DUNGEON DEGENERATES LORE 5

Attempting to control death is just the unusual aspect of what the Würstreich does, they also go after controlling life just as heavily if not more so. The Würstreich bludgeons & corrals the people into their system, like a potter shapes clay. 

The Würstreich is not all stick, they use a variety of carrots (or sausages) to keep the citizens in line too. The central carrot is safety, the world is chock full of Goblins, Nackt Drek & other monsters, heretics, bandits, insane wizards & more just looking to find a foothold in the bloody wounds of their enemies. The next carrot is prosperity, the Würstreich encourages & guards trade. Almost anything is available for sale in areas controlled by the Empire. Another carrot is association, the Würstreich hands out medals, documents, placards, ribbons & other trappings of belonging in the empire. These awards aren’t meaningless, they have the currency of authority in the Würstreich, this authority actually gets you somewhere.

The Imperial sticks have softened over time like butter left on the counter. The Würstreich used to use sword, fire, noose & torture chamber indiscriminately in the early formation of the empire. As time has passed the shock troops of Imperial order: The Schlager use batons to beat submission into the people, having had laws passed that prevent them from using other weapons or even killing civilians. They do beat people within inches of their lives, but don’t outright kill them. Another stick that people face is being ostracized from the Empire, declared a heretic & cast aside to be preyed on. The primary stick is being thrown into the dungeons to rot. The dungeons are cold, clammy & cramped, the food is bad & scarce & the point is punishment, reform is up to the prisoner who doesn’t want to return to that misery.

The other way that the Würstreich constantly draws power is through almost limitless numbers of taxes, fines, levies, tariffs, tolls & duties that are applied to anything that exchanges hands. These taxes aren’t high, just pervasive, like mosquitoes they are more a constant nuisance than a killer. There are no annual taxes, just constant taxes on everything in life itself. Of course, there are some on the higher echelons of the power pyramid that don’t pay any taxes whatsoever. 

There is also an enormous system of licensing for everything & the Holy Order started this with hiring their priests out to bless certain products, factories, events, buildings & anything that could be chanted over & had incense waved over it. If you pay extra you can get a seal, a ribbon or a medal to show that you’ve been blessed.

The state followed suit with its own bureaucratic blessing of items. Seals of approval & authenticity, patents, certification, credentials, testing, inspection, manner of official papers, stuffed away into enormous folios of official documents “die Neue Realität” lorded over by armies of Imperial Lawyers & enforced by Imperial Komissars backed by the thuggish Schlager, eager to beat people to a submissive pulp or throw people into the dungeons to rot.