Last week at Court there was a petition to ban all brawls from Stormwind. Said petition was made by Count Adler and treated at the Internal Affairs Committee meeting held on Friday 12th and chaired by Secretary of Internal Affairs, Earl Michael van Rook.
The meeting started with the usual procedural stuff, then once Count Adler saw it fit to show up (apparently punctuality is not a strong trait in this otherwise rather unknown noble), he was allowed to state the reasons to ask for this ban:
“I do not see, why it should be legal for a bunch of people to beat each other to near death to the crowds of a cheering mob screaming for blood and wagering on who goes down first. It's a behaviour associated with orcs...Not... Civilized people. There has even been stories of fatalities in said fights.”
To be clear, the Chair, Lord van Rook, asked to clarify what is considered exactly as a brawl, that was defined by the Count as:
“organized gatherings of people, beating each other for coin or amusement.” This is an important point, as it is important to distinguish a brawl from sparing, but we will get to that, as it was mentioned in the reasons against stopping the brawls.
In order to be fair and clear, the Chair asked about said casualties. The answer of the Count mentioned a case of not this, but last October, where a woman tragically died in a brawl organized by the Shady Lady, something our own Hardhy Lester can confirm, as he was in attendance. However, the autopsy made by Echo Company, and that the Chair had access to, showed the deceased had a medical condition that she did not mention to the organizers, nor the medic present. A condition that would have made her unable to even participate in the fight.
And so, the Chair allowed people to speak about this proposal, starting with Miss Danny manager of the Shady Lady.
Danny:
“The brawl works as a cheap source of entertainment throughout the entire community. We have people come from all walks of life to participate.
Not only does it bring entertainment, but it also provides an opportunity for people to make connections and build networks.
Why is this good?
The first point I'd like to make is that it stimulates the market in town and by extension, making the crown stronger by a growing community and increased transactions. The brawls not only serve as a nexus, but it has a whole other effect which is particularly beneficial for the city.
When people are given entertainment, a good drink, and a way to disconnect themselves from concerns regarding their social life or status, be it marriage, work or simply the increased price in the market, it has a pacifying effect.
Instead of radicalized echo chambers being formed by brooding commoners which often leads to dangerous groups being formed, the brawls bring a pacifying effect to this aspect of our society. By enforcing a ban on our brawls, you not only put many people out of work but by extension you weaken Stormwind's community, trade and you replace it with an increased risk of uprisings and riots.”
After this she explained once more that incident mentioned and added after this, fighters were made to sign a contract to avoid further similar problems. She went a bit of topic, putting forth accusations which were irrelevant at the time, but order soon returned to let Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Magus Jendrock, speak.
Secretary Jendrock:
“Count Adler, with respect you certainly don’t look to me at least, as someone who frequently enjoys watching and or participating in brawls. Brawling has been part of city-life culture for years untold.
It is not a matter of being civilized or uncivilized. Even Dalaran has weekly brawls, and Dalaran is by far more civilized than Stormwind, or whatever extravagant estates you all sit on top of. Brawls could be seen as a sport if you will.
What should be important for all parties involved, even those hosting the brawls, is that the contestants can brawl in a safe manner. And by safe, I mean non-lethal. Or, you know, people might not want to brawl. To the best of my knowledge the framework around organized brawls already includes things like mandatory medical professionals. Surely our time would be better spent regulating something other than a sport, albeit violent, that consenting adults engage in, and betting with their own hard-earned money.
People are free to spend them as they wish, and as a noble it is very peculiar to want to dictate the spending of the commoners. I have no question, in fact, it is simply a statement that I have a very hard time seeing this petition pass. Because there’s no real substance, purpose, or direction to it. Just a Count who dislikes commoners fighting for sport. That is my observation.”
So far, we have seen opinions stating the good of brawls for economy, for the general mood of people, about the tradition and presence of brawls in other places and, while maybe some further legislation could be made to ensure safety in brawl, there are already laws in place that require a medic to be present. Baroness de Lucena-Slock spoke after reaffirming that many, including herself, enjoy said brawls and if everyone involved is consenting and there is a medic ready in case of accidents, then in her eyes there is no reason for this activity to stop.
Going back to sparing then Sir Cailen Cadogan, Secretary for War and Military affairs made an argument which show the similarity between brawling and sparring/training.:
Secretary Cadogan:
“I have to say, straight away, that I am quite against this motion. It is my view that organized brawling should not be criminalized. Perhaps It should be further regulated to prevent serious injury, death, and foul play – but that is not within the scope of this motion and would likely require its own meeting. I do not claim to be an expert on law enforcement and criminality, and I am certainly not a spectator of the brawls, being a man of the faith like the good Count Adler.
But I am a military man and speaking from my own military experience – when there is a need to blow off steam within the army encampment, sportsmanship reduces violence.
My first point, surely the same logic applies in a city. Organised brawling, fair gambling and general merriment must improve moral and reduce violence.
