The Hathian Police Department is corrupt, and every officer who wears the badge signed up for exactly that. They are a brotherhood and a sisterhood before they are anything else: they watch each other’s backs, look the other way at each other’s sins, and put the safety of the force above any bond with a civilian. Understand that going in, and the HPD becomes one of the richest sources of story in the city. Expect it to be gone straight, and you will only be disappointed.
What to expect from the police
Corrupt does not mean idle. Cops are still expected to do police work, and criminals are still the enemy, so if you fall victim to a crime you can usually expect a real response: a report, an investigation, maybe an arrest. What you cannot always expect is warmth. Sometimes you will draw a brute, and you will have to handle them wisely. Sometimes your case will go cold, whether from laziness, oversight, or evidence that vanished after the right bribe changed hands. If a cold case matters to your story, reach out to a member of the brass about reopening it.
If you are the criminal
A criminal needs a criminal record, and that means you probably want the follow-up roleplay as much as the crime itself. Roleplay is give and take. Getting away with something is allowed, but the perfect crime is both rare and, honestly, a little lame. Give the HPD a chance to investigate: leave evidence, stay recognizable enough to be tracked, and do not hide somewhere nobody can reach you. The challenge is what makes crime in Hathian fun, and a case that goes nowhere is a story nobody gets to tell.
If you suffer police brutality
If a cop works you over, a report or a lawsuit is unlikely to succeed; the HPD is known for covering its own. You can still try your luck, and the attempt can make good roleplay, but go in understanding that in the city’s own logic, you are rarely a real threat to a badge. That is not a comment on the worth of your roleplay. It is simply how the department sees you.
The law is not real-world law
Hathian’s laws are roleplay laws, and they do not always match real life. A few that catch newcomers out: smoking and selling weed are legal here; open carry is not; prostitution and soliciting are illegal but usually tolerated inside the red light district; and the age of consent, along with the minimum age to strip or tend bar, is eighteen, without exception. Knowing the local code is how you play a criminal, or a victim, who understands the city they live in.
Filing a report
As a victim or witness, you can file a report at the station, and it is one of the most useful things you can do, because it opens follow-up roleplay for everyone involved: interrogations, investigations, arrests, jail scenes. You will be asked to describe the incident and the suspects, and to include out-of-character information like the account names of the people on scene. This is not metagaming; that information is never used in the story, it just lets people be contacted and credited afterward. Take notes during or right after a scene. If no cop is available, you can ask in the citizen group, and if you are still out of luck, simply wait a day or two before heading to the station.
When something goes wrong out of character
The HPD holds its players to a high standard, but everyone has a bad day and everyone was new once, so lead with patience rather than generalizations. If a real issue comes up, reach out politely in a private message first. If that does not resolve it, use the abuse report portal, and for anything involving gun-rules violations, always report it. You can also ask an HPD lead for a clarification. The department exists to make the city dangerous and exciting, not to make criminal roleplay impossible, and the conflict between cops and criminals is the engine the whole city runs on.
Get caught eventually, because getting caught is where some of the best roleplay lives. What happens then is covered next, in Getting Arrested.