Smuggling in Torrune

Since the city of Torrune is a trade hub of great importance where a vast amount of valuable commerce converges, and since this flow of trade is taxed by the city's Archon to fill his coffers, smuggling goods past the Archon's toll agents (or finding other clever ways to evade their exactions) is a common undertaking. It is so common, in fact, that Torrune has a League-wide reputation for this particular crime, and a dense vocabulary of local slang to describe the many different methods of smuggling and the smugglers who employ them. Smuggling is probably the most commonly committed crime in Torrune (except perhaps petty theft) and its suppression is the main concern of the Archon's city guard.

The Archon has the right to impose his taxes on goods entering the city as well as leaving it. This prerogative is resented by the city's merchants, envied by the lords of neighboring League states, and does much to account for the Archonate's ample revenues. It also means that there is incentive to smuggle taxable trade goods both into and out of the city's boundaries. An unscrupulous merchant who manages one or the other will reduce his tax burden by half; if he manages both, he will avoid it entirely.

Since much of the trade flowing through Torrune goes by boat, so too does much of the smuggling activity. One popular method is for goods moving downriver from above the Helvander's cataracts to be unloaded on a secluded stretch of riverbank away from Sillport, covertly portaged around the falls via some hidden path, re-loaded onto boats or rafts below them, and floated down to Torrune itself (ideally on a foggy or moonless night), where they will be delivered to an out-of-the-way dock or waterfront warehouse. To move goods out of the city in the same direction is easier: They can simply be packed onto boats at the city's docks, again ideally under cover of darkness, and sent off downriver when the time is right. Here the main obstacle is that loading contraband within the city has a higher chance of detection by the Archon's guards.

Of course, if conditions allow it, smuggled goods can be portaged around the falls and boated all the way down to, and through, Torrune in a single trip, continuing on their way along the Helvander without ever stopping in the city. However, this is risky in its own right, since boats passing through the city without stopping are fairly obvious to the guards and tax agents monitoring the river traffic. Thus many smugglers prefer to specialize in only one direction, with contraband often changing hands on the city docks between those who move goods around the falls and those who move it further downriver or out of the city via land routes.

The convoluted labyrinth of tunnels and subterranean chambers that make up Torrune's "Undercity" is of course a great boon to smugglers as well, providing them with many clandestine routes in and out of the city (to evade toll collectors at the gates), as well ample hiding places to store contraband until the time is right to move it. This is no secret to the Archon's agents, and they make constant efforts to patrol the tunnels, discover smuggling routes, and close up their entry points. However, the size and complexity of the Undercity, and the ongoing work of smugglers who dig fresh tunnels or break into old sealed-off portions to find new routes, mean this is a never-ending task.