Dutrees and taxes

Dutrees and taxes

Year 158

The peace we have today is one won by blood. Edna explained to the young Valthorns. The order we have today is held together by the bones of those who fell defending it. Peace demands blood. Order demands bones. The question is simply, are you ready to give your blood and bones for the cause.

The entire blood and bones analogy was a little too much, and felt a bit like a blood mage or a necromancer trying to win others to their cause.

But it seemed to work for hot blooded young folks. Even the naturally calm treefolk seemed taken by the whole sacrifice schtick. In every generation, in every batch, there is a mix of dispositions, some more reserved, some more passionate.

As the one they would ultimately fight for, its my role to identify those whos fire will keep burning, and burn brighter for decades to come. Based on what Ive seen so far, theres no real clear personality indicators to suggest which type of person will remain passionate and loyal to the cause for years to come. Instead, what we noticed is loyalty tends to be accumulated over the decades via little events, and events that increase loyalties for some individuals, do not increase them for others.

The young ones all practiced, and Edna adjusted their pose. I asked her to help with training, simply because they would just naturally level faster when someone of a significantly higher level is advising them.

Renewal is a constant, neverending affair. Just as a deciduous tree repeatedly grows after each winter.

Class, today, we have Roon and Evin, two of our senior Valthorns! Theyll be providing guidance on archery, and fighting with weapons!

Students grow and turn to teachers. Teachers change. A new generation takes over, hopefully, better than the ones that came before.

Roon, is a Level 64 [Aeonic Sharpshooter], and Evin, a Level 61 [Champion Gladiator]. Edna introduced them. They were just as nervous as the kids. Roon was once among them, 15 years ago. Somehow, to return and be one of the teachers was a stressful affair. Kids.

Edna patted them both on the back.

Youll do fine. Just relax, have a cup of herbal tea if you need it. She smiled at the two younger folks. Roon is a typical elf orphan, while Evin is a female half-dwarf who capitalised on her exceptional strength to win multiple arena battles, thus earning the Champion title. The Valthorns are allowed to compete in competitions, but only a limited number. So internally, within the Valthorns, there is a mini-competition before they even get to participate.

This is because we didnt want to flood every competition with Valthorn Initiates, with our dedicated training and high levels. Yet, we do want a presence in these competitions where there are large spectator groups, so we want our good candidates to perform well and help improve our reputation. That said, our best-of-the-best never participate, and there is an internal rule that only those below Level 50 can participate in competitions.

I do think its a bit silly, but if the level of competition increases in the future, the level cap will be revised accordingly.

The two new trainers were uncomfortable at best. It was hard to connect with young children, it took effort, and practice to know how to speak and get young kids to listen and do things. Even if the Valthorn recruits were already a preselected crop.

-

The dungeons opened, and the Valthorns attempted them. The dungeons have some rules, despite the domain powers. For example, my view of the dungeon is always delayed. I can only see what happened after each team completed their run of the dungeon, whether they failed, or they succeeded. Secondly, I can tweak the dungeons settings, but I have no ability to use my powers inside the dungeons.

Its like I have a RNG dungeon generator, and Im playing an idle game where I send teams out on expeditions and hope they succeed.

Patreeck was quick to generate a mathematical model though. After like 10 to 20 rounds of attempts, he already could estimate the chances of success for the dungeon, based on the squad strength.

-

The return of dungeons to the continent also brought a new lobbying group. Adventurers.

We wish to petition Aeon for access to the new dungeons. Adventurers wanted dungeons. After the borders were loosened, there actually was a brain drain where adventurers left the Central continents for the other continents.

This was simply because there were no dungeons, and if there were no dungeons, adventurers had little chance of striking it rich by fighting a dungeon and earning a high tier reward. They were nothing more than monster hunters. Dungeons were a crucial element in the adventurer ecosystem, and previously, the adventurers had to suffer in silence, since, well, the borders were closed. They were not going to get themselves killed by travelling to a continent that killed anyone that came from the Central continent.

Not anymore.

The guild masters were quick to band together and demand the dungeons for the adventurers. Or at least, shared slots where adventurers could attempt those dungeons for themselves.

It was a point I discussed with the Valthorns consistently, and after a while, we had a carve-up system.

Certain dungeons were marked at Valthorn-only, and certain dungeons were free-for-all. Valthorns were free to join the adventurers on raids, and form their own parties.

A 15% tax on all earnings is too high. The Guild masters then shifted onto issue of taxes on dungeon-rewards.

25% was the initial number, I believe. Kavio walked.

The guild masters gulped but then presented that theres actually at least a two-layer tax. Under most local and regional laws, dungeon earnings were subject to taxes at the local nation level. That meant adventurers had to pay a tax to the local state, and also to the Valthorns.

Higher profits will allow the adventurers to get better gear and fight better. If Aeons goal is to get strength, please, consider supporting the adventurers in their pursuit of personal growth.

I was rather torn. The taxes helped support the Valthorns, and the Valthorns do have a lot of spending. But I also agreed that for folks that risked their lives for money, a high tax does feel like bad taste.

We recommend a door tax. A per-entry tax. The guildmasters naturally preferred a flat tax, since all the potential upside accrued to the adventurers.

Kavio looked over the proposal. Well submit this proposal for further discussion.

