You wish to live in a community where you don’t need to pay county taxes.
You want to receive your own land for free.
You are a individual crafter of any discipline.
Or you are a group of friends (or a guild) who play together, looking for a home that you can all be a part of.
You want to feel safe and protected while being a part of a vibrant community.
You want to be allowed to share ideas, and have your opinions considered when coming to decisions.
Free education for the citizens of Nordhausen, with an evolving set of faculty, where whoever has the most skill is appointed.
The Vandiir Institute of Technology is a particularly exciting part of the University where we will have specialized researchers working together to develop new technology for all citizens.
Nordhausen follows the tradition of free medieval cities, which were neither paying taxes to local aristocrats nor the empire, and thus were governing themselves.
Citizens of Nordhausen will not pay any county taxes, and will receive full democratic rights as soon as we are allowed to implement it;
The city will consist of several 'circles' and it will have theme-based quarters.
The innermost circle contains the Legislative District, as well as the Monument, it will hold our courthouse, and is generally considered the center of town.
Outside this is the Shopping District, it will be where our merchants and other types of crafters can sell their wares and build their shops.
Next, is the Housing and Shopping District. You know all of those people who are receiving 16x16s for being members of a city guild? This is where they will have their private residences and commercial buildings.
Then the Guild Lane, where the headquarters for each City Guild is located.
The outermost circle is for Associations. Every Association that chooses to build its headquarters in the Free City Nordhausen will receive one parcel of land for every 10 members who decide to live in the city.
Associations that only build a branch in the city will receive one parcel of land for every 15 members. This is because if you build a headquarters it would be expected that you will want more land.
These Associations can use their land as they wish. They could even build a wall around their territory. At the beginning Associations would be limited to own a maximum of 6 parcels (60 members), in order to encourage a variety of people to settle.
Note: These designs are not specifically set in stone, we want to stick to the plan, but have been known to be flexible. We understand not every situation will fit into cookie cutter plans, the specific locations throughout the city are still getting worked through, and the Elder Council and City Planning committee are consistently voting and working through the best ideas brought forward by our citizens.
Eight crafters of each profession within the city are organized in craft guilds (or in the case of the eight merchants, the merchant guild). The members of each city guild have a monthly opportunity to elect a new Guild Elder. The number of votes of each member has is determined by their level of expertise in the profession;
This system guarantees that over the lifetime of a character, his or her influence in the city guild will change. As a result, it will be difficult for an alliance, or clique, of a few players to dominate a city guild forever.
The more experienced members of a craft/merchant guild are expected to help and to train the less experienced ones.
The ones with the highest skill can be taken on as faculty to teach classes at the University of Nordhausen that are available to all citizens. This is continuously beneficial, because one day you will be an old wise professor, and the next day you'll be reborn, needing help to learn all over again!
And whatever other City Guilds that need to be formed along the way!
As we get a better grasp on numbers and where we stand closer to Exposition, we'll reevaluate and combine city guilds as needed. You can practice as many professions as you want, but you can only a member of one city guild.
Each group of players organized in an Association in the Outer Circle decides their own structure of governance within itself. For the Free City Nordhausen it is only important that each Association (MMO Type Guild) is represented by one chosen Elder.
The Guild Elders of the City and the Heads of the Independent Associations form the Chamber of Elders. They are complemented by the Eight Knights (number is flexible).
In the Chamber, every Elder of a City Guild has one vote per eight members, while the Elder of each Independent Association, as well as each Knight, have one vote per parcel of land within the city under their control.
The chamber decides the city laws and every month elects four members of the City Council by majority vote.
The four candidates with the highest number of votes, within the Chamber of Elders, are elected. The most voted for candidate becomes the Magistrate.
Even with a stable coalition of Associations, the dynamic in the Chamber is very likely to change, because the Elders of the city guilds may be different every month.
The Four Council Members, including the Magistrate are elected by the Chamber of Elders The fifth member is the Baron/Baroness. The City Council runs the city based on the city laws. Decisions are made by majority (the Magistrate has the final say in a deadlock).
The exceptions to this rule are all issues related to the military which are decided by the Baron/Baroness alone.
By contract the Free City Nordhausen is still a military settlement, and therefore it is the Baron/Baroness’s duty to fullfill his/her part of the deal.
Theft or murder inside the city, the county, and the duchy borders of the Free City Nordhausen will be punished with exile. The property of the criminal will be confiscated. It is not a crime to kill an exiled person or his/her descendents, whenever he/she returns home.
Basic city laws can only be changed by a two-third majority in the Chamber of Elders. The above described political structure is also a basic city law.
The method of trying and enforcing these laws will be discussed and voted on in the Council of Elders after we have more information on the details of the game engine oriented governance of laws.
This is message is to confirm that the Free City of Nordhausen is indeed exempted from paying county taxes. It is Kingdom and Duchy sanctioned.
Kant is a very reasonable Countess and cares about the players in Nordhausen and in this Kingdom of Ashland.
How will no taxes work for county services yet they get full representation still?
Better you then me lol.
Zultra, I have replied to your questions already several times. Repeating them all the time again and again is just trolling.
Posted By Kant at 05:44 AM - Mon Nov 28 2016
Posted By Zultra at 10:16 PM - Sun Nov 27 2016
I don't blame the Queen for opposing free cities as they are pretty much take from the county they are in a provide not a lot back.
Zultra, have you ever heard of Keynesian Economics? There is no economic growth without an increase in demand. A free city attracts a lot of people, which will produce the demand for resources, which have to be produced in the county and the duchy. The increasing demand will lead to an increasing economic activity in the county and the duchy, and those activities will be taxed. Therefore, the existence of a free city in a county and duchy will increase the county's and duchy's tax income.
