The Government of Kaidan, an Overview

[Gamer Printshop]

The Empire of Kaidan is a police state.

Its history begins with the traditional emperor or mikado as the figurehead at the top. In Kaidan this figurehead status is emphasized with a child emperor who is a divine ghost, stuck in the mind and body of 5 year old. This is the rarest kind of yurei whose existence is based on the curse uttered and enabled at the creation of Kaidan. Kaidan has a history of 'before the founding', but it remains unrecorded, essentially lost in the curse.

In reality Kaidan is a Shogunate or Bakufu (tent government), a military dictatorship.

The emperor, most of imperial ministry and the royal family dwell in the opulent and stark Imperial Palace, an extended estate of many structures, temples, parks and gardens. In reality the palace is a divine prison to maintain government, be safe from outside harm, and unable to govern in person with the people trapped behind their immaculate prison walls.

The shogun of Kaidan is Taira no Kiyomori, the grandfather of Antoku the emperor. He is a kind of Death Knight, and the actual ruler of Kaidan. Kiyomori is also the Chief Minister of the Imperial court. In this position he maintains a shogunate army that is 50,000 strong consisting of both Hatamoto and Yojimbo samurai warriors, supplanted by Sohei warrior monks from the Zao Temples and Monastaries, and in time of war 100,000 Commoner conscripts given a few months training in specific weapons and techniques, as Ashigaru infantry - a mix of naginata glaive units, massed archers and katana or wakizashi sword wielders.

The empire also maintains a navy, though more of a merchant marine service, as mercantile ships are subject to imperial use in time of war. The navy essentially blockades the land from escape, as well as invasion from the outside (which has never occurred), while providing anti-piracy activity in an additional duty.

As Chief Minister, Kiyomori ensures all matters of state, legislation, jurisprudence, and policing is maintained at status quo. In many ways like old Japan, Kaidan is trapped in a 12th century culture and technology kept in place by a military dictator, who happens to be undead and powerful, so the status quo is indeed maintained.

Magic and Court Wizards or Onmyoji consist of a branch of the government, the Ministry of Onmyodo. All wizards are licensed, academically trained and indoctrinated to absolute loyalty to the empire. They serve the imperial court, office of the shogunate and the various provincial houses across the empire. Sorcerors of Kaidan are members of the Commoner caste working as monster slayers and arcane needs of the simple farmer. They do not fall under Onmyodo jurisdiction, and are considered criminals of the highest order.

The shogun maintains a secret police called the Metsuki, who operates in complete secrecy. They infiltrate all areas of government and society searching for sedition, Zaoist heresy, operating as a 'thought police' on witchhunts to anyone advocating change in status quo. One cannot introduce new engineering advances, new sciences, nor any means of social change. That would invite Metsuki repression, inquisition, torture and execution. The Metsuki of Kaidan are Inquisitors, very lawful evil ones at that.

Kaidan is a land that is 75% mountains and wilderness, there is still plenty of places to hide from imperial control, and many subcultures do.

Although the shogun's army patrols throughout the empire and metsuki skulk about in every corner, the empire is divided into provinces 18 in all, each run as an independant state in vassal to the empire and shogunate. The provinces are ruled by noble houses under a Daimyo, a regional prince. They are required to spend a 6 month sojourn at the Imperial capital at Fukuhara-kyo every 2 years, while their families maintain the province.

The cost to maintain the empire is based on annual rice production, Kaidan's economy is a rice based culture - a rice standard, not a gold standard. Although of the Commoner/Hinin castes, the rice guild which controlls the movement of rice across the empire or by ship, and the its storage are essentially the banks of Kaidan, and give out loans in gold/silver or printed paper money at 40% markup to everyone including all the noble houses, the samurai, even commoners and Hinin caste members.

Taxes in Kaidan is 40% of all production. In old Japan once a new local ruler (daimyo) takes control of the provincial seat, he makes a tax assessment, no matter the climatic condition. 40% of rice production of that year is taxed and remains unchanged until his death, or until the next replacement who performs a new tax assessment. Since Kaidan's rulers, even its provincial daimyo are almost exclusively undead - the assessment never changes. This means that in bountiful years, farmers earn a windfall in profits and enjoy better times, while in pestilent years their suffering is immense, sometimes a farmer has to sell his daughters into prostitution to the Yakuza just to get by. This firmly places the peasant farmer at the bottom of the economy, as creator of Kaidan's money.

Status Quo means every tradition is maintained absolutely, variance in thought is a capital crime.

Being driven into bankruptcy is not an uncommon occurance, many turn to banditry and piracy as the only means out, and then as hunted criminals.

Welcome to Kaidan, enjoy your stay! ;)

GP

[Nomadic]

I love the harsh and cruel style of the government, makes you feel like they deserve this curse. It also makes you feel sorry for the normal people cursed because of them who suffer the most under their endless reign.

[Magnus Pym]

Very interesting, I like it!

[LD]

>>Taxes in Kaidan is 40% of all production. In old Japan once a new local ruler (daimyo) takes control of the provincial seat, he makes a tax assessment, no matter the climatic condition. 40% of rice production of that year is taxed and remains unchanged until his death, or until the next replacement who performs a new tax assessment.

-Hm. So the only taxation authority is the Daimyo? There are no local taxes, for example?
-And how do the taxes get to the Daimyo? There is no skimming? People always pay 40%? Or is there some variation depending on how corrupt certain prefectures are? And how is corruption learned about and dealt with?

[Ghostman]

-And how do the taxes get to the Daimyo? There is no skimming? People always pay 40%?

It would rather seem that they do not pay a fixed percentage. Instead they pay a fixed absolute quantity of rice - basically a specific number of bushels. That quantity being whatever happened to be 40% of the assessed production in the year the governor started to govern.

[LD]

Good point, but that just makes the allocation problem stranger.

Year 1- 40% of production was 4000.
There are 1000 farmers in Year 1; how do you allocate the burdens of pay? Each pays 40 bushels.

Year 20- There are 4000 farmers. Each pays 10 bushels?

If the amount of arable land doesn't ever change and taxation is based on person rather than land; then the taxation could be problematic--and especially troublesome if cities grow.

Now, if the cost is based on the land rather than the population, then how are merchants taxed? I'd much rather be a merchant in that case- assuming flat commodity prices (I assume price controls are in effect here... and there is no law of supply and demand in this command economy to increase prices when food is scarce).

Who decides the allocations and apportionment is also what I was getting at- the people who collect the goods may skim some, so that 4000 due may effectively be 6000 due for farmers in the district.

[Gamer Printshop]

Tax assessment for a given farm is calculated at the beginning of a daimyo's reign, it's 40% of a particular field of rice, in so many bushels - which does not change from year to year, despite bountiful or poor crop yields, its the same amount of bushels expected.

Its based on land not population.

A rice magistrate is supposed to visit each farm at tax collection time, with records on what each farm is supposed to meet in rice tax yield, however, the Rice Guild actually collects the rice from each farm - and being the banks of Kaidan, they certainly did skim the amount.

However, the empire requires each daimyo to pay his 40% taxes due, measured in millions of bushels of rice.

Merchants are not taxed, as they produce nothing, for this they are relegated to the lowest class, the Hinin caste, and are considered 'worthless' by all other castes.

Its not 40% of the population total, its 40% for each farm, so if there are more farms, there is more taxes collected as each still pays his 40% of annual yield.

Cities in general are outside the tax base. Still production of crafted items are equally taxed at 40%, based on a measure of equivalent rice yield.

Merchants pay no taxes, but otherwise have no rights nor legal representation, so when the higher castes want to screw them, they can do so easily.