-

Were running at a marginal surplus at the moment. The Chief of the Valthorns financial and accounting records was Chancellor Brandak, a Treefolk Merchant turned Lord. He was the fourth treefolk [Aeonic Lord] after Kraveik, but soon found a home in the massive Valthorn machinery as our de-facto CFO.

The Valthorns bookkeeping function was frankly a mess as we expanded quickly, and we had revenue sources throughout the entire continent. Compiling income and expenditure reports on a continental scale was a challenge, and continued to be a challenge. This was despite my [artificial souls] monitoring all the transactions throughout the continent.

Simply put, there were simply far too many transactions at any given day, for artificial minds to keep up with, and over time, their role shifted to that of auditors, where they merely observed the practices of the Valthorns on a sampling basis. The complexity of revenue had also increased, as with the multiple layers of taxes and jurisdictions.

Do you want me to be? I didnt want to push the responsibility on her. As far as I can tell, achievement cant be forced, all you can do is offer opportunity. For Valthorns with nothing, they would naturally grab all the opportunities they can get. Arlisa, thus the spoiled 2nd generation, had the luxury of time and nobility to waste it. Its sad, of course, but at the same time, that only meant I excluded her from my plans.

I dont know. Mom keeps telling me about duty and that because I am blessed, I should live up to it. I mean, I feel like I did enough, though.

Her behavior was familiar, like the clever kid in school that studied just enough to do well, and then spend the rest of her time playing or doing other things.

Thats why I wanted to ask you.

Many others on the continent would give up a lot to be in your privileged position. Whether you live up to your station in life, is up to you. Its very fortunate that Lausanne is an elf, who would live very long lives naturally, its a safety net very, very few have.

I knew it. She sighed. All this following the footsteps of my mother is annoying. I want my own life.

Your life has always been your own.

I mean, I want to be able to choose the direction of my own life.

That has never been taken away from you. Whatever choice you make, it will just factor into the bigger picture.

Thats the problem, isnt it. Arlisa frowned. Even if I have the ability to choose whatever I want to be, the gears of the world will move against me. So, only certain choices are realistic choices. In that case, am I really able to choose?

It seems you are thinking far too ahead of yourself, my dear Arlisa. I responded. Are you slacking because all the choices scare you?

She paced in her room, and then sat down. Thats... a very good point.

-

You can create dungeons? I wonder why no one ever presumed to ask why so many dungeons appeared suddenly throughout the continent. So, when I discussed the matter of dungeon configurations with Edna, she seemed really, really taken aback by it.

Uh. Yes. It is a new ability I gained.

She was stunned. Everyone seemed to think that perhaps the God of Dungeons was suddenly magnanimous, so dungeons reappeared on the central continent.

I see. Of course, me being me, I told almost no one, except Kei, about my abilities. I would have told Jura, but, well. It seems I may have erred in my decision on this?

No. Wait. That meant all that squabbling with the kingdoms could have been just ended by telling them that the dungeons are all your creations?

I had the impression they were aware.

No. They were not. They guessed, but it was just a suspicion, and certainly creating dungeons is a level of ability that they didnt think you have.

I find their lack of faith in your abilities, disturbing. Requesting permission for mind-attack. Patreeck commented.

Denied.

Should I say so?

I mean... uh... I dont know. Its a strategic decision at this point. If you could essentially hold the kingdoms at ransom by creating or removing dungeons... Edna processed it.

Ah. Thats a good point. Access to the wealth of dungeons as a form of economic leash on the kingdoms is a very good way to keep these herd of cats compliant.

We should discuss this with a wider council.

-

Chancellor Brandak, Councillor Kavio, more senior Vallhorns, the Treeology Patreearches, the highest Lords and Kings were there, and of course, it was pretty much an earth shaking announcement.

Aeon gained the ability to cause dungeons to appear, and the recent Dungeon Spring is entirely due to Aeons prolific use of his new ability.

A diplomat was quick to display the risks of this news going out. In the holy text of the Gaya church, it is mentioned that the powers of creating dungeons is one that is vested in the Lost Gods. By association, the Gayan faith will therefore consider Aeon to be one of the Lost Gods, the traitors who opened the astral way to the demons.

Then we must be quick to counter such beliefs. A Patreearch said. Our faith is independent of the other faiths, and so our Gods powers should not be linked to the text of another religion. I am of the view that the priesthood should go out and sing praise of this new power.

People die in dungeons, and that did not change. These dungeons, created by Aeon as they may be, remain a dangerous place. One of the Lords had another opinion. Associating Aeon with a place that causes death will make Aeon seem... cruel. Even if those are risks that the adventurers knowingly signed up for.

That was also... a good point. Creating this place of death has reputational risk.

In the history of our allied nations, there have been some Kings who had skills that improve a dungeons characteristics, or improve its levels gain and such... One of the local Prince explained. Indeed, Kings have all sort of generic improvement skills, some of which, target the dungeons in their territory. Such skills are not been associated with the Lost Gods, if one even believes in such hogwash.

This particular local prince was a product of the FTC, and as such, has rather aggressive views toward the outside religions. Kinda ironic, when we are the ones that displaced those religions.

So do we tell, or not tell?

I eventually decided that this was something to be shared among the leadership team, but not to the general public. They all swore an oath that day to tell no one outside that room. They should know my abilities to some limited degree, at least, I want to begin this process of forming a cohesive top-level force, and I can do that with only a reasonable level of trust.

Well see soon enough if the trust is reciprocated.