During these times the only courts that existed were the courts of the kingdom which enforced the laws of the kingdom, the ruling caste and the nobles, and the court of the church, which ruled on transgressions against the church. A man who felt wronged in business by another, could appeal to the courts of the kingdom, but even being heard was not assured, and if you were, it could be years before your case came to light.

In order to facilitate trade between merchants, cities and countries, the Lex Mercatoria developed. The Law Merchant was developed by the merchants themselves and governed the transactions, dealings and disputes amongst men of good standing. While originally the cases were decided by local respected merchants uninvolved in the dispute, after a time the professional jurist emerged. The arbiter was the decider of disputes. Listening independently to the disagreements of men, the arbiter applied the laws of the land and the Lex Mercatoria to the dispute and settled it.

While large cities could support full time arbiter’s, small towns could not. It would frequently be but once a year, when the festival was celebrated and the traveling merchant caravans came to town that an arbiter would hear a case, for many of these jurists travelled with the caravans themselves, earning their living hearing cases for a fee in the small towns and villages that populated the countryside.

Sirius Augustus Fronte’s origins are less clear then the history of the arbiter and the Lex Mercatoria. It is known that he arrived as a youth in Venice on a merchant ship, where his knowledge of numbers and letters found him a job in a local merchants warehouse. He was noticed by a prominent member of the merchants guild arbiters board and apprenticed to this jurist, learning the Lex Mercatoria and the ways of the jurist. His departure from Venice is clouded in mystery (much like his real name), and he started his travels around the world. He has visited many distant lands, including Arabia, the Orient and many lands in between. He eventually entered into an agreement with the Hanseatic League to travel with their caravans offering his services to the people of the towns and villages he visits, for a fee of course.

He is a man of learning, a skilled warrior and while pledging fealty to the Church, display’s some disturbing religious practices from his travels. Found of his ale, he can be found frequently judging different ales and drinks with the caravans Ale founder, Andreas. It should be noted that upon landing in Venice he refused to leave the ship, nor will be set foot in the town of Bruges, leading some to speculate that this might be part of his past. He will not speak of it generally, but a drink or two may loosen his tongue.