that will identify their name, their company, and their community. In less literate regions, this may be represented by images and icons.
Unlike the civilian Innsits, who are sometimes still known as “Grubber’s Own,” Shirifs are sometimes called “Granny’s Own,” evoking the enforcers of ol’ Granny Grubber of legend, who helped keep her “civilizing and humanizing” influence safe in the dangerous days of the early Georgian Badlands.
Role of the Inn within the Fair Play Rule
The Inns themselves shall be an independent institution under the Fair Play Rule. The Grubber’s Inns at Fairplay and Hartwell shall retain Reb’s Neutrality Rules, but if and as Inns get franchised, their Innkeepers may establish different rules. However, the language of “Innsit” is still the most common way to call citizens of the Fair Play Rule. [Future language may or may not shift to “Fair Players” depending on how things go].
Due to the Table Rules, the Supper Courts cannot be held within an Inn during normal operating hours. However, holding a “Supper Session” instead of an “Open Inn” may become an exception if they did not wish to establish a separate building and location for holding the Supper Court.
The Civilian Innsits
Other than Judges among them, they live much as they have before. Trading labor and credits, practicing crafts, and enjoying the Grubber hospitality at their Inns. Communities that embrace the Fair Play Rules will establish Judges, and soon find an Inn built to help house the Shirifs and other Travelers, a Supper Court established, and find that they will be part of a greater Innsit family.
The Outsiders
It is unknown if Outsiders will Play Fair or not. Vault 107 certainly did not, in the end. However, unjustified attacks against Outsiders are unacceptable. Grubber’s Hospitality is for all.
Outsiders are watched by the Shirifs, especially if they’re within Fair Play Rule and if they’re in groups. They’ll be informed of the main rules, and they receive no leniency in Judgement. They, however, do have a different code of expected conduct - one which can be conceived as lesser but can be better described, perhaps, as simpler and more straightforward expectations.
Outsiders who are just traveling through or who are part of another community can expect some hospitality at the start, but are soon expected to help pay for their room and board unless sponsored by an Innsit. Outsiders who fall behind on their debts for too long may be enslaved for a period to repay their debt. However, probably only the dumbest and most antisocial people would believe that free loafing and avoiding payment, while rejecting companionship and assistance, would have no consequences.
Outsiders who want to join the Innsit community do so as outlined before.
Slavery
Slavery will still exist for some time under the Fair Play Rules. Currently, all slaves are directly owned by the Grubber Family. Slavery is for public service. Slavery is for paying off debts. Slavery is a punishment for crimes, and for resistance in war.
However, Slaves are no longer accepted as loot directly - captives are imprisoned to be judged for any crimes, and a period of slavery may be judged as appropriate punishment. Other captives may merely need to work a period under supervision, like other Outsiders, and learn the Fair Play Rules, before joining the Innsit community.