The Ruling Spire
The lowest of the six spires upon the spiral hill is also the only one that most of the residents of the city will actually ever enter. Shorter and squatter than the other five, the ground floor has two entrances. One, a small but ornate gate, leads to the small Requesting Chamber, where the residents can petition the Six for changes to the laws of the city. The Chamber itself is almost entirely given over to a long queue marked out by ropes leading to a simple window manned by a clerk. Petitions are brought here, and handed over to the Clerk. They then inform the petitioner that their requested change to the law will be taken under consideration, before sending it deeper into the Spire. Sometimes the law changes. Often it does not.
The main gate, simple and imposing, of the spire leads to the Courts. Red uniformed Officers patrol the central chamber and up and down the spiralling staircases. The ground floor is given way to the offices of the clerks, Filled the the scratching sounds of pens upon the paper. The first, second and third floors of the building each contain three courtrooms, while the fourth and final floor of the spire is home to only one; the Court of the Sixth himself.
The Sixth
The Sixth is a figure much like Spire he resides in, short and squat. When seen in public he sits, cross-legged, upon the judge's chair. His body and face are hidden by a scarlet robe, his long, bony hands covered by a pair of ruby coloured gloves. The robe is covered in shimmering words, constantly shifting; the laws of the city literally radiating from him. Occasionally, very occasionally, the rest of the court may see a glimpse of his eyes in the shadows as the light moves, yellow, staring, watching.
In judgement, the Sixth is usually sombre and careful. Any lawyer, whether prosecution or defence, attempting the tricks and legal games of the lower courts here would quickly find their arguments systematically shredded. Cases are expected to stand and fall on their own merit. The laws are clear, and the Sixth knows them better than anyone. Sometimes, however, the judgements handed down seem..peculiar. Not outside the letter of the law, but far outside the spirit of it.
In other matters, the Sixth is a retiring and private individual. Unlike his fellows, the Fifth, Second and (to a degree) Fourth, he performs the minimum of public appearances he can, seeming to prefer to stay within his spire. When he needs to communicate, it is generally through carefully written letters. It is not unusual for a letter with the red seal of the Sixth on it to arrive at someone's house, although few enjoy opening them.
The Laws of the City
The Laws of the city can be separated into four categories, each handled in the courts of a different floor of the Spire. The first floor is given over to minor crimes. Littering, use of the hallucinogenic drug saxi (created by mixing parts from a number of plant species together. These would be rare if not for their use in paint pigments and their subsequent cultivation by the various artists of the city) and petty theft are all handled here by a single judge. This is the busiest set of courtrooms, and the lawyers who work here are easily spotted by the shadows under their eyes.
Next comes civil claims, made citizen against citizen. Here it was deemed fair that they would be judged by a group of citizens themselves, and thus here a jury decides on the merit of the case. Accountants from the Second are often stationed here, as the Second publicly claims that contracts fall under their domain.
More serious crimes are handled on the third floor. Assault, grand theft (including wage theft) and murder are all discussed here. Crimes are considered to scale by damage and number of victims here; a hundred small thefts are consider as bad as one big theft, and possibly worse if the damage done is agreed to be proportionally worse. Each court here has a panel of three judges, and the majority rule is held.
The final court, at the very top, is limited to either those crimes whose scale and damage outpace those of the court below, and those who break a law in a very specific list.
These include: mass poisoning (accidental or otherwise, although the former may result in some mercy), multiple counts of murder, the unlicensed production or usage of telescopes, harming or killing a Street Cleaner, unpermitted killing of a cricket, scarab beetle or termite, breaking into the restricted areas of one of the Spires, assaulting or otherwise attempting to harm the Sixth, Fourth, Third or Second, and arson.
There is technically one more court above the Sixth's. If someone truly decides the Sixth's judgement was made in error, and they can convince at least three of the remaining Six to hear them, then they may appeal. This rarely succeeds in even getting the hearing to occur, but it has succeeded just enough that people are willing to attempt it. These appeals are usually made by the infamous law firm Acero and Brass, who make a point of offering any lawyer who even gets close to succeeding a part in the firm.
The Officers
The Officers of the Sixth, much like any police force, always appear to be exactly where it would be most inconvenient for them to be. Never around when a bag is stolen, but always inconveniently breathing down the back of your neck just at the trickiest bit of picking a lock you shouldn't be. Clad in red uniforms, the Officers are a common sight on the streets of the city, usually strolling in pairs or threes. Like most of the servants of the Six, they are loyal first and foremost to their spire, although a couple have been known to be part of other factions. Well trained in combat, recently they have obviously been having lessons in less aggressive forms of policing. It has been speculated that this is due to the recent up tick in the numbers of the Soldiers of the Fifth, although the leading theorists disagree on whether this is simply because they are outsourcing the violence to the white armoured Soldiers, if the Sixth is moving out of the Fifth's area of control, or if the Sixth is trying to pull a moral high ground based power play.
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