>Through established tradition and very large numbers, I'd say travel on the
>King's highways does not require clan permission, though a sacrifice at a
>road guardian's shrine (which may occasionally detect ill intent) and a
>tribal level toll would be customary. The cities (which are open territory)
>would be the focus for collecting such tolls. Previously collected by the
>city rings, they are now extracted by hoards of petty Lunar bureaucrats.
Although politically I am not a fan of the Third Way, I'd like to suggest just that. I think both answers are true: the clans maintain their customary authority over their tulas - however, travellers on the Royal Roads are under the protection of the House of Sartar. Assaulting a person on the road would mean assaulting a person under the protection of the Princes of Sartar, a very risky proposition. Even unreasonably interfering with travellers might earn the displeasure of the ruling prince and of the other tribal kings (since the tribes and cities benefit from the increased commerce and communication made possible by the roads). If there were tolls on the royal roads, I believe they went to the House of Sartar - not the city rings. Personally, I doubt there were tolls - instead, the city rings paid an annual "heahwaggeld" - or Highway Tribute - in specie and labor. As a practical matter, travellers along the King's highways were rarely challenged during the "good old days" of the House of Sartar. I think John's description was accurate:
>Whenever you enter a clan's tula, by road or by winding upland path, it is
>customary to announce yourself with the Greeting lest you be mistaken for a
>raider. On roads that carry more than a few strangers a day, there may be a
>member of the fyrd on duty or at least a reliable messenger.
Those days, however, are now gone. Euglyptus the Fat declared some foreign legal-goobly-gook regarding the roads that everyone ignored. Raiders routinely plundered strangers on the roads and clan chiefs would often demand outrageous bribes from passing merchants. Lunar soldiers would sometimes try to put down bandits, but more often they also imposed arbitrary tolls - a form of institutional banditry. Prince Temertain now pretends to be the protector of those using the royal roads, but this seems to be little more than a license for Lunar soldiers to impose terrible tribute on clans who do not accept the Lunar Way under the guise of "fighting bandits". Enterprising tribal kings have imposed their own tolls, as have city rings like that of Wilmschurch.
Jeff
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