21.21 The tribute taxed/levied from occupied territory.

Tributes are collected throughout the Avalon year from towns and villages part of a city's sphere of influence, providing said town or village has been occupied or conquered - by the raising of the standard - details about which can be found in HELP SPHERE and HELP INFLUENCE.

These tributes are collected in the following fashion: on the 1st of Midwinter, New Years Day, an assessment is made of what is called the 'tribute potential'. This assessment takes into account the size of the occupied/conquered town or village, their resources (gold and commodities and population) and - most importantly - the number of troops the occupying city has on their soil. Though it is possible to gain a modest tribute from occupied villages where no legions are left to assess and then gather the levied tribute, it is possible to squeeze exponentially more if a large force is left in place. In this way it is also often the case that a city with a smaller sphere of occupation leaves greater soldier numbers on their occupied soil, to levy proportionally larger tributes, by way of compensating versus cities with large spheres and troop numbers spread more thinly across all occupied territory.

On the New Years Day assessment the tribute potential is logged and can be reviewed by typing TRIBUTE followed by the Avalon year. It is then the task of the legions and the citizens of the occupying city to collect and bring home the tributes levied. The first month of the year - Midwinter - will see little taxation but from the second month to the last (Eleuthral to Agamnion) the gold, commodities and enlistable men will be gathered according to the aforementioned tribute potential. The more legions on the occupied soil, again, the more gold, commodities and enlistables will be gathered - until the year is over or the entire tribute assessed is complete.

If your occupying legions face opposition from foreign forces this will interfere with tribute collection. If you lose your conquest or your occupier status it will likewise derail the levying of the taxed tribute. Gold taxed as tribute automatically makes its way into your city's treasury, just as the standard gold worth of sphere of influence locations. Commodities levied as tribute will be brought into the inventory of the occupying legions (no legions on the ground means no commodity tribute for that particular month). It is then up to the city to organise the transport of the commodities home. Enlistable men gathered as potential additions to the occupying city's armies or fieldworker numbers will assemble around the occupying legions. It is, again, up to the city to organise their safe passage to home barracks. It can be a dangerous business.

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