Spoils of war
Overview
When the Empire captures a territory from the barbarians, they also capture (or recover) a number of personal resources. The majority of these resources are the same as those available to a starting character, but some are more prestigious - represented by named personal resources that have been upgraded.
While anyone can approach the civil service to enquire about a standard personal resource in the newly claimed territory, the disposition of these spoils of war is a matter for the Imperial Military Council alone.
Procedure
Once the territory has been assigned to a nation by the Senate, the civil service compiles a list of valuable resources eligible for assignment by the Military Council.
In the past, various methods have been used to allocate these resources. Often the Military Council treat them as rewards for their work during the campaign. Other times they are used to acquire favours or political influence, or to encourage individuals to move their base of operations into the newly conquered territory. Some generals prefer to seek the advice of representatives of the nation in question such as priests or magicians. This advice led the military council to agree to sell the spoils of war from Segura and Holberg to the highest bidder, enlisting the aid of the Imperial Bourse in arranging an auction and keeping the proceeds. In contrast, when Semmerholm was captured in 52YE the military council awarded the spoils based on the outcome of a tourney.
The final decision of who the spoils of war are allocated to is up to the Military Council; the civil service arrange the transfer, with the handling fees paid from the Imperial treasury. While spoils of war can be awarded to any Imperial citizen, a resource operated by someone from a different nation incurs a significant penalty to its production. It is considered gauche for the spoils to be claimed by individual generals, although it is not unknown.
Once the resource is assigned, it becomes the legal possession of the new owner who may dispose of it as they wish.
Constitution
The Military Council are required to arrange the orderly disposition of resources gained as spoils of war; they have no mechanism to operate them and are legally forbidden to do so. The recipient or method of disposition of each asset takes place by vote of the Military council. If the Council are unable to complete the disposition of the assets at a summit, they are passed to the Imperial Senate to dispose of. If the Imperial Senate is unable to dispose of them, they are passed to the Imperial Bourse to dispose of by auction with the proceeds given to the Council. Neither of these two clauses has ever been invoked.
Rules
- A personal resource gained as part of the spoils of war follows all the normal rules for personal resources
- They must be assigned to a character to operate it.
- The character who receives it must give up their existing personal resource.
- A resource in a different nation loses production.
- The Military Council cannot operate these resources; they must be assigned to a character.
- Once a personal resource gained as part of the spoils of war is allocated, the military council lose all control of it - it now operates as a standard personal resource.
- The usual 2 crown fee for changing personal resource does not need to be paid when allocating spoils of war.