To Err Is Human
As a joint venture between the Theomachracy and the Olgotary, the codes of Autochthonian civil and criminal law are concerned primarily with the pursuit of investigating, identifying and issuing recompense to those whom a crime or act of misadventure has inconvenienced or damaged. Owing to the Autochthonian faith in communal safety measures, and cultural beliefs underpinning the limited autonomy of the mortal soul, it is an uncommon occurrence for the law to formally mediate disputes between individual citizens. Instead, if one citizen harms or disables another citizen unprovoked and renders him unfit to perform continued work duties, she has committed crimes against not only Autochthon, but against the Tripartite, and even her victim's workplace and associated peer group - now saddled with an injured or absent member. To determine restitution for her unacceptable behavior falls upon the courts to decide, acting to represent the authority with the greatest claim to damages by the sudden decline in productive labor.
The notion of wielding formal law to deliver vengeance on behalf of the victim is bizarre and ridiculous to the Autochthonian ideals of justice. Most citizens would view the act as a selfish desire for inflicting guiltless violence, conducting some manner of barbaric mock-trial like those of dark and blood-soaked ages past. In those days, such judgement was intended to incite public opinion against the accused as an unwilling scapegoat for the perceived social ills of the community or its enemies, all for the purpose of providing new sacrifices to help empower the holy mechanisms continuing to grind workers into nothing more than pulped meat and bone dust. Belief remains strong in the modern nations that establishing a lasting precedence of institutional verdict is a far more righteous comeuppance against malice and ignorance than any punitive measures taken on a single individual, and will weigh equally upon specific wrongdoings as each crime remotely akin to it for all time.
But while the attempt to reconcile civility with pragmatism has noble intentions, the reality rankles no less when exploitative behaviors are seemingly dismissed by all save the sympathetic ears of local lectors. There is very little legal recourse given to victims of injury, theft or libel when the crime is held up against the totality of the Grand Design to justify itself. During lengthy intervals of recovery or acclimation from associated stress and possible reassignment, there lie only various outlets supplied by the community to constructively and healthily direct personal distress or hateful impulses away from the suspect. Allowing ones enemies to live peaceably distant and continue to serve the Great Maker is seen to be what separates the nations many peoples from the short-sighted tunnel dwellers feuding over territory markers.
Ultimately the legal system demands faith in the integrity of the administrative process, and warns against harboring grudges which could cloud the mind with unproductive thought and hurt crew morale. Liars, backbiters, footpads and petty vandals who provide necessary labor all hold comparable place within the Maker's vision as the virtuous and faithful, and so too must the citizenry learn to coexist with less scrupulous barracks residents for the sake of keeping peace. Between the lofty oversight of the law and the discretion demanded by safety code, this is the reason why the average citizen regularly moves from overlapping social cliques to work cadres and back again throughout her day, both as a form of shared personal security and insulating support in times of crisis. To be purposefully isolated is to stake oneself out as either a potential culprit or inviting accident in the eyes of the law, nothing more.
In light of this, while corrective punishments are certainly a part of the justice system intended to enforce a sense of consequence, the continued life and productivity of all citizens are the only two things of genuine and lasting value to the Tripartite, regardless of criminal history. Which means great pains are taken in favor of encouraging the rehabilitation and reeducation of offenders, lest administrative pragmatism risk violating what Theomachracy canon dictates to be the essential dignity and agency of "humanity" so inherent to mortal lives within the Design. Lifeless replacement parts cannot be 'scared straight' by authority figures and return to performing admirably in the ways a thinking person can. Nor can a machine be reassigned to a new sector when defects arise and gradually improve in overall production thanks to a more enriching work environment.
A machine performs function, not ritual, and although a litany and command processes share the same aesthetic qualities of upholding ideal behaviors, overcoming the division between prayer and programming forever eludes even the most advanced supernatural intelligence. Even among the vaunted ex machina, no construct is ever so flexible as the hand which built it. If the myriad facets of the divine machine could be so easily resolved by such components from the Maker's own peerless inventions, there would have been no need for an Octet or the peoples who inhabit it. So then considering how the majority of crimes are merely the end result of workforce conflicts and minor matters of breached safety protocol, everyday criminal affairs are treated with an accordingly dry disinterest towards exacting retribution from mismanaged personnel. Petty offenses are swept into the nearest existing precedent and otherwise forgotten in a sea of paperwork.
