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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Li Shenron" data-source="post: 1538049" data-attributes="member: 1465">This is the most interesting topic I have recently read on these boards, good thoughts!  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f60e.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":cool:" title="Cool    :cool:"  data-smilie="6"data-shortname=":cool:" /> I think that indeed it's very common in RPG that stealing is considered wrong, and often associated with evil and chaotic alignments (tolerating it for CG and more rarely for LE).I believe the reason is because also often in real life stealing is percieved as a worse offense. First thing that came to my mind when I read your thread was how horse-stealers were punished with the gallows pole in the past, while perhaps murderers were simply imprisoned, and rapers were often ignored until not so long time ago. History is full of examples of laws or habits that (my) property was more worth than (your) life. I am not a historian, nor a sociologist or psychologist, but I have seen many more people enraged by a theft happened to them than for any other reason.I toss in a couple of spare and inarticulated thoughs about this subject  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f61b.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue    :p"  data-smilie="7"data-shortname=":p" /> Maybe #1Who is the typical victim of a theft? The rich obviously, since the poor doesn't have much to be stolen. The rich is at the same time the powerful. It has power to claim the thief's life and does so to vengeance the affront against him. He is more rarely the victim of a murder, since with power he can better defend himself, and when it happens it is typically because he is killed by someone more powerful than him.Who is the typical victim of a murder? The poor, since his life is less defended both physically and by the laws. In the real world of the past (and not so "past" after all...) there were big differences if you killed a rich or a poor, a noble or a peasant and so on.Even if we believe that our contemporary world works much better, the view still lingers on, and after all the laws are still written on the majority by the rich and powerful. In fact it still happens to see examples of powerful people getting away with serious crimes (my God, being Italian I could name thousands of cases, but I would be banned for speaking "political"  <img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/paranoid.png"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":uhoh:" title="Paranoid    :uhoh:" data-shortname=":uhoh:" /> ) while immigrant or gypsy wallet-stealers go straight to jail.Maybe #2Killing has still an ancestral feel of being a display of power. If you kill it means you are strong, and the more you kill the stronger you probably are. When the law - both in the form of legislators, of judges, and of guards - goes after a killer, it is going after a tough target. If the guard catches the killer, who knows how the killer may react? It's likely that the guard risks his own life, therefore it may be better to unconsciously go easier with it. If the judge gives the multi-murderer gangster a serious prison sentence, who knows how the boss may retaliate against the judge's family? Better not to consider it such a serious crime after all.On the other hands, thieves are weak. If they were strong, they would probably not need to steal, they would have found another way to get what they want, either lafwul of unlawful. The strength of the thief is her stealthiness, agility, quickness and smartness, but once you put your hands on her, she's so easy to crush.Let's exploit this facts, put theft on top of the most dishonorable crimes, and see the people praise the rulers of the land about how good they are in fighting evil.Maybe #3Where does property come from? The world had a beginning when no one owned anything, so when did someone start owning the land for example? Private property is one of the most (if not THE most) radicated concept in our real life, but if you think about it, it must have started at some point with some kind of sopruse. Questioning the true rights for property means questioning why the lord is the lord, and not someone else; if the first origin is negated, the whole reason for him to be in charge is as well (hence some attempts in history to backup a king's position with a divine rights, which provides another option).Property is also the source of power, and the other way around is also true: defend your property and increase your power even if it costs the life of others, tells the lord to his son; incidentally, make sure you write laws to support your defense and gliss over your offense.Obviously these notes of mine are voluntarily provocative, they want to blow on the fireplace of discussion. They may be exaggerated, but they are not completely made up. Consider them like a jester's speech, apparently of a fool but perhaps after all not completely...  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /></blockquote>

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