First, a little bit of history. When KNIGHTRANGER first brought Kassar to Gorchat, He came from a situation that He once described to Me as chaotic. Paraphasing His words, it was so bad that a serve would begin and there would be a raid and before the serve would have ended there would be another raid. Perhaps He was using hyperbole to make His point, but then again, perhaps He wasn't.

As a result, the rules for raiding on GC were made to restrict their frequency and police the manner in which they were carried out. These rules have, little by little, been amended.

What is a raid? It is an attempt by one city to take the property of another. Perhaps those good include slaves. Perhaps they include food or jewels or perhaps they even include the attempt to steal a Homestone. GC rules expressly state that there cannot be a "kill" during a raid.

The next logical question then becomes: what is a kill zone? It would seem that a killzone, by definition, is a place where one's life is at risk. If there can be no kills during a raid, when might it be that one's life is at risk in a kill zone?

History on GC indicates that many kills have taken place under circumstances where there are not the necessary qualifications for a raid. We have even had an Ubar killed by a Free Woman. However, not all of the kills have represented the embarrassment which this one did.

Gorchat needs to make some decisions about the risks that it wishes to take. It would seem to me that all kills should be disputed. I mean, why not? What has the disputee to lose? And, in the meantime, he or she can run around and make arrangements of what to do if he is judged dead.

Kills in the wilds are another matter and seem to be more clearcut. However, Urthen police use a term called hot pursuit when describeing the need to traverse city, county or state lines when they are after a criminal. Their thinking is that it is very inefficient to limit their jurisdiction when someone who has committed a crime can flee to jurisdictional safety of another zone and thereby create impunity.

In My opinion, we are not as clear as we might be on these points. I am writing this before any decision is rendered about the Shadow Dragon kill and it is written regardless of whatever that outcome might be.

However, I am making some suggestions. I make them not from a position of ego but from the training that if one presents a problem, one should also propose a solution.

Having less than 3 Free Men in a City makes it unraidable but should it render it immune from reprisals for actions that members of that city have committed?

If we continue to so completely restrict the ability of Men to act, we create the danger of those who talk about battle but have never actually engaged in it.

While we do not wish an unbridled raiding rule, we may wish one that does not constrict rading to the point where it cannot occur. When was the last real raid conducted on GorChat?

I would suggest that the council make determinations quickly. Justice delayed is justice denied.

It might very well be time for admin or for a rules committee to revisit the rules and revise them to precisely determine what a "kill zone" is and whatever else it thinks is necessary to be revised.