Barency Port [3 Hivvem, Barency]

[sythyry]

Mirrored from Sythyry.

In traff cafés far and wide, it is whispered — under the influence of brandy, of euphoriac smoke, and of the kisses of our true and improper loves — that Lord Caring University, in Barency, has a Department of Transaffectionate Studies. And this is not simple some idle and foolish rumor. I have, in fact, corresponded with one Professor Sir Doctor the Honorable Mump, who styles himself “Sir Norning Goddibert Professor of the Study of the Transaffectionate”. (Who was this Sir Norning Goddibert, you may ask? I may ask, too, when I get a chance!) We bickered bitterly about the definition of transaffection in a series of three letters.

Not long ago, I wrote to him conceding that he was right, and mentioned that I was going to be somewhat in the area at some point.

We are now camped up nicely in the skyport of Barency, awaiting a somewhat belated tax official before we can go into the city. Professor Sir Doctor the Honorable Mump has just appeared — he is a tall and very grizzled Rassimel gentleman, dressed entirely from head to toe in impeccably-tailored light-blue checked garments, and all of his buttons were identical ivory images of St. Nollimar, whose philosophies concern Behaving In Accordance with Societal Norms. He also bears a pair of blue ceramic cameos of a pair of Rassimel faces, with ‘Elemyne my Beloved Wife’ and ‘Tummita my Beloved Wife’ on them, one on each breast. It seems that Mump is quite concerned that nobody think that he is transaffectionate, despite the topic of his academic studies. He is having a detailed discussion with Este about inlaying shells into wooden boxes. If I am not mistaken, he is flirting a touch, but Este is having none of it.

Ah, there’s the tax collector now.

Comments

[kris-schnee.livejournal.com]

[OOC] It may be the journal format, but in the last few entries I've felt like I must have missed one. One moment you've just escaped from an alternate universe and an angry god, and suddenly you're visiting a different city for unrelated reasons.

[kensan-oni.livejournal.com]

Well, to be fair, though, taking care of the Elfimel is not Zir responcibility. After their rescue, I imagine it was their Go...Gor... Bear Person's responcibility. After all, they swore to rescue them in the first place.

[shurhaian.livejournal.com]

I can't remember the order of months offhand(am not at home and don't have my sourcebook with me), but even if Hivvem is the month after Consimbs, at least six days have passed. We might yet hear something about the resolution there; Sythyry is not always posted in strict chronological order.

[valdary.livejournal.com]

I think you have a typo, simple for simply in second sentence.

[alex-muridae.livejournal.com]

Ah, it is always good to see that some things, such as bureaucracy, are the same no matter which dimension you're presently in. I'll bet hCevian could explain it too. Actually, that would be less of a comfort, somehow...

[kris-schnee.livejournal.com]

Isn't there a Locador spell for that? "Horror Of the Red Tape"? =)

[shurhaian.livejournal.com]

Ah, Barency! Given that our most detailed source material surrounds Treverre, I do believe that this is the closest that you've been to places that I and others like me would be familiar with.

I suppose the local laws think you're importing something?

[stormydragon.livejournal.com]

Don't forget all the metal they stole from heaven. The local smith guild is probably worried about the local market being flooded.

[shurhaian.livejournal.com]

If they brought that metal with them, instead of leaving it at Castle Wrong, I could see that being a problem.

If they are attempting to bring that metal off the skyboat and with them into the city, I could see that being a problem.

I could also see it that this tax collector is just doing a routine inspection.

Otherwise? Uh, that seems rather far-fetched to be the cause. Note that there have been six days since leaving Heaven; this is not a matter of "we have this bunch of metal and whoops suddenly we're on Dentheia".

[terrycloth.livejournal.com]

What business would the tax collector have with you? Were you planning on selling off your loot in Barency?

[shurhaian.livejournal.com]

Notwithstanding my own comment above, it's entirely possible that the tax collector is inspecting them on the chance that they might be importing something. Or even just moving it through Barency Mene. I don't know how it is in Barency of 4385, but in Treverre of 4260, it was actually cheaper for foreign merchants to sell their goods to Treverran ones and buy them back than the toll to carry them through.

Good luck assessing the value of a skyship like Strayway, but something along that line of thought might be in place here all the same. Or, as mentioned above, it could be routine. Equivalent to a customs inspection.

[terrycloth.livejournal.com]

Well, charging a tax on someone who isn't selling in the city because they happened to pass nearby is called 'piracy'. See, Dossimar.

[shurhaian.livejournal.com]

This is a matter of passing actually through the city. Dossimar was encroaching not only on people not visiting Dossimar city itself, but on people who weren't even passing through the Mene. And it was nothing to do with any actual value of goods being passed.

If you're going to compare this to piracy, you might as well say that all road tolls and the like should be covered under it as well.

[redbird]

This may be the equivalent of me having to stop at Customs on my way into Canada: they have yet to actually ask me to pay taxes on anything, but they are tax collectors. (In fact, I have twice gone past and said that I had a gift worth more than $60, stated the value, and been told they wouldn't charge anything. (Neither was $60.35, either: I think one was around $90, the other in low three figures. I was only the messenger for the first one, but Canada Customs doesn't care that the item was purchased by someone in Sweden, only that I'm bringing it into Canada.)

[shurhaian.livejournal.com]

This is more or less what I'm thinking, barring further word from the small blue cave lizard, but with the caveat that city-states on the World Tree may well have less friendly customs and excise schedules. Every city on the Tree, for the most part, needs to be more or less self-sufficient; there have been times of greater unity, but alliances shift, and greater unity than that hasn't tended to last.

So yeah. Every city needs to look out for itself and tends to be mistrustful of its neighbours. Some cities may make a great deal of their civic money from duties charged on imported goods - and given how pular smuggling thus becomes, may choose to charge a stiff fee for goods brought into the city even if they ostensibly aren't for sale. Given the ostentation on Strayway(so many enchanted things...), A) exploring it in its entirety would be a daunting prospect for any tax collector, but B) they might assess a stiff duty.

[shurhaian.livejournal.com]

...how popular smuggling thus becomes, even. Bah, fingers.

[stormydragon.livejournal.com]

Although you would think that kennoc magic would put a bit crimp on smuggling.

[shurhaian.livejournal.com]

Except that the only way to tell whether or not someone intends to sell something is MAYBE with Kennoc Mentador, and even as far as finding the things goes, you need to know what to look for. So no, even if Kennoc were 100% reliable, it wouldn't make that big of a dent. If a merchant's wagon is loaded down with good but common wines from trunkward towns, it won't be a simple matter to find out that buried among them are a few small bottles of something much more precious potent.

[kris-schnee.livejournal.com]

There's an adventure for you: a party of tax inspectors braving a dangerous enchanted facility, clipboards in hand, to look for treasure and assess it!

[fringe-worthy.livejournal.com]

Are you sure you want 5% share of empathic Locador Demons, Nendrai Doom and and entertaining morals?

And of course, a small subset of singular spines from the Spine God of Intrusive Entry?

[kris-schnee.livejournal.com]

I'll take the empathic demons, nendrai doom and morals for my share...

And of course, a small subset of singular spines from the Spine God of Intrusive Entry?

And those are a valuable resource for any government!

[terrycloth.livejournal.com]

Wasn't that the plot of the Sufficiently Advanced RPG?