For more serious crimes involving wrongful death, blatant acts of sedition, callous disregard or explicitly dehumanizing violence leveled against the victim or worse, that is where the fearsome and far-reaching reputations of the adjudicators come to the fore. Lacking the space or surplus for extended imprisonment, fear of exile to the reaches or servitude within the Lumpen caste helps serve as deterrence against high crime as readily as it does within the safety code, and for similar reason, though throughout apprenticeship training all junior Olgotary members are well-advised to weigh the longstanding productivity costs when employing illustrative discipline. It is sometimes a distasteful necessity to step back and maintain a handful of so-called "blood-greased gears," the social privilege and professional services of suspected murderers, abusers or political dissidents so that daily life remains a steady routine, even among the closed ranks of the Tripartite elite.
However, while legally-authorized vengeance is viewed as unseemly, it is not uncommon for a community to nevertheless side staunchly with a victimized party or against the state at the release of deplorable elements back into the general public with little by way of lasting repercussions. Subtle and overt means gradually ostracize any culprit who was not seen to have suffered comparable indignities as the damages accrued, or who are thought to have "cheated the system" somehow through overreach of her station or exploiting private connections. Additional crimes by the former suspect, real or fabricated, may be brought to light as a persistent and uncomfortable level of scrutiny is paid to her casual interactions, work output and business dealings.
Anonymous acts may poison social prospects with unprovable rumors, or even provoke further harm indirectly when inauspicious industrial 'accidents' happen nearby against her person or possessions, like important documents or equipment, with seemingly no accountable eyewitness present to explain the suspicious lack of protective oversight from her peers. In truly outrageous cases, the restoration of a subdirector in the wake of a scandal may lead to work strikes or riots, even if her qualifications insist no adequate replacements exist to fill the position. The responsibility for this unrest inevitably falls back on the local Olgotary branch which levied such a wildly poor and unpopular choice of verdict, disrupting daily casework with an increasingly unwelcome volume of reports about valuable regulator service hours wasted pursuing and policing ongoing accounts of vigilante justice.
So it stands as large part of adjudicator notoriety that no class of citizen remains fully beyond the judgment of the law, regardless of prestige or political backing. Behind the scenes, most such cases of blood-greased gears end not in a courtroom, but with evidence kept under lock and key as blackmail in exchange for due compliance in future Olgotary actions or in upholding the existing status quo. Even longstanding functionaries of the state would sooner take such a deal and obscure any legally-objectionable acts behind complex games of unspoken favors and subterfuge, often admissible as a treasonous crime alone, than be caught out and ousted as a sacrificial lamb into the ranks of the Lumpen simply to avoid rising class tensions, further disrupt the workings of the Tripartite or waylay another ongoing investigation.
But while naked coercion and the severity of punitive measures provide ample enough reason to tread lightly around the law, some crimes are too abstractly destructive for the mortal mind to grasp the fallout, standing so far afield from workplace dispute and mismanagement. Damaging Autochthon's interdependent systems, teeming plethora of ex machina, or the root tenets of the Octet faith, the question becomes not how or to whom the crime requires restitution, but whether only the Theomachracy has a greater right to weigh the actions of the accused. Catastrophic breakdown, disarray or sabotage in manufacturing or transit hubs, international espionage, consorting with overtly malevolent beings to undermine the spiritual health and disposition of her fellow citizens, organizing mass revolt or unrest in the ranks which may disharmonize the divine or societal hierarchy in some manner, all these and more transcend the ability for mankind to render commensurate accountability. When the laws and oversight of mankind fail and humanity defies god, the final responsibility of the Olgotary lies in presenting the culprit to be judged under the laws of Heaven.
