The Imperial Money System
The Draconian Empire is vast and is made of so many worlds, each needing protection and maintenance, fleets, armies, and holdings that without a sound system of financing all of it the Empire would surely fail. The Empire taps the civvy population for three types of resources men, material, and money. The Empire is made of about one million fiefdoms most ruled by a single vassal who holds systems for the emperor in return for military service. The "tithes" of men, material, or money can be collected either on a planetary, systemwide, or fiefdom basis. Most of the time and in most places of the Empire it is collected on a planetary basis with vassals merely keeping track of how much of each they should be sending to the central government in total.
When a planet, for example, is "tithed" or taxed it is given a quota of men, material, and money to meet. The tithes are collected by the central government every 10 years and used for various things. The tithes of men are generally able bodied, men, alien, or Realians who are from a planet's planetary defense force and are drafted into the Draconian space forces with most being from the PDF army and thus going to the Pax Dei army. Although anyone who the Empire deems useful can be included in this quota.
Next the material tithe is collected it is general planetary resources that are given up by the tons and includes such things as strong alloys, metal elements, food, water, nebula gases, and even genetic material for various purposes. However some systems, like the Crematoria system, may be lacking sufficient population for mining and collecting resources so other non physical material such as computer data is collected instead and the Empire dictates how much data they wish to collect.
The third tithe is a tithe of money. The planet donates a certain amount of money to the central government and this is put towards a myriad number of things from paying for the upkeep of armies and fleets and the initial cost of raising new ones, to maintaining Sub-Space nodes, to fueling secretive ventures.
Tithe exemptions - Some planets, systems, fiefdoms, and holdings may be exempt from one or more tithes. The Crematoria system cannot support a large population and so provide a useful amount of money, men, or material. So the Empire uses it as a data storage site and also collects computer data from that system also using it as a data retrieval point. Sytems such as Second Gaia and Exitus are too important for tithing and are given the tithe grade of "00: Tithe exempt" for all three tithes.
Censuses - A census is carried out every 100 years and the updated information is used to determine a better quota for a given planet, system, fiefdom, or holding. Censuses are far reaching and usually are done over a period of several years so a gradual change in tithes levels Empire wide is seen often. When a planet, for example, is given a new quota level to meet for the three categories it is expected to meet that new quota starting with the end of the year it was decided and the tithes are collected 10 years from that day.
Failure to meet quota - If for example a planet fails to meet one or more of it's quotas it must immediately present a reason to the Estates Imperialis stating why. If it is for a innocent enough reason such as recent invasion, natural catastrophe, or a sudden emigration of it's population the Estates Imperialis will impose a repayment plan that will allow the planet to pay it's back owed tithes without compromising it's ability to meet the new one. Some planets or systems may even be forgiven for the over due amount and allowed to continue on from the new tithes as a reward for their contribution to the Empire or if they have a particularly good credit record with the Estates Imperialis. If the reason is for a more dubious reason such as intentional tithe evasion. The the planet in question is expected to pay in full the back owed amount and will be held to the new quota imposed.
Punishment - If for any reason a planet, system, or fiefdom at anytime is particularly tardy in paying it's tithes it can suffer one of several possible punishments. The lightest of these punishments is a simple warning from the Estates Imperialis saying that if efforts to repay the back amount aren't started that further penalties will arise. If the holding in question continues the Estates Imperialis can and will impose a trade embargo. The trade embargo applies to everyone. From civvy traders trading with the holding in question to even other parts of the central government who need to perform actions on the embargoed entity.
Pretty soon jobs normally handled by the central government such as providing the protection of Draconian armed forces, maintaining Sub-Space nodes, and handling large projects on that holding cease. Civvy traders are prevented by law from plying their wares, services, and goods. and the holding in question becomes increasingly isolated, detached, ignored, and impoverished. The final and most dramatic warning comes in the form of a writ requesting a full scale invasion of the holding in question. This is bad as only the Emperor himself can stop the Ministry of Defense from carrying out a Estates Imperialis writ and he normally doesn't involve himself in such matters as he himself wants to see the tithes paid. Sometimes the Estates Imperialis sees that the problem is isolated to just a few people and will send a writ of assassination to the Opus Dei, intelligence agency, in order for a assassin to be dispatched to handle the job.
