Reserved
So, what exactly is Kargamum?
Just a remote corner of earth rediscovered and resettled, a place for those looking for a quite spot of dirt they can live while the world forgets them, or a place where wild explorers can find mysteries so grand they'll never be forgotten.
Kargamum county is pledged to Duke Vigorish D’Artagnan of Port Royale, within the Kingdom of Alesia. Port Royale is a nautically focused duchy, but Kargamum will be one of the inland frontiers of Port Royale. As the counties available during domain selection will differ in size, I intend to pick one of the largest inland counties available in Port Royale, under the assumption that most of that space will be remote and hostile terrain, and thus the kind of wild frontier I’m looking for in my county.
Since I want to sell my county as free, it feels appropriate to dispense with the modicum of legalese we will have early. At inception, the county of Kargamum will define only a minimum body of laws, aimed primarily at ensuring each resident’s right to their person and their property, along with those defining the necessary bureaucratic framework for things like tax collection. Outlawed activities will be limited to things like murder, theft, arson, and other similar acts.
There is one major exception for the enforcement of those laws that pertain to harming or infringing on the rights of another; I will attempt to implement a system of mutually agreed abrogation, whereby two parties may come to terms and sign a contract allowing these types of laws to be broken against each other with no legal penalty to each other. These contracts will not protect the involved party if a third party is wronged in any way. Because this system will be run through contracts, forgery will also be treated as a major crime in Kargamum.
Mayors in Kargamum will be allowed to run their towns mostly as they see fit, though they are strongly encouraged to keep with the spirit of the county laws, keeping the legalese to a minimum. Any of the above mentioned abrogation contracts will, however, need to be signed in the presence of a mayor or a mayoral official if it involves more than two people (i.e. beyond a simple duel). Each mayor has the freedom to choose how to handle them, including who and how many people they give the power to oversee those contracts.
As for passing new laws, I will, as far as is possible, not implement any new laws of my own accord (save for the abrogation system if not possible from the outset). However, I will maintain a council of undetermined size that consists of mayors and representatives chosen by the citizenry, which may propose new laws to the council. If the council agrees with a majority vote, I will either accept it and write it into county law or veto it. While I will restrict the power of the count not to pass laws without a vote of that council, I will maintain the right to veto any law proposed, such to prevent any sort of tyranny of the majority. I also maintain the right to propose laws to the council, though I cannot participate in any council vote.
As I stated at the outset, my vision for the county is to be a home for explorers, cartographers, entrepreneurs, and those simply seeking a new life in Elyria. To this end, I will seek to establish a good number of industries, services, and policies in Kargamum to further these goals.
Cartography will be researched academically in one of the other counties of Port Royale, but I will be providing support infrastructure throughout the county to support those who want to practice the practical aspects of cartography. I intend to maintain a series of outposts throughout the county near some of the more commonly traveled wilds, which would serve as restocking points and places to rest for explorers, cartographers, and wayfinders. I will also provide land near these outposts at a reduced rate for people who want to build up extra infrastructure near them (trading posts, inns, etc.).
In the same vein, anyone who wants to acquire land in the more remote areas of the county will be given some amount of assistance in buying, and possibly settling, on the land. This policy goes both for business ventures that may want to exploit resources in a remote corner of the county and for homesteaders who want to find a remote piece of dirt to settle on.
Until domain selection, I won’t know the makeup of towns and hamlets that the county will be able to support, but ideally, each settlement or small group of settlements will be mostly self-sufficient with regard to things like food and smithing. Duke Vigorish will be building roads connecting each of the counties into the capital, but the extent of that network isn’t clear as of yet. Any other initial roads needed to help connect settlements or important outposts in the county will be provided by myself.
For the primary industry of the county will likely be resource extraction in one form or another. As I plan to get a county with a lot of hard to use land, I expect there to be plenty of places where lumber mills, mines, or quarries could be effective, but there will hopefully also be rarer, more valuable resources in the more remote locales that will be worth the cost of finding them. The other economic boon we’ll have is the bevy of explorers that will hopefully be attracted to and operate out of Kargamum. They’ll give us a twofold benefit: a constant influx of new explorers into the county will help drive local demand for goods, and the services of our experienced wayfinders and cartographers will be a valuable good outside the county.
County taxes will be kept low in Kargamum, being just high enough for to support ongoing services and upkeep, a portion devoted to new public works projects, like the road network, with a small amount of overhead built in to fund the count’s estate.
The budget for public works will be spent at the discretion of me, my advisors, and the council, but I intend to implement a tax system that will allow people to vote with their wallets on what public works will be supported. I will have an Office of the Beggar, a subdivision of my tax collectors, to whom you may pay a portion of your taxes. When you do, you mark that portion of your taxes as being dedicated to a particular public project or service, something that you value as a citizen, and all of that portion you’ve paid in will be dedicated to that project or its future upkeep.
The catch with this system is that you must pay more tax in total when you go through the Office of the Beggar. The ratio, which is still very tentative, would be something like 5-to-4, whereby every 5 gold given to the Beggar only reduced your expected tax payment by 4 gold. Also, so as to prevent other needed functions from going unfunded, there will be a cap on the amount you can designate this way, somewhere around 50% of your expected taxes after the reduction. This way, you could only give up to 112.5% of your normal taxes, but 62.5% of your normal tax dues is going to a project you wanted supported. Keep in mind that these numbers are tentative, but the heart of this plan will stay the same.
As small final note about wartime: during times of war, the county may need to switch to a wartime economy. I don’t like it, but it may be a necessary evil. Even in such times, I will be as hands off as is possible, save for situations where Kargamum is actively being invaded. In situations such as that, I do retain the right to take emergency powers, which will be immediately revoked at such a time that we are no longer under threat of occupation. Let’s pray it never comes to that.
This is less a county focus as it is an interest of mine that I’ll be heading up. Given the need I think we’ll have for being able to suss out forgers and others who would seek to abuse the general freedoms afforded to Kargamites, I will need a strong investigative arm to bring the truth to light wherever needed. As we have had some number of allusions by SBS that the bardic skill tree will be useful in the analysis and detection side of things, I will be running a bardic guild and school (pending future info about schools) in Kargamum.
The guild, The Palmers, will be my operational branch and will handle investigations of all types, as well as filling some diplomatic and bureaucratic roles in my administration. Depending on the success of this organization, these services will also be offered to the other members of Port Royale, and we’ll be able to handle this type of work across the duchy. And on the weekends, we can do the fun bard stuff, playing music and singing songs, inspired by the wilds outside and that human yearning within.
The school will be much the same, focusing on the training and research of different investigative techniques first and foremost, and music, scrivener’s skills, and other useful administrative skills second.
If you’re interested in the county of Kargamum, please join us in our discord or in the Port Royale discord linked below. We’re looking for anyone from mayors to miners, and I’d be happy to chat with you.
Also, tune in to the Free Kingdom Chronicler tonight, where me and several of my fellow Alesian counts will be interviewed about our plans and ideals.