Secondly, if we criminalize brawling – this does not mean the fights simply disappear, we will merely be driving organised fights underground, where we will have absolutely no chance of policing the standards of play. Brawls will result in far more deaths, and gambling will descend into fixed matches, with betters being cheated or mugged. Article continues after the ad.
Thirdly, it is my understanding that the most popular brawl competition that regularly plays in the city takes place on private property, where the owner of said property can, within reason, hold whatever competition they like with consenting participants. Making such games illegal will raise larger implications that go beyond the scope of this motion.”
Vice Chancellor, Lady-Justicar Nasias Darkstar, put the similarities in an even more clear light:
Lady-Justicar Nasias Darkstar:
“Thank you Lord van Rook. Good evening, everyone. I would like to further the point that Sir Cailen made on further implicants outside of the scope of this motion, and state that sparring falls under the category of brawling.
Fundamentally they are the same, they just painted different colours.
One denotes an activity intended for training while the other denotes an activity intended for recreation.
A provision to criminalise brawling would need to make this distinction, as not to criminalise an important training activity conducted by many across the city; but from an enforcement standpoint; it would be very difficult if not impossible to make that distinction. That simply leaves us with the question; if sparring is fine, then why can't brawling be as well when the only distinction is the intent? Thank you.”
This led to questioning Count Adler about the difference, who said it is very clear for anyone seeing it, even if he claims he has never been to a brawl. But from a legal perspective that distinction is important for guards to act and for the law to be applied properly, if not, some friends sparing with others watching could be accused of a brawl when there is no such event, but a friendly competition.
Others, like Lord Dranos, a brawler himself, exposed how he was labelled as a ‘warmachine’ and judged by his looks and hobbies, when he tried to never use lethal methods in a competition, he uses to blow steam off. Meanwhile, Lord John Chester pointed out how the violence in the city had nothing to do with brawls, fights, attacks, thievery, happen anyway. And Lady Thorn stated she would prefer guards to be busy making the streets safer if someone is robbed, than looking for brawls around town.
There were many good points about how brawls make the city better, people more relaxed, and help the economy, yet even although agreeing with other Court members, Sir Darius Agrovane asked for Miss Danny to explain if she had any data regarding her claims on the economic benefits and prevention of riots thanks to brawls. Here at the Lion’s Roar we can appreciate bold claims like those needs a bit of evidence. We do like facts.
Sir Darius Agrovane:
“I will refrain from commenting largely on the petition as it stands to "ban all brawls", and in turn support the sentiments and opinions of my honorable colleagues of the Court already. Though I do wish to address some points made by the proprietor of the Shady Lady, Miss Danny, for scrutiny if I may, my Lord.
For the purposes of clarification for the chamber. As a man appreciative of tangible facts and figures myself, it would be interesting if such would be available in support of the claims of job loss, decline in trade and risk of riots occurring made by Miss Danny earlier in this debate.
Considering Miss Danny's bid to be transparent and honest I assume she would have no problem addressing my interest in seeing the figures to back up claims of job loss by seeing how many people's direct and primary source of incomes are from these brawls, the figures supporting a supposed decline in trade if these brawls are banned by being presented with the direct benefits these brawls have on trade and commerce as a whole within the City of Stormwind, and any such trade and commerce that exists outside of the individual profits of the business Miss Danny is the proprietor of.
And finally, to see where exactly these ideas of increased risk of uprisings and riots are coming from, other than the unrest currently being caused by way of petition unless those claims are directly related to such of course. In short, it would be interesting to have access to the facts behind the words, as an alternative to considering argument and debate against your points, Miss Danny, on more baseless words.”
The answer Miss Danny provided, adding some exact numbers of employees after being asked to specify more:
Danny:
“No brawls is less trade, less trade is less profits, and less need for security, medics, barmaids? Less trade, also means less supplies being ordered from vendors, therefore impacting their bottom line, and possibly impacting their staff level.
The two above points place further pressure on an already struggling economy. We have homeless and refugees, who the Alleybacks have employed and welcomed into their ranks. The brawl offers a monetary reward for the winner, this is a huge boost in income to some of the people participating, income which may or not rely on. We have about eighty employees, about twenty people working every day. I host these brawls every week for four years now. We have a full house almost every day.”
After this the voting was held with everyone, except for Count Adler, voting against it.
Finally, we would like to inform our readers about the SAMPA (Stormwind Auxiliary Medical Professional Association) proposal made by Joshua Dorian, which was approved to be presented to the Court. For those that do not know, this Association aims to teach any citizen about the medical field, to be able to help others to a minimum degree in case they suffer any injury. This will be a free program, founded by the Court, or at least it is the hope so far.
Some questions were asked, mostly by Lawrence Kinston, who showed interest in if it will include teaching related to the care of babies and children. Joshua Dorian said it will, as a father himself it something important for him, and Countess van Rook took interest on if this type of education was lacking, to consider if it needed more attention. Another important point of this proposal is to offer training in different mending techniques according to people’s abilities, but not as a general thing, only in cases of a preexistent affinity they’ll try to find a way to help.
Soon we will know if this proposal is approved by the Court and see how it works and develops if approved.