Ah, I see your point. However if part of the tax we pay our tribal king is the Road Tax or the Bridge Tax, we know by tradition and custom that we don't have to pay if we labor then we might solve this.
However, it is possible that you and I have just proved that all tax systems, direct or inderict are unfair and open to abuse ;-)
Roderick:
> Scutage has no place among the tribal heortlings. All men are
expected to show up for muster
Oops did not really mean to suggest that it did. I really meant *like* the principle of scutage. Sorry to muddy the waters.
>Allowing a clan to take tolls is a form of standardised and lowlevel
brigandage, but the alternative is for all-out brigandage.
Which is worse for free trade?
It works, but feels less to me like it would be Sartar's solution.
YGMV.
> If the king wants to collect payments for crimes related to roads,
he'd better show up (or send someone) at each and every moot where
such a case comes up.
No, I mean that the victim gets the fine in addition to any other compensation, not that the king collects it. It is saying this crime is worse than normal because it ws comitted on the king's road.
> I think our differences come from different views of
how "civilised" Sartar is. Out in the boondocks, I prefer a much less
attentive-to-central-government way of life - Out there, the clan
chief is king. Your idea seems to be a stronger Central government,
at least the level of the Anglo Saxon Heptarchy. I prefer the
migration age myself.
My opinion is more that Sartar has had effective central government when a strong king sits on the throne (perhaps equivalent to the Anglo Saxon Heptarchy), and no effective central government when a weak king sits on the throne. Over history I think that Sartar has been in all these states, though never as organised as Tarsh. The strength of the kingdom is far more related to the ability of the king to cow/woo/bribe/entice the tribes into following him (KoDP) style than anything else. *Now* the kingship is weak.
But beyond a certain point this is not going to affect the people's campiagns so much that they will diverge from official publications badly by adopting one position or the other, so a YGMV attitude may be best.
ian Cooper
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