Outlaws. Sinful criminals, who go against the order of society and the common good. Outlaws, who bring harm and loss to others for their gain and betterment. They pervade every society eventually - no matter how large or small, no matte how strict in morals, or lax. Those who oppose the established order will always crop up, and even the balance between justice and crime.

But how do they come to be? Even in a perfect society, where anything is possible for one who tries - those who wish to have more, for less, will still appear.

Is a man born with the destiny of a criminal in his veins? Is an outlaw born, or made? Or perhaps a criminal is the result of his upbringing? His environment? Or perhaps it is the purview of Chaos? Natural disorder appearing like the unravelling thread of a loose-woven sweater.

The truth of it is, Criminals rarely premeditate their evils. Even more uncommon is for their evils to be done purely out of malice for the innocent.

Suppose a man and his family are starving. He was the sole provider of wealth for his family, and has lost his job. Once a respectable worker, he has fallen on hard times and has no way up. There is no charity to be found. He steals a loaf of bread and is now a fugitive. He is doomed to imprisonment if he is caught. He is finally cornered by a ruthless bounty hunter, and knows that to be captured is not only his imprisonment, it is the death of his family. His children. In desperation he kills the Bounty Hunter, and his life is forfeit.

Does this make him a cold-blooded killer? One would be callous to say so - for if given another chance at employment, there is no doubt that he would take it, far sooner than another man's life. This is a scenario that plays out all too often, in every part of the world. And it further suggests that the Criminal is not born. Every man is born from the womb of a mother, the seed of a father, and with the capacity for great evil. Whether that evil is ever fulfilled or if the man leads a virtuous life is dependant chiefly upon circumstances. Survival is bred into our bones, and it is only natural to go against the unnatural strictures of society to ensure it, especially when the Society fails to do so.

So how is a criminal brought down? Most often under the cudgels of whatever body stands for justice in a society - thieves lose their hand, murderers their head. Little effort is ever made at rehabilitation. Those who seek it are denied it, in both the Fair and Corrupted courts of law; and those who are offered it are often too proud to accept it. It is because a man who commits a crime to save his own life or another's would be going against his nature to admit his act was a crime. For a man to do so is to admit his life is forfeit. That he lives on borrowed time.

And then there are those criminals who do commit their crimes out of malice, lust, or greed. Those who plan their crimes, and seek to get rich on the backs of others. To become greater than what they have any right to be. To revenge upon those who have done them harm. Or to do harm purely for harm's sake to one who has done nothing wrong at all. These are the unforgivable crimes. The only justice is rehabilitation, followed inexorably by death. The crime done must be undone.

An outlaw, going against the strictures of society is a criminal. But an outlaw going against the laws of nature is damned. It is these things that must be weighed on the balance of justice before the hammer may fall.

-Reynart Sanas