Faziir did not notice anything different with the Admiral. His perception was not in line with reality, but with whatever he imagined reality to be. But like all Switterlind the Primrose Envoy was invigorated by being given attention. "Whitelisting and blacklisting, two colors of the extremes, devoid of flamboyant personality." He shortly spoke in a foreign language again, seemingly with himself. "Speaking of staleness, my wife engages very much with such topics." Like a wizards Faziir moved his extravagant cloak to reveal a tall standing mirror behind it, showing a dark figure in a shadowy wooden room. "Court Director Meilen. Who is a black-and-white bureaucratic icon? Yes you are."
The scene showed a black figure sitting on a table of dark wood and ivory. The figure itself was sitting in darkness with only a few black candles with scarlet flames giving light. White wings protrude from the back, vanishing in the shadows. The black figure was writing with a black-and-crimson feather, which had a malevolent style to it, and sparked gold and red where it touched the paper. From the figure's face two pure white eyes were looking back. The atmosphere had a sinister feel to it. Various magical and mechanical curiosities were placed on the table or the shelf behind. A golden shield on the wall with the icon of unbalanced scales. A device with something like a clock, which ticked faster the more people looked at it. A portrait whose features one could see but not comprehend.
Eventually the figure froze in their process of writing, and started speaking. Their voice was black ink on white paper, definitive, uncompromising, permanent, dark, and not at all flamboyant. If you erect a barrier, that barrier has two sides. We can have an area where all can cross freely. In addition, efforts are for the Union development and execution of predetermined projects. Projects have cost. Cost is expended value. "Money" is an avatar of value. A coin is a promise of value.Ifone is lacking this form of a value promise, one has to carry out value in a different form. A 1% tax will confiscate 1% of your value, in what form ever that may be. Value is a cake, is a work hour, is an idea, is a moment of laughter, is a promise of a firstborn. A provision of a fraction of your value for a project will be an investment for the generation of value for you. Meilen began writing again.
Faziir finished eating his piece of pie. "The bureaucrat speaks of two things. She suggests a Pythian Free Movement Zone where all can nations that wish to do so can join, making its citizens able to move and work in all other nations within the Zone. Those wanting to stay out will not be participating in the delightful exchange of citizens, and will deal with borders themselves. The second point talks about the Pythian projects and their expenses. She thinks it is silly to think that one would not be able to pay. One always has a value they produce. If the tax has to be payed in monetary means, it is your task to sell your value to acquire it. Offer services of production or military or art or plants or other. The more you can apply your value, the better it shall empower your own economy. We have the Pythian Dime as a standardized reliable promise of value. So engage the market in other nations to acquire enough of it to pay your tax. Sell your your work, your products, your talents in what form it is most suitable for you."
A minimum tax payable in Pythian Dimes is a great thing. It forces to engage in the market, and increases the strength of the currency while stimulating the Pythian economy. If you cannot do that, you have proven that you provide this Union no value. But with a flat tax rate for Pythian projects we punish those that perform well. The value outputted by joint Pythian Industries must be split in proportion to what a member nation has paid. Like an investment.
"If nation Lavender pays 2 million into the Pythian Economic Treasury, and nation Blueberry pays 1 million. Lavender gets double the generated value from the value generated, even if both have paid 1% of gdp. 1% should be the mandatory baseline, with nations being free to invest more."