Heaven Sent
Legal cases are divided between secular and religious law in many of the Octet nations, and as the administrative branch overseeing the implementation of law to determine fault and outcome, the Olgotary also serves as the gatekeeper which controls who may be given right to evaluate known suspects and damages. Before passing along what could be judged as matters concerning the vested interests of state and its people under the judgments of mankind, careful council is taken before invoking the Theomachracy on the possible abuse of divine workings of the Great Maker or his spirits. Because beneath the judgment of Heaven, the subjectivity of mortal perception is no longer a valid basis of admissible evidence. Supernatural inquest demands the account conform to undeniable facts and accurate statistical measurements far outstripping accepted communal beliefs underlying personal privacy and autonomy, sanctity of the mind and body, and root assumptions that each productive life has an essential value to the whole.
Through the use of invasive magics to investigate the events surrounding a particular crime, glaring gaps in both recorded evidence and moral character are laid disturbingly bare. It becomes entirely possible to reconstruct ephemeral things like the mental state of the accused, her motives for the crime, interactions with associates and memories at the time, trace the path of her workday down to an eyeblink and weigh a citizen upon metaphysical scales that might subject her reincarnations to future scrutiny based on the severity of the black mark ascribed on her soul. As such, the majority of faithful among the adjudicators are hesitant to defer this significant judgment so easily. Even to a technically-higher but outside authority, most instead prefer to embody the professed ideals of Heavenly justice through the standard process without going so far as to stage a clerical inquiry.
Thus, the legal standing of "Heaven." In this context of supernatural judgment, the term is a truly archaic Old Realm loan-word, grandfathered in by its use across the more confusing law passages dating from the Time Before Steel. It describes a theoretical state of mind, singular immortal being or conclave of beings possessing such all-encompassing awareness in space and time as to assign perfect accountability of blame in all outcomes of law. Heaven is the truly ideal arbiter, using omniscient worldly knowledge and information both known and unknown, as an external but immediately-accessible observer to everyday events, forever in the pursuit of optimal justice. By simple invocation, Heaven establishes a universal truth, and though the events surrounding that truth might be cause for philosophical or moral debate, the accuracy of that truth is never held in question.
Arguably the Godhead of Autochthon would be a fitting such 'Heaven' to evoke for events taking place within his body, but even veteran adjudicators are loathe to debate the finer points of law theory and philosophy with clerics versed solely in reams of ancient scripture. The entire affair is wisely conceded to the notional "Heaven" as a sop to avoid drawing up accusations of offensively presuming to speak for the Great Maker or his Ministers on such minor details of personnel and logistics management. Nonetheless, judgment by Heaven usually is conducted wholly or in part by cleric conclaves acting in an identical fashion to those conducted by the Olgotary courts, except the crimes committed are weighed against the status of the accused as a spiritually-enriching member of humanity rather than her productive output as an Octet citizen.
If a potential suspect is found sufficiently wanting beneath the eyes of Heaven, or could pose an actively detrimental influence to her peers and community, she faces significantly increased chance to become one of the Lumpen than under Olgotary review, to be even expelled from her nation entirely to wander the Reaches as an exile. While the Olgotary largely turns a blind eye to the overall demeanor and physical character of a suspect, except when posturing by the accused would constitute contempt for law proceedings, clerics of the Theomachracy hold every aspect of the accused to be deserving of critical examination. Attempts at dehumanizing the body and mind in whatever capacity, to modify or disfigure the base state of the human form by crudely aping the faceless visages and anatomy of the divine, is looked down upon especially severely as perversions of the natural order and defying the Great Maker's assessment of one's anointed place in his Design.
A prosthetic limb with a built-in timepiece but lacking the precise number of necessary digits, a literally hip-mounted flask locked behind a spring-loaded thigh compartment plate, or vision-assisting lenses which obscure the wearer's eyes too heavily to read emotion accurately, all could be seen as unwelcome encroachment on the supernatural hallmarks of the ex machina. The mortal body plan is the chosen vessel for the imperishable soul with a thinking mind as caretaker, and since Autochthon alone determined the worthiness of souls admitted to the Grand Design, one or both of the remainder must be the corrupting element at fault for causing the spiritual anomaly underlying the crime. This holds true among the impoverished Populat and visiting peoples from other nations as well, where traditionalist fashions like facial tattooing, lip or nostril plates and splitting, elaborate tooth-piercings or decorative scarification can be misconstrued as indicators of poor moral constitution belying some natural inclination towards illicit or nonconformist intentions.
