The Smoke Courts

The Smoke Courts judge tithe fraud, tunnel murder, gate betrayal, captured arms, and the old question of who closed which door too soon. Testimony is given before smoking braziers so witnesses cannot pretend the underways are clean. The courts smell of soot, wet stone, iron, bitter herbs, and fear behind the teeth. Their verdicts are swift because delay underground usually means someone has already moved the body. The courts are civilisation in Kharod's own language: ugly, necessary, public, and always aware that justice delayed may become another passage sealed from inside. War captains, gate guards, tunnel scouts, tithe clerks, and forge masters all stand before them when a campaign turns profitable enough to hide a crime.