@TheEdVerse Hi there! So I am slowly coming to grips with how taxes and fees work in Waterdeep. However, my question is: What services are provided in return? Obviously roads and the Watch, but what about schools, free medical help, homeless shelters, men’s/women’s refuges, children's dentists, free legal aid, etc. Are any of these or similar things provided by the state? (2/2)
— The Dreadful Wale (@NessusResident) April 29, 2020
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Matters have varied over time in Waterdeep, but in general: temples provide medical aid (including dentistry), food and shelter for the homeless, and refuges from domestic violence. The city provides a subsidy in the form of a…#Realmslore https://twitter.com/NessusResident/status/1255559505653497858 … 2)
…per-head daily “credit” against temple taxes (temples are buildings, and attract a realty tax like all other city properties) that in almost all cases wipes out annual taxes and leaves most temples in the black (yes, in such…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) May 2, 2020
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…situations they do receive coins or more often trade-bars from the Palace coffers). In times of trouble (war, widespread sickness, fierce winter weather) the city throws open its buildings to bolster shelter space.#Realmslore 4)
Yes to roads and the Watch, but the city also pays the relevant guilds to keep sewers, water systems (pumps and rooftop cisterns, and all, even if privately owned), and the docks maintained, and to make sure regular nightsoil…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) May 2, 2020
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…wagon service (garbage pickup, very much including human waste; BTW, the wagonloads are inspected at the Rat Hills, looking for human bodies and body parts and valuables, and wouldn’t you love to have THAT job) is provided, 6)
…at levels necessary to keep up with the disposal problem.
The city also licenses (approves of) construction work, wines and other consumables, and the operating fitnesses of coaches, wagons, and carriages (not handcarts) to…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) May 2, 2020
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…maintain public safety. It also steps in to pay for emergency repairs when roof deterioration or some other cause threatens to result in the collapse of a private building (seizing the property if the owner won’t pay or can’t 8)
…be found, and working out a slow-repayment-over-time deal, otherwise).
And of course the Lords provide not just arcane magic protection and discipline (the Blackstaff, hiring of the Watchful Order) but justice; not just courts…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) May 2, 2020
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…and trials, but a Palace-hosted tribunal system for working out civil disputes between private citizens, guilds, visitors, and so on. The city provides legal aid (practical, not coin) in such matters.#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) May 2, 2020
Is there a sword tax when passing through the gates, or did I imagine that?
— Bill Berg (@webjr1981) May 2, 2020
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There’s a gate-passage tax for all wagons, and there are special taxes on the bulk shipping of bladed weapons, helms, and breastplates (to keep track of who’s amassing armaments), but not a tax on the arms and armor worn, carried, or in the personal baggage of.. 2)
… persons passing through a city gate.#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) May 2, 2020