Where the adjudicators threaten execution or enslavement for only capital crimes, the Theomachracy leverages outright denial of free citizenship and issues soul-excommunication for any heretical act which dares drift outside mortal jurisdiction. This is the most fitting price under scriptural decree for making the divine machine aware of her obvious shortcomings, when the actions of the accused reflect dimly on the dutiful supplication expected of mankind as a whole. Excusing such a gross error with a simple warning hurts the morale of her peers forced to take up the slack left behind, in ways that simply reassigning or rehabilitating her will not correct. Those found guilty of the worst theological crimes will have her soulgem ripped from her skull, spirit forcibly marked and bodily transported far away from the cities so she may face exile in direct exposure to Autochthon's imposing environs.
If she would transgress so boldly against the Great Maker within his own domain, then by Heavenly decree it falls to his will to take pity on this situation and grant her personal salvation. Abandoned without food or exploratory supplies, unsustained by the trappings of civilization to fend for herself in the noisy, unlit passages of thrumming conduits and roaring machines. She is left to wander until either delivered away by his spirits to a new calling in a display of Clarified magnanimity, succumbs to blind and horrific accident under the implements of his body, or finally wastes away from mortal frailty as an act of penance. Should the new exile be clever or resourceful enough, she may find a safe haven with the tunnel folk who linger at the fringes of the nation's wilder spaces, though her skills and healthy condition will be what decides if she has any lasting future among that derelict number.
Upon returning to the Radiant Amphora, her marked soul will be observed closely in future holders for continued signs of noncompliance with the divine plan, spoken of by vague terms of 'troublemaker' and 'nuisance' by authorities until such a number of flawless generations have come and gone as to assume this miscalculation has fully corrected itself. Sometimes a curious sorting error appears in the manifest, a rounding mistake perhaps once every hundred years, and draws no second glances nor mourners for the loss when one of these failed souls inexplicably disappears from containment between reincarnations. Clerics consider this to be the purest example of the divine will at work, as Autochthon's Design has undoubtedly found purpose for the wayward soul one way or another, never again to darken the Octet with further incompetence and disorder.
Rarer still, when one of these black-marked souls may have achieved truly outlandish deeds in spite of violating existing strictures of state and god. Though the Luminators might mutter through gritted teeth at the sheer ignobility of it all, a transgressive soul might well meet the standards befitting ascension to an Alchemical Exalt. These are the Champions who draw the most oversight among the state, waiting to see if her personality catalyzes around potentially reformist aims, or reasserts the willful disregard for protocol and dogma which characterized her mortal lifetimes. If the latter comes to pass, the Theomachracy can only look on and pray this Champion is meant a test of faith to endure, now set to bedevil the Tripartite with jags of nonconformity for decades to come.
The Value of a Witness
Reliable witness testimony and personal accounts form the core of any worthwhile investigation, as the sentencing for a misdeed is already set by precedence and any differing information exists solely to unravel the extenuating circumstances demarking one murder or theft from another as notable exceptions to the norm. Taking the advising role of a jury, even witnesses who would stand and lie squarely to an adjudicator's face about non-involvement when presented with the possibility of disciplinary action, if not boldly offering fictitious alibi, are treated as a valuable element of mankind's justice system. Because while the court can dispassionately judge the severity of crime against the damages accrued or the raw productive value of the accused, any intangible qualities and work relationships necessary to optimize the stability and morale of a shift crew are more difficult to ascertain.