Posted By Zultra at 05:57 AM - Mon Nov 28 2016
Free Cities undercut the local economy in the region, plus it's a matter of equality if one town pays no tax but the neighbour pays all it's taxes ontime how is that fair?
Also it just drives the economic flow towards your town.
Posted By chipla at 06:24 AM - Mon Nov 28 2016
Posted By Zultra at 8:57 PM - Sun Nov 27 2016
Free Cities undercut the local economy in the region, plus it's a matter of equality if one town pays no tax but the neighbour pays all it's taxes ontime how is that fair?
Also it just drives the economic flow towards your town.
I'm not a fan of Keynesian Economics being the son of one of Hayek's students however your statement was so dumb I'm having to speak in support of a Keynesian.
Free Cities don't undercut the local economy, they provide areas for free markets to expand, which allows residents of the area to have access to more wealth and thus more taxable income. They also encourage growth by opening new markets for goods to be sold at as like the free cities of northern Italy they create a reason for merchants to engage in long distance trade - this brings goods through the region and allows the regions goods to be sold elsewhere.
As a further point, cities are not self supporting, never have been and certainly wont be anytime in our lifetimes, this means that regions around a free city can make a killing providing food, construction materials, and other raw resources for use by the city's industry - all of which makes the citizens richer and allows an increase in the amount of taxation the region can support.
So you get an increase in wealth without having to provide for defence, security or provide any means of representation to the powerful and wealthy of the city - seems like a win to me.
Zultra, both a Keynesian Economist and an Austrian Economist tell you that the concept of a free city is beneficial for the Kingdom, the Duchy, the County, and the citizens of the Free City. On what kind of theory do you claim that your statements are correct?
Posted By Kant at 1:21 PM - Sun Dec 11 2016
And the trolls are back. Zultra, what happened to your revolution? Oh, you are now taking taxes too from your poor serfs?
I give representation when I tax, difference is I tax fairly and not just make my own town tax free to skirt my civic duties.
Kant just ignore Zultra, he does nothing but stir shit with all his posts. Even though he came into the discord and asked all his questions, he just likes to cause trouble. Nothing will please him, just act like he isn't even there.
Also congratz on joining Ashlands :)
Hes right, how do you guys plan on paying for county services if there are no county taxes? Its a perfectly fine thing to ask don't see why you have to belittle him, no matter who he is.
This sounds neat. If I were to join this community I would be a part of the explorers/cartographers guild. However, I'm still deciding on where I will start the game. At the moment I wouldn't start playing until the game releases, but I'm planning on upgrading to a level with beta 2 before then.
Friend Code: F857A8
I'm curious as to how you'll fund infrastructure and the like too, if you don't mind answering. :)
Posted By FlamingOldMan at 3:37 PM - Sun Dec 11 2016
Hes right, how do you guys plan on paying for county services if there are no county taxes? Its a perfectly fine thing to ask don't see why you have to belittle him, no matter who he is.
Exactly.
The only way I see it working is if the guilds build the services on a voluntary basis, but then you have the issue of business running the show.
Posted By Zultra at 01:50 AM - Mon Dec 12 2016
Posted By FlamingOldMan at 3:37 PM - Sun Dec 11 2016
Hes right, how do you guys plan on paying for county services if there are no county taxes? Its a perfectly fine thing to ask don't see why you have to belittle him, no matter who he is.
Exactly.
The only way I see it working is if the guilds build the services on a voluntary basis, but then you have the issue of business running the show.
Maybe, it would be helpful, if you would read the above post. The County of Hohemark is not exempted from paying taxes. Only the Free City Nordhausen is exempted. The citizens of Hohemark will be taxed. Only the citizens of the Free City will not pay county taxes. Therefore, the tax income of the county will be used to pay the taxes to the Duchy and to build the necessary infrastructure in the county (but not in Nordhausen). The Free City Nordhausen will finance infrastructure and security in other ways.
Posted By Barghest at 01:46 AM - Mon Dec 12 2016
I'm curious as to how you'll fund infrastructure and the like too, if you don't mind answering. :)
Dear Barghest, income and property taxes are not the only way to finance a city. Other sources of income are tuition fees from non-citizens for the Free University of Nordhausen, import and export taxes from foreign traders, service fees, licence fees for the use of technology researched at the Vandiir Institue of Technology, donations, etc.
Posted By FlamingOldMan at 02:37 AM - Mon Dec 12 2016
Hes right, how do you guys plan on paying for county services if there are no county taxes? Its a perfectly fine thing to ask don't see why you have to belittle him, no matter who he is.
Zultra came into the county discord ages back and talked with a few of us about it. The convo went on for probably 2 hours of him asking all his questions. He never seemed happy with the answers and kept going, as we see here. He should just take this to PM or again on discord. No need for him to ask questions he has already asked many times in here again.
I am certainly very happy that I don't need to pay county taxes. That means higher profits for me.
Posted By Gunnlang at 01:12 AM - Mon Dec 12 2016
Posted By FlamingOldMan at 02:37 AM - Mon Dec 12 2016
Hes right, how do you guys plan on paying for county services if there are no county taxes? Its a perfectly fine thing to ask don't see why you have to belittle him, no matter who he is.
Zultra came into the county discord ages back and talked with a few of us about it. The convo went on for probably 2 hours of him asking all his questions. He never seemed happy with the answers and kept going, as we see here. He should just take this to PM or again on discord. No need for him to ask questions he has already asked many times in here again.
Because I was given poor answers and was threatened with destruction.
The jist I got was "the other mayors will obey or get destroyed".
