The thing about sovereign citizens is that the “rules” they’re taught are always so arcane and convoluted that their the conman “teaching” them can always point to something they didn’t do correctly. So people like the one in this post will be told “Oh, you cited the Magna Carta and correctly declared yourself a ship at sea, but you failed to hop on one leg while reciting the ‘Corpus Juris Civilis’ backwards, that means you did it wrong and the State still had power over you.”
Magic is the same way. The bigger the claim of the spell the harder it is to do the ritual. That way you are more invested in it working. When you look at very simple spells the claims are much smaller. Like a rope binding ceremony. Takes a few minutes and it claims to make you feel a bit better about stuff vs one spell that claims you can talk to demons but only if you basically live without food showering and sleep for a month.
For some reason I’m now imagining a failed casting of Resurrection in D&D getting traced to the required diamond worth at least 1000 gold losing its value because someone recently found a rich diamond vein and it caused all diamonds to depreciate in value.
Imagine a campaign where all gemstones need appraising by some (hidden) skill check. The true value is simply hidden from the players. The gem sellers naturally overprice their wares as well, so you can never be truly certain that this diamond you paid 500g for is worth at least the 300g needed for that Revivify.
They only ever try this shit for small relatively inconsequential stuff and since most sovereign citizens are middle class people a lot of them do kind of get away with it (not because of the sovereign citizen stuff but because it’s small potatoes and the justice system is kinder to middle class people than it is to poor people, so their case/charges often get dropped or dismissed or they get a good deal, etc) and I’m pretty sure that leads them to believing that it does work more often than not and they tell all their friends at the next BBQ about how they totally beat the system with this one neat trick. Like I’ve never heard of a sovereign citizen trying this shit for stuff like grand theft, assault, murder, etc. It’s always stuff like low level traffic violations, which are already things they’re likely to only get a slap on the wrist for.
At what point do you start to think “Huh, maybe this DOESN’T work…”
The thing about sovereign citizens is that the “rules” they’re taught are always so arcane and convoluted that their the conman “teaching” them can always point to something they didn’t do correctly. So people like the one in this post will be told “Oh, you cited the Magna Carta and correctly declared yourself a ship at sea, but you failed to hop on one leg while reciting the ‘Corpus Juris Civilis’ backwards, that means you did it wrong and the State still had power over you.”
Magic is the same way. The bigger the claim of the spell the harder it is to do the ritual. That way you are more invested in it working. When you look at very simple spells the claims are much smaller. Like a rope binding ceremony. Takes a few minutes and it claims to make you feel a bit better about stuff vs one spell that claims you can talk to demons but only if you basically live without food showering and sleep for a month.
For some reason I’m now imagining a failed casting of Resurrection in D&D getting traced to the required diamond worth at least 1000 gold losing its value because someone recently found a rich diamond vein and it caused all diamonds to depreciate in value.
Imagine a campaign where all gemstones need appraising by some (hidden) skill check. The true value is simply hidden from the players. The gem sellers naturally overprice their wares as well, so you can never be truly certain that this diamond you paid 500g for is worth at least the 300g needed for that Revivify.
(I am aware that this idea is terrible)
They only ever try this shit for small relatively inconsequential stuff and since most sovereign citizens are middle class people a lot of them do kind of get away with it (not because of the sovereign citizen stuff but because it’s small potatoes and the justice system is kinder to middle class people than it is to poor people, so their case/charges often get dropped or dismissed or they get a good deal, etc) and I’m pretty sure that leads them to believing that it does work more often than not and they tell all their friends at the next BBQ about how they totally beat the system with this one neat trick. Like I’ve never heard of a sovereign citizen trying this shit for stuff like grand theft, assault, murder, etc. It’s always stuff like low level traffic violations, which are already things they’re likely to only get a slap on the wrist for.
Every one Ive seen get the hint is usually when they go to jail for contempt for a few days.
Makes me wonder if judges who show them leniency do so out of pity or spite.