Should a petty crime still be so severe as to call for close investigation, but the suspect nevertheless be upstanding or essential personnel, it stands to reason that there would also be a wealth of unrelated reasons from her peers or subordinates for the court to weigh a gentler decision than usual. A well-loved shift chief who falsifies regular quotas to avoid disciplinary action on delays but motivates her crew like a demagogue is worth ten or more exacting-but-joyless clerks in the eyes of the law. This naturally absolves the administration from compliance to strict fairness in the ruling, and instead the court can opt for what will most-readily appease all parties while insuring the criminal act does not repeat itself in the future. The heavy-handedness of regulator force serves dual purposes here for the Olgotary, instilling overt authority over the proceedings such that the very act of enforcement is considered a detriment to the regular life of citizens, and insuring the exact outcome of a trial is never fully certain for those would would attempt to "game the rules" by finding loopholes or patterns in Tripartite law.
Every investigation of a crime naturally begins with a report of suspicious activities, usually as a last resort once all reasonable attempts to avoid conflict or unrest have failed. Potential sources are many, ranging from a Populat subdirector requesting assistance for a sudden accident or dispute, tip-offs given by state informants populating the residential beat of a junior regulator, though entrenched Tripartite agents like the esteemed lectors giving a listening ear to the troubled masses, or the preceptors in deep-cover catching wind of doctrinal corruption. Regardless of the origin, it does not take long before a containment team is dispatched to the scene, and the most difficult first few minutes of an investigation begins. Judging by the number of suspects and the impending crime in progress, the decision is made to either approach the situation silently or for the regulators to 'go loud.'
For petty acts of crime put in motion by a single actor, often misdirection or intermediate proxies are employed to guide the culprit away from the problem area or potential bystanders. The suspect simply vanishes from the site into custody without the greater public becoming aware that any misdeed was being planned or had already taken place. Internal agents on-location follow up the extraction, usually junior Sodalts tasked with performing minor janitorial or maintenance details beneath everyday notice, and work to record and analyze available evidence using special thaumathurgic techniques or discretely interview presumed witnesses and accomplices. Any delays or confusion while the scene is being 'cleaned' and assorted personnel bundled away along with the suspect are conveniently dismissed on "technically-correct" events like temporarily jammed access panels or shift workers being called away into unexpected private meetings.
When subtlety is not an option, one or more veteran investigators and a small cadre of armed officers drawn from local neighborhoods converge en-mass to mitigate foot-traffic and quell any notable resistance to a search of the area, forcibly rounding up potential suspects or volunteering witnesses from the nearby crowd. Should a catastrophic emergency entail rapid response by an Alchemical Exalt or the Sodalts to manage extensive spot-repairs or account for the wounded or slain, regulators take up supporting positions to these professionals to insure safety and ease of movement through even a densely-packed crisis, actively hunting for signs of sabotage or foul play. This is the most familiar public face of the regulators to the Populat, as armored uniforms and impassive figures barking orders with handcrossbows held visible, striding authoritatively in stark contrast to the crush of milling workers breaking aside to give passage.
If it is difficult enough to determine personal fault during the tense calm of an unseen extraction, in addition to uncovering which witnesses possess useful or actionable information, it becomes doubly so once a heavy-handed regulator presence is known on-site. Though impulsive criminals may use the sudden arrival of a containment team as cover to flee or otherwise establish distance from the crime scene, it is well-known among the Populat that anyone attempting to consciously evade regulator scrutiny shows signs of further suspicion, if not outright admitting guilt for the disruption. Depending on the amount of work stoppage and the suspect's inability to cover her own tracks, citizens close at-hand may even act willingly to aid regulator activity and turn over an obvious culprit who has flagrantly upset the daily work routine. Compromising the fruits of Populat labor creates a common enemy of both the people and the state, and it is often wise to swiftly remove such a criminal from the scene before the mob redirects workplace stress onto her as a scapegoat.
Not all investigations run so smoothly, however. It is equally likely for a canny or charismatic fugitive to disguise herself and her intentions to evade capture, tapping into a strained or defiant work atmosphere as her defense. Reactionary cultists in outlying rural sectors, alarmed by what could be seen as lax moralizing and perceived foreign corruption leaking in from the melting-pot cultural exports of nearby urban hubs, commonly have histories in organizing "morality mobs" to violently promote traditionalist values among the congested citizenry on major thoroughfares during shift breaks, dispersing before coordinated regulator action can be taken. The frequency of these events and the inability of the regulators to pin down much more than a single suspect at a time easily suggests a kind of collusion for those casting an uncharitable view of the local Olgotary, enabling this "victimless crime" while reaping the benefits of a growing Populat movement which will rally to defend even the most conservative and xenophobic policy.
