Bay 12 Games Forum

"The usual then. That is all I needed to know."

The grainmongerer sat down once again in thought.

At the mention of the 'holy men', Avaris suddenly looked alive, as if she wanted to say something. Reigning in her impulses, she bit her tongue and waited for a king's speech.

Avaris had watched all this in silence.

"...No. And yes. It is true that for many of our populace, a 25% tax is bearable and will enrich the nobility. The freemen in general will be a bit poorer for this, but should this wealth be used in the development of the realm, I think it a worthy trade. However, the Count Yshuis is correct. Your grace, Yyshuis is not a wealthy region and these taxes would do far more harm than good, and would cause problems later on. Unless the other lords would be willing to donate their resources to the development and upkeep of the march, I propose three things."

"Firstly, all border fiefs and poor communities should be exempted from both suggested taxes. The wealth that would enrich the royal coffers would be of better use in ensuring our realm is safe from outside incursion. Secondly, a poor village that is already near the point of starvation will not meekly accept another burden; they would rather risk death and revolt. And indeed, they would receive a fine place in the heavens. They would have little to lose."

"Secondly, it would be fair to assume that there is a great deal of debate at what would count as 'poor' for the purpose of taxation. I propose that a royal service be established to gauge the wealth of the realm and based of this information, tax your subjects accordingly. As such, I also suggest that any new taxes not take into effect until this census is performed."

"On another note, I would also propose a lowering of the tax to 15% or rather, that you firstly announce a 25% tax, and then reissue another a week after that that states a 15% tax rather than 25. Were you to present the 15 firstly, peasants the realm over would be as outraged as if you had proposed 25%. A 'correction' would mollify their anger, especially if you were to announce that this decision was made after consulting with representatives of the common man. Or rather, a common woman."

The patrician of grain did not wish to make herself seem too connected to the king, and simply waited upon her seat.


Once again, scope out room for any of my class, and see if I know them.

Avaris scopes out the room to roughly guess how many patricians and well-to-do non nobles/clergy are present. She checks if she knows them.

Avaris noted how quickly dear Riskov had risen. Int.er.est.ing. And yet, now he seemed quiet. Very int.er.est.ing.

Avaris coughed and stood. "Dear lords, if I may speak, it is clear you have legitimate grievances...and have chosen the most opportune time to air them! Quite intriguing, quite intriguing. You say the crown underpays for grain given. Would you be willing to present the ledgers to the court? Not that the honour of you esteemed gentlemen are in doubt, but if there is an imbalance in finances, then surely it must be known to what degree, yes?"

Kool Kat was not quite kontent, but was quite pleased with the day's events. He decided that stopping now would be a terrible mistakr.


5PP: Create the  Kat Moonz, Giant floating hairballs beep out music and amplify the radius of Katification.