Zarok the Law-Giver¶
Domains: Protection, War
Zarok the Law-Giver. Zarok the Teacher. Zarok who is Justice.
The first, great hero of the dwarves, Zarok was a noted general, diplomat, and poet. In his time each dwarf city-state had its own laws which were mostly just lists of offenses with punishments listed next to them. There was no consistency from one city to another and no underlying theory of law. The strong ruled, the rest obeyed.
It was after Zarok retired from his career as a warmaster and became the ambassador to the elves that he undertook a study of how different cultures express the idea of justice. He surveyed the various traditions of elves, humans, and orcs and wrote The Conversations-a series of fictional dialogues in which two characters, deliberately chosen from dwarf theater so as to be familiar to his audience, debate the question: "What are the characteristics of a just society?"
The Conversations marks the beginning of legal theory in Orden. It sought not only to state what a just society was, but to prove it ethically through a series of logical statements. Most of the work concerns itself with the proper, ethical uses of political power. The adversarial system of legal representation is his.
Zarok teaches that all people should be equal under the law. His is the principle of fair play—sportsmanship. Respect for your adversary. The responsibility of the strong to protect the weak.
Zarok's The Conversations are still quoted today. There is a long legal tradition, when a prestigious lawyer in Capital wishes to write an amicus brief without revealing their identity, they sign it "Z."