Missing or incomplete evidence, ambiguous eyewitness accounts and lack of probable cause can sway those to harbor the suspect and become unwittingly complicit in a crime, under the mistaken impression the regulators have arrived unannounced simply to stir up trouble as an Olgotary brute squad strong-arming for increased productivity under duress. Uncovered crimes of internal espionage or exploitation are the most dangerous among these cases, capable of turning what should be a routine arrest into a cause for regional or national concern. Padded quota numbers, substitution of inferior materials, shortened production runs or preferential diverting of resources, none of these point to a single miscreant to be processed, but systematic flaws which will entail the entire workforce canvased for breaches in protocol.
Quickly identifying the tenor of a room for deliberate obstructionism at hand or lurking risk of violence to herself or her fellow officers investigating these cases is the most rigorous and vital skill any regulator can be trained in. Beyond reading criminals by skittish behavior, she must be prepared to discount diversion tactics attempting to mask these intrigues behind more obvious crimes. This might only be as simple as a loyalist foreman willing to stage a false-flag labor strike to momentarily draw attention away from a subdirector suspected of pushing the workforce too hard, causing too many undocumented injuries for reasonable safety compliance. Without the compromised subdirector at the helm, the entire manufactory may need to be overhauled and placed under new management, one more closely aligned with the unpopular Olgotary mandates being challenged by this gross insubordination. Every wasted minute of work-stoppage means more officers clashing against ingrained Populat skepticism at these unqualified changes, with one further silenced tongue, prepared alibi or complaint report on a superiors desk the following day.
As quickly as the crime scene has been assessed for valid evidence, with suspects or volunteered witnesses taken into custody, the entire investigation summarily departs to leave the site to pick up the pieces and return to some semblance of mismanaged order. When this often results in unplanned skeleton crews on spurious grounds or a productive run suddenly delayed on the mandated quota, this does nothing to further endear the citizenry to regulator activities. If the investigation site or suspicious event would be days or even weeks older than reports first suggested, this implied disregard for civic life and refusal of accountability only cements the common Populat notions among incidental witnesses and bystanders that the Olgotary enforces the law by whim and operates by whatever methods it wishes.
But when faced with the sheer amount of logistical inconveniences caused by these kinds of merely brief interruptions, the looming threat of deadlines become the foremost priority. Actively pursuing the issue is out of the question for any unfortunate line-laborer now resuming necessary work at double-time, who must instead wait and see what outcome will filter down, if any at all. Whether the fault lies within state management, or rabble-rousers deliberately haranguing the administration into action, it is always the unsung Populat who must shoulder the lingering burden of these internal conflicts.
Holding Court
Owing to the rare need for lengthy imprisonment before formalizing a case, suspects are delivered immediately into a courtroom alongside available witnesses and supporting evidence. Because so much of Octet criminal law is both built on established precedent and largely inconsequential to the overall health of society, a court ruling is something of a brisk and theatrical affair. Focus is paid primarily towards instilling an almost primal terror of misdeed and the process of law in the accused, before laying out supporting testimony and evidence resulting in a verdict. The courtroom itself is sparsely lit, built to be silent and cavernously empty compared to the bustle and crush of the world beyond its walls. Such is the quiet isolation that many find the sudden change in sensory input to be unsettling and disorienting, the first time she may hear the blood pounding in her ears or the beat of her heart within her chest.
The presiding adjudicator oversees the courtroom from a raised mezzanine backlit by spotlights on the opposite wall which serves as the bench, any advising conclave in attendance irregularly seated alongside as to keep the suspect unsure as to where she should be respectfully looking or at whom to direct her challenging stare. Normally only a single adjudicator is required to pass a verdict, but as a crime grows in severity and damages, additional adjudicators of increasing rank and experience may also be called into address the proceedings. If a particular case is so heinous or widely-reaching that it cannot be properly judged by an experienced assembly of local adjudicators, the sentencing may even be transferred to a major court in a nearby capital city as a matter of national precedence.
