The Blood Tax

The Blood Tax is the highest law of The Blood Realms. It is a series of edicts that evolved from the campaign trail promises of Daxos, split into The Promises and The Price.

The Eleven Promises

1. The hunting of men shall be abolished and forbidden under penalty of death by impalement
2. The keeping of men shall be abolished and forbidden under penalty of death by crushing
3. There shall be no more than one vampire among all the number of Dark Isle. New vampires are to be killed by immolation.
4. There shall be one ruler of Dark Isle, and they shall be called Blood King in the tradition of our forebears
5. The taking of blood for sustenance is to be limited to The Blood King under penalty of death by exsanguination
6. The taking of blood for pleasure shall be abolished and forbidden under penalty of death by crucifixion
7. Each settlement shall have an appointed ruler of merit as appointed by the Duke of that settlement's county, and this person shall be called Mayor.
8. Each Duchy shall be ruled by a noble family appointed by The Blood King, who by our laws may strip any member of the nobility of their title if found to have broken any of our laws.
9. The Blood King shall be the highest power in all the Isle, and they shall have the sole power to try the nobility.
10. There shall always be an elected official to be called a Justicar, and they shall listen to the complaints of the common folk and bring transgressions of the nobility to the attention of The Blood King
11. Those who serve The Blood King well, above what is expected of them, shall be rewarded. The greatest of these loyal folk shall be elevated by blood.

The Promised Price

1. Each settlement, once per year, shall send a child no younger than eight years of age and no older than ten years of age to be trained and serve in The Black Army of Valor. This child shall be chosen by the Mayor of their settlement, and escorted to The Blood King by the Justicar of that settlement.
2. Each family of noble blood is to send their children upon reaching eleven years of age to be mentored and raised as the ward of another family of noble blood, determined by the court of The Blood King, and sent back at twenty years of age. Every second child of the nobility are to be raised and mentored by the court of the Blood King, and sent back when the court so deems appropriate.
3. Those who are sentenced to death may be chosen to feed the Blood King. This shall posthumously absolve the criminal of their crimes, and any record of their transgressions erased.
4. In time of war, each family is to send one representative to be trained as a regular soldier. These shall not be the Black Army of Valor, and they shall not attempt to present themselves as such under penalty of death by hanging.
5. When these laws are broken, the Blood King must execute the traitor themselves, and the bodies are to remain on display to the public, that they might serve as a reminder.
6. The nobility, once per decade, must present their blood as an offering to the Blood King as a show of fealty. Failure to comply shall be met with death by drowning.
7. Any settlement found to be in open defiance of the Blood King is to be purged by impalement. The field of ruin shall remain for any who happen to pass by, that they might remember.

History

Before The Blood Realms, Dark Isle was ruled over by the Crimson Courts, a multitude of petty counties each ruled over by a vampire lord. Humans were numerous, and served not only as serfs but as the primary food supply of their lords. When fighting broke out among the vampires in the appropriately bloody Crimson Wars, Lord Daxos turned the fear of the humans into a powerful weapon. The eleven promises he made during his campaign of conquest became the first law he passed, and this became known as his Blood Tax.