Here stands the most austere building in the city, the least loved by the inhabitants, the least visited by pilgrims, yet one of the most crucial in the administrative machinery.

The Tax and Duties Administration is located in the Fountains district, in the heart of the Lakeshoe Terrace, housed in premises that mirror its function: cold, uninviting and inhospitable. No doubt, there is no risk of confusing it with a friendly tavinn!

This is where all the taxes, duties, and various contributions that rain down on the city and its inhabitants are collected, and from which no one escapes, regardless of their condition, except for a few privileged from the Place or the Temples. But you, simple citizen, visitor, or pilgrim, will always be subject to some payment owed to the administration… and the reasons for taxation are numerous, varied, and inventive!

The collection of these taxes, duties, contributions… requires a meticulous administration, focused on excellent efficiency; it's a titanic task given the incredible number of laws and regulations that govern this fiscal sweep within a diverse and numerous population, mobile and not inclined to contribute to this collection effort.

Inside the building, there are perfectly aligned offices, and endless rows of shelves and lockers where countless registers and files containing everything that needs to be known about each taxpayer. The employees, with their closed, unwelcoming demeanor, dressed in dark robes, busily work in silence at their desks, calculating, crossing out, correcting, adding more than subtracting, meticulously writing lines of numbers, all under the relentless gaze of controllers as friendly as prison guards.

A citizen under audit is welcomed into a room with a decor stripped more bare and less opulent than that of a cell, equipped with a chair and a table with its wood worn by the nervousness of the audited. They will spend hours there justifying every bit of their income and the quality of their modest possessions.

Upstairs, in the slightly more cushioned floors, the officials of the tax administration decide on the distribution of the collected sums, for the benefit of the smooth running of the city. Indeed, it is necessary to fund the salaries of the guards and officials, the maintenance of buildings and public spaces, etc. The list is so long…

This administration is regularly controlled by the Palace officials and the high priests of the four Temples in charge of finances. It is here, indeed, that a significant part of their wealth is drawn from. The laws and decrees related to taxation are decided at the Palace, after consultation with the Tax and Duties Administration, which is the most “grounded” in this matter. To this administration is added that of the Cadastre (located elsewhere); the latter manages and levies taxes related to private real estate, that is, not under the Palace or the Temples. These property taxes are, of course, in addition to all other taxes, duties, and various contributions.

In this regard, Laelith is renowned for its inventiveness. A problem? Quick: a new tax will be the fastest response, though not necessarily the fairest!

Thus, the Tax and Duties Administration is an emblematic place in the Lakeshoe, a bastion of order and fiscal justice at the heart of a district marked by poverty and disorder. It is a constant reminder of the delicate balance that allows Laelith to thrive despite its many challenges.

!– Validated by Garnulf –

<!– Validated by Garnulf –>