First off, though, I'd like to thank Rotipher, NeoTiamat, Nathan, and HuManBing for clearing up several of my Darkon questions, and the writers of Gazetter II for clearing up a few more. Without them, the Baroness would still be a Lady Mayor the way she was before the whole Necropolis thing went down (btw, I'm really impressed that the Baroness was able to retain power in Martira Bay all the way through Azalin going away, Death coming to reign for a while, and Azalin's return--and all the while the power struggle within the Kargat involving Tavelia was based in her own town. Tough lady!).
That said, I wrote "A Gentleman by Moonlight" to work out my mixed feelings concerning the so-called "gentleman thief" genre of stories. You know the type, and you've probably read a few. The genre dates way back (heck, to Robin Hood and to Odysseus, for that matter) but in the last century or so it's exploded: Raffles, Arsene Lupin, The Saint, Lester Leith, etc. For some reason, it's even become a respectably-known sub-genre in anime and manga, with Lupin III, Man with Twenty Faces and Cat's Eye springing immediately to mind.
Anyway, the whole point is that these "gentleman thieves," using their charm, wits, and impressive rogue character class skills, steal from the rich ('cause, let's face it, stealing from the poor doesn't get you much in the way of loot). Sometimes, like The Saint and Lester Leith, they contribute the bulk of their booty to charity, keeping only 10-20% for themselves as collection costs--this Robin Hood-like behavior, is, of course, why "The Saint" is called "The Robin Hood of Modern Crime," for example.
Now, you've probably guessed that I like these kind of stories, or I wouldn't be able to list so darned many of them, and it's generally true--they tend to be well-written, often exciting and/or humorous.
But the thing is, these tales conveniently overlook the fundamental point that these characters are, at their core, thieves. They take valuables from their owners and give those valuables to other non-owners, often themself.
At best, we're shown that the particular owners are crooks themselves, being punished for the crimes by which they obtained their wealth (indeed, often the villain's crimes are revealed and they're left in the hands of the police--or dead--while the thief is sailing off with the loot). At worst, we're left to shrug and say "well, the victim is really rich, so they're not really hurt, and probably insured."
What we never get to see is the social and implied costs of that kind of thievery. Sure, the goods may be insured, but all those claims are making their rates go up. What about the inevitable consequences to a cop's career when the thief escapes him for the eighteenth consecutive time? And don't rich, evil people tend to take out their frustrations out on people? Will innocents be caught in the crossfire?
That's why the "flashback" scenes in this story start out humorous--the kind of thing that you get in ordinary "gentleman thief" tales--and steadily get worse. The point is that, as Osgul points out, theft is not a game. Of course, he--and even less so, Veron--don't actually understand those costs; they're thinking from a law-and-order kind of perspective which has nothing to do with social justice.
Now, as for the end of the story--that's pretty much a catharsis for me, the author.
The truth is, that some "gentleman thief" story episodes just rub me the wrong way, stories where the author ends up taking it out on the cop, or when the "rich victim" character just doesn't strike me as "victimizable" on an ethical/moral level in the same way the author finds them as such. Sometimes, I end up identifying with the cop, especially if the cop is honest, like Chief Inspector Teal ("The Saint" series) or Inspector Zenigata (Lupin III) instead of being a corrupt Sherriff of Nottingham type. And I just wish, for that brief second, that Raffles could get his smug keister slammed into prison and sent to break rocks for seven-to-ten without so much as a valet to help him change his linen, or that headquarters would eventually decide "That guy's too much of a liability to let run loose--screw the regulations, just shoot to kill on sight."Well, this gentleman thief decided to ply his trade in Ravenloft.
And at long last, the Sherriff of Nottingham gets to win one.