Assuming eye-contact were possible from her elevated seat, all adjudicators wear featureless and uniform chrome masks while delivering judgement, stylized to remove any distinctive or humanizing features from the wearer's identity. Smaller chambers of minor cities drawing from a lower number of adjudicators often include built-in voice modulation to aggressively amplify and flatten her disposition, sapping any warmth or emotive qualities for comparable reasons of anonymity. Seated at the center of the room, the accused is flanked by her regulator escort as the charges and evidence are laid out, supporting witness testimonies piped in from adjacent rooms through similar auditory distortion as though the court itself were speaking for her guilt or defense.
When the time comes for a verdict, the presiding adjudicator and her retinue stand and seemingly disappear into the haze of darkness behind the stage lighting to convene. Even if found guilty, the suspect is then marched out and back into her standard labor duties rather than subjected to extended observation or punishment, although it may now include some portion of her final sentencing. Witnesses are released back to any ongoing work schedule, with a careful word of warning about the secrecy and specificity of the details behind her account, lest she find herself on the wrong side of the courtroom's walls in the future, and a formal reprieve from lapsed duties filed with her superiors for graciously assisting with an official state investigation.
Taken all together between the mobilization of regulator enforcement, investigation, apprehension, transport, with adjudicator deliberation and judgment, it is exceedingly uncommon for the entire operation to last more than the allotted four hours of a shift-length to complete. Most cases progress far quicker, presenting an open-and-shut case that requires very little by way of human input. The Olgotary holds that proceeding through both investigation and judgment in the most rapid and efficient manner is a net gain for the common good and helps minimize productivity losses. Promptness in handling minor rulings further prepares the courts and regulator officers to meet any unexpected crisis unimpeded by perfunctory casework on the docket, and prevents the invention of falsified evidence or unlawful corroboration without extensive prior planning which would doubtlessly entail heavier examination and sentencing of the accused.
Strident critics of such swift processing for suspects insist that if crime remains so abundant, and inherent corruption to the system is at the scale that the only justice that mankind can deliver unto its people must be expedited to prevent backlogging and counteract theoretical misconduct, then perhaps the root problem lies in the execution and those staffed with upholding it. Professional silence to such criticism is the answer the Olgotary is known for, but when the rare public statement is made regarding a particularly egregious case, all that is issued is a simple ultimatum. If an adjudicator ruling is not enough to pass muster, the case subject to dispute can be just as easily kicked up into a full review by Theomachracy clerics if a longer, more thorough inquiry is truly needed to remove all semblance of doubt.
Those who are intimately aware of how the Olgotary operates steer clear of this seemingly innocuous gesture of an appeal, setting aside both the harsher penalties for proven guilt and the extreme invasiveness assured from a magically-aided reexamination. The real reason is that a great many of these critics are interested in the political gains from opposing signs of Olgotary overreach, having built up commanding reputations as voices who most understand public grievances leveled against the state. Undermining rival policies which compete with her own, the allure of being the close confidant to any would-be whistleblower, the fast-track towards Populat goodwill by proclaiming the more-correct method of law, all could fail should the facts of a supernatural inquiry actually confirm the initial ruling of a disputed case.
Precedence set could further very well be incredibly socially damaging for wasting valuable administrative resources on a fruitless pursuit, and dash hopes for future legal objections being respected as worthy of merit. When provable facts, statistics and accurate psychological profiles for suspects and witnesses alike come into play, or even full reconstructions of events thanks to Charm-aided investigation, the stakes are simply too high to leave to chance. Only an outright falsification of evidence or miscarriage of justice could stand against the positioning of the Theomachracy as a jurisdictional boogeyman, practices which the Olgotary would never permit pass into law or become public in the first place. Thus the holding pattern remains, and though the administration is not rendered immune to critical analysis, the threat of supernatural judgement maintains the image of the Olgotary as a "lesser of two evils."
