The Drownings were a form of punishment for crimes used in the city of Letheras as well as a spectacle. The basic idea was that an accused criminal was weighed down with their fine, attached to a rope (for the later retrieval of the fine money) and forced to swim the Quillas Canal. The amount of weight attached to the criminal was proportional to the crime. Should that criminal emerge from the other side of the canal intact, they were free to go, though usually they drowned.