>I disagree somewhat. Once the Emperor and his coterie leave Sartar
>and return to the Heartlands, Euglyptus and his retainers are left
>in charge of Sartar (given the immediate presence of the Emperor -
>or at least his proxy, I think that Euglyptus was appointed by the
>Emperor and not the Provincial Overseer). Euglyptus needs somewhere
>around 20,000 lunars a year to maintain the Army of Occupation in
>Sartar. He can probably get about 5,000 to 10,000 lunars a year
>from the Empire - the rest he needs to collect locally. He decides
>to impose a tax of between 20,000 and 25,000 lunars a year on the
>tribes and pocket the difference.
>
>As a good Dara Happan, Euglyptus simply determines how much he needs
>(with a target surplus of about 8,000 lunars to 15,000 lunars a
>year - a pittance, but at least it compensates him for his time) and
>makes his decree.
True as far as it goes but someone has to decide how much each tribe pays. I'm sure there's a whole department in the Lunar administration that does nothing else. And whatever basis they decide to use (number of people, number of cows, land area, etc) will follow the path I've outlined. Euglyptus won't complain if more tax is collected than he decreed, he'll just pocket the extra. He'll probably find there is pressure from the Empire to reduce their contribution as well.
There's an Imperial bureaucracy which needs to justify its existance here and justify it they will.
-- Donald Oddy http://www.grove.demon.co.uk/
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