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[Harry Baldman]

Arnold Blackridge votes, in order, No, No, Yes on the three Issues.

[Demonic Spoon]

No, Yes, No

[Ghazkull]

Yes, Yes, NO

[Taricus]

Vote yes for the first and second proposals.

[a1s]

Beatrice Blackridge joins her brother in voting: No, No and Yes

[Ama]

Yes, Yes, No.

[Kadzar]

Name: Jonrick (Kadzar)
Family: Rowanstaff
Family Traits: Wealthy
Affiliation: Guild of Root and Powder

[a1s]

I think that's everyone.

[Haspen]

The voting has been finished. All Towers gave their tablets back and the boys helped Senex Princeps count the votes.

Implement Temporary Conscription into Ragona's Centuria:
YES: 20  NO: 18  ABSTAIN: 3

Accept Engineers' Guild Project for Aqueduct for Cupola District:
YES: 24  NO: 15  ABSTAIN: 2

Lend 10.000 Golden Ducats to Ningard Empire:
YES: 14  NO: 19  ABSTAIN: 8

Senex Princeps stood up.

SENEX: The votes have been counted. It is the will of this Council that we implement the conscription law and accept the aqueduct project, while we shall not lend money to Ningard Empire. The three Issues of the day have been solved. Therefore, I call this meeting ended.

He struck the floor once with his staff. Towers stood up and everyone began to disperse to return to their villas.

//It is now Night Phase. You may now send Hidden Actions to the GM (Haspen), whichever they might be. It is 3:27pm local time but because of my schedule, the Night phase won't end till noon tomorrow, at best. The thread will be locked for the duration of the Night. I will post in the thread once I shall stop accepting Hidden Actions and start processing them. When that's done, waitlisters will join the Council, I will send Pre-Day messages, and the new Day shall start.

[Haspen]

//Hidden Actions no longer accepted, and they have been processed.

[Haspen]

//I've decided to settle on 1 turn = 1 week.

XV.V.MCDLXXVII (Turn 2)

It is time for the Tower Council to gather again. Senex, the Named Ones, and Towers have sat down at the low benches of the council building. Senex looked over those who have gathered, then began to speak:

SENEX: "Councilmembers, welcome. Today we shall discuss and vote on two Issues, one about Sea Customs Tax, and other about Cult of the Black Sun. Let's begin with the former."

SENEX: "A group petition from numerous traders and their guilds have been brought to my household just few days ago. They are collectively asking that we lower the Sea Customs Tax from 4% to 3.5%."

Master of the Coin stood up.

MASTER: "Fellow Towers, this is fourth time the merchants have been asking for the Sea Customs Tax to be lowered in last two years. We agreed to do that twice already, all the way from 6% tax, let me remind you! We have been lenient enough, councilmembers - with our last week's agreement on construction of the new Aqueduct, I would like to keep the tax income at the rate it is now. Especially that Sea Customs Tax is bringing us lately quite a lot of cash, what with the recent surge in spice and perfume trade."

He sat down, and the Senex nodded in agreement. Then he spoke again:

SENEX: "The second Issue is that the clergy of the Cult of the Black Sun is asking for a permission to build a Temple inside the city walls. Currently, there are only few private houses of worship, and they're all located outside the city walls. Just five years ago, these weren't even there. We must consider carefully if we want to let this Cult spread into our city so easily, so fast."

Chief of the Centuria quickly stood up.

CHIEF: "Their rites are directly clashing with the worship of the old gods that was always with us, fellow councilmembers! I've been always against such sudden spread of influence in our beloved Ragona, and I'm still against it! Last year, two more houses of worship, now they want a Temple - dare I say that half a year from now, they will want another, or maybe that we give them equal rights? Proud cities with centuries of tradition and prosperity have fallen victim to the spread of the Cult's influence in the east, and now they're puppets in the hands of their theocratic leaders. I say no to their schemes."

Senex began to speak after the Chief sat down.

SENEX: "Do we lower the Sea Customs Tax? Do we let foreign religion to take deeper roots in our city? It is now time to discuss these matters."

Senex struck the marble floor of the building with his iron staff three times.

//DAY phase of the Tower Council has begun. It is now 4:44pm local time, and this phase shall end about 4:44pm tomorrow. I can of course extend the time if you need to discuss these matters more.

[Dorsidwarf]

As the council begin to speak amongst themselves, Arrick of House Iona stands up and addresses the gathering.
Fellow towers, I wish to speak regarding the first proposal.

The sea-merchant's request is, I believe, not something we should accept. For a start, the very trades which rely on it are themselves booming, and therefore the request can clearly be traced back to simple-minded greed and desire to maximize their all-consuming profits. Perhaps, if the trade were beginning to fail, and we had not already been so lenient with them, it would be reasonable to acquiesce to this lessening of taxes, but with their position as strong as it is, it would be a wasteful folly.
In addition, as the esteemed Master of Coin says, we have but recently funded a venture which has taken good thousands of ducats. The money they seek to claim for themselves is much better used wisely.
And finally, there is the issue of appearance. How are we to keep respect of merchant princelings if every time they come to us, demanding we, in effect, transfer money from our coffers to theirs, offering nothing in return, we simply give them what they desire?

[Harry Baldman]

"I would advise against lowering the Sea Customs Tax further - as the Master of the Coin has already explained, we have lowered taxes a frankly stupendous amount already. Just because we are prosperous does not mean we should become complacent. The growth of our trade should be tempered with a reasonable tax rate, so that we do not find ourselves for want of a treasury in the nearest future."

"As for the Black Sun, while I am loath to prevent people from worshiping their gods of choice, I must also admit that the populist agenda of the Cult renders it very attractive to the lower classes, and thus it is probably better to limit it until we can find a less precarious way of integrating it into our time-honored system of gods and temples. Perhaps when they can find some less sinister imagery to identify themselves by?"

[Demonic Spoon]

I find myself agreeing with both of my fellow Towers.

[a1s]

Since we have opted to spend all our money, instead of earning it last week, tax breaks, even if they were deserved, are out of the question at the moment.

I believe all there was to say about The Cult has been said: they are culturally alien, aggressive and frankly demand right that are not due to them. We have kept religion outside of the inner city since the time of our forefathers, and it has worked out to everyone best interest. I invite other Towers to vote Nay.