"Honored delegates,

When we gathered yesterday, the Rights Committee presented the convention with a proposal for the regulation of publishing. At the time, many of us expressed concerns that the proposed law was insufficient to prevent anarchic and immoral publications, and the law's proponents assured us that it would be.

It has been less than a day since the law was passed, and this has already been proven wrong.

Yesterday afternoon, I discovered several copies of a pamphlet for sale known as the Badger." He holds up a Badger. "The Badger, for those unaware, is a publication purporting to be authored by a lich, which frequently advocates for necromancy and lichdom. Yesterday's edition of the Badger was no exception. It was marked as legal under the First Publication Statute, which allows for any material approved by Osirion's censors to be published in Cheliax, and when I attempted to report it to the authorities they informed me that it was indeed allowed under this statute.

Whatever you may think of our laws on publishing, a law that is insufficient even to prohibit works that overtly promote necromancy cannot be trusted to prohibit more insidious forms of lawlessness and Evil. 

This morning, the Urban Order committee met to draft a replacement law, one sufficient to allow safe and moral works while still protecting our society from those who would do it harm, whether out of ignorance or malice.

This statute hereby repeals the publication statute of 9 Sarenrith, and replaces it with the following:

There shall be established a Royal Censorship Board for the distribution of published works, to be staffed by a minimum of twenty men of good character who are approved by and serve at the pleasure of the Queen. The initial makeup of this board shall be established by the convention. The distribution, sale, purchase, or dissemination of any pamphlet, book, or other publication not thereby approved by the Royal Censorship Board is illegal. The Royal Censorship Board shall be tasked with ensuring that all materials published in Cheliax shall comply with the laws of Cheliax; that they shall not promote crime, violence, anarchism, or disorder; that they shall contain nothing obscene; that they shall not contain any grave offenses to morality; that they shall not promote false teachings about the gods nor promote the worship of any power of the Lower Planes, nor any other Evil power; and that they shall be moral, sensible, and prudent to publish. The Board shall also be tasked with carrying out this task with reasonable swiftness, particularly in the initial period after it is established.

A publication includes any form of written or pictorial communication, such as broadsheets, flyers, pasquinades, satirical drawings, etc., except for communications reasonably understood to be private, such as personal letters.

The censor's office shall promulgate a method of marking approved publications; any approved publication distributed without such markings is subject to a suggested penalty of 7 days in prison and a ban on all further dissemination, publication, or sale for the criminal for 1 year. The dissemination of material not approved by the censors shall be punished by a suggested penalty of 1 year of hard labor and 100 crowns in fines, with an extra year of labor for every 10 crowns unpaid, and the criminal may never again publish works. If an illegal publication incites readers to a crime, or is followed by crimes resulting in deaths or property damage in excess of 200 crowns, it is a capital offense. Purchasing or otherwise intentionally obtaining a publication banned under this decree shall be punished by a suggested penalty of 40 lashes or 7 days in prison, and a fine of 5 silver per page purchased.

The Crown and Convention may ban publications even if they have previously been approved by the censors. Lord Mayors and Nobles may apply additional restrictions to publications in those territories they rule but may not legalize works that are otherwise banned by the crown, convention, or Royal Censorship Bureau. Nothing in this decree shall prohibit the faithful copying of laws of this realm, nor official decrees, so long as they are copied in their entirety with no commentary. This decree does not make legal any publications banned under other decrees or statutes.

This statute initially authorizes the holy books of Iomedae, Abadar, Aroden, Erastil, Irori, Pharasma, Sarenrae, and Shelyn, so long as they are copied in their entirety with no commentary. It additionally instructs the Royal Censorship Board to give priority consideration to the holy books of other virtuous faiths not listed in this statute. Empowered clerics of Erastil may additionally append additions and commentary to a copy of the Parables of Erastil, and these modified copies shall still be Lawful, so long as these commentaries do not violate other laws (such as the law against slander) or promote gravely immoral action.

In simple terms, this law establishes a board of virtuous men who will review books and other written materials before they can be published. This is how nearly all of our allies handle publications, from Lastwall to Osirion to Molthune to Galt. It doesn't do anything about private letters, just works that are being shared publicly. It ensures that people won't be able to publish works like the Badger, which any reasonable man can see should be prohibited. And it allows the holy books of several of the righteous gods — including the Parables of Erastil, the traditional form of which was unjustly banned under the previous law for any priest without the means to seek out a publishing house for his personal version.

Thank you for your consideration."