The Iron Tithe

Along the northern frontier of the Kingdom of Leoriel, where the country meets the Ethovian Wildlands and civilization frays into monster-haunted wilderness, the hardscrabble baronies and freeholds survive by paying an unusual tax: the Iron Tithe.

Once a year, an enigmatic figure known as the Tithe-Taker arrives. Cloaked and silent, the Taker travels from village to village, carrying a single, unadorned iron coffer. By ancient law (and necessity), each settlement must offer up its deepest anxieties, its most potent fears, and its collective dread into the coffer. This is not a symbolic act; along with the Tithe-Taker comes a specialized order of monks that perform a ritual to literally draw out the ambient terror and despair from the populace, concentrating it into a palpable, shimmering essence that is then sealed within the iron box.

The purpose of this strange ritual is survival. The concentrated fear is used to create a potent ward that repels the truly monstrous things that lurk in the deep woods and high mountains. For another year, the beasts and horrors will pass by the villages, unable to find any suitable prey.

But the Tithe comes at a cost. In the weeks following the Taker’s visit, the villagers are left emotionally barren and unnaturally reckless. With their fear gone, they become careless, taking foolish risks and showing no caution in the face of everyday dangers. This often leads to a spike in fatal accidents and violent brawls. Still, this is a trade-off that everyone accepts happily, especially since the effects seem to dissipate naturally after a while, and the ancient tales of the horrors now avoided are still used as cautionary tales in the region.