Every hold in Skyrim has its laws, and where there are laws there are guards, and where there are guards there is consequence. Bounties accumulate per hold. They follow you across the road. They are paid, served, or escaped — but they do not forget themselves.
How it works
The guard system is its own substrate. Each hold has its own guard faction, its own jail, its own ledger of who owes the realm what. When you commit a crime within a hold's reach, your bounty grows there — separately from your standing in any other hold. You may pay it at a Jarl's house, serve it in their jail, or carry it with you across the border and hope no patrol crosses your path. Guards have the bound and blindfold tools available to them under formal authority (see Bound & Blindfold), along with the right to detain, jail, and process you through a workflow that does not depend on a player calling for an admin.
Commands
The guard surface splits across four /help topics. Most of it is restricted to appointed guards; bounty self-readout is public.
General — /help guard
/guard agencies — List guard agencies./guard member <agency> <add|remove|list> ... — Manage guard membership where authorized./guard facility <hold> <kind> <name> — Register a guard facility (jail, gate, post).
Custody — /help guard custody
/guard detain <target> [reason] — Begin a custody case./guard process <case-id> [reason] — Process a detained character./guard jail <case-id> <minutes> [reason] — Jail a prisoner for a set window./guard release <case-id> [reason] — Release a prisoner.
Bounty — /help guard bounty
/bounty — Show your per-hold bounty totals. (public — anyone can run on themselves)/guard bounty add <target> <amount> [reason] — Add a bounty where authorized./jarldom bounty <hold> <target> <amount> [reason] — Jarldom-side bounty tooling. (also see The Nordic Nobility)/bounty-set <name or id> <hold> <amount> — Direct bounty set. (admin only)
Facility keys — /help guard keys
/guard key list <facility-id> — List facility keys./guard key mint <facility-id> <target> [ordinary|master] [name] — Mint a facility key./guard key revoke <key-id> [reason] — Revoke a facility key.
