Bailiff

*"Open up, Johann. I know you’re in there. You always seem to be indisposed when it’s time to collect the rent."*

## Basic

(Core) Bailiffs are manorial officials in the service of Noble Lords. While many of their duties involve the upkeep of the lands and resources of the manor proper, they are notorious amongst the peasantry for something else entirely. Bailiffs are collectors of rents and taxes from the villages surrounding their manors, and enforcers of the Peasants’ labour obligations to their lords. These duties make them deeply unpopular with the villagers, particularly during the lean times. As the hated face of lordly imposition, Bailiffs are the first to die when the Peasants get angry and revolt.

### Secondary Profile

**Skills:** Academic Knowledge (Law), Animal Care or Gossip, Charm, Command or Navigation, Intimidate or Common Knowledge (the Empire), Perception, Read/Write, Ride

**Talents:** Etiquette or