Crime

Both outside and within the wealthy neighbourhoods of the Ton, a criminal underworld lurks in the darkness. This crime takes many forms, from petty theft to calculated murder and everything inbetween.

If a member of nobility wanders into the wrong street, they could easily find themselves deprived of their expensive jewellery and fine garments. Avoiding dangerous areas is not enough to ensure safety – a sufficiently determined person could find a way to kill, steal or defraud members of the Ton by infiltrating their ranks.

It is not only threats from outside that the Ton must be concerned about, but threats from within their number too. A family can sometimes find itself in financial difficulty, and that can lead them to desperate measures to claw money from their wealthy peers around them. The huge estates and social prestige associated with titles in the peerage can even incentivise family members to turn on each other for the rewards of inheritance.

It is difficult for someone raised in the Ton to have the knowledge needed to become an accomplished criminal without outside assistance, but the rewards are potentially huge upon success. The punishments, however, are terrible – not only imprisonment and disgrace for the perpetrator, but the associated scandal could tarnish their family’s reputation for many years to come, leading to close relations being frozen out of social events and making it near-impossible for young relatives to find a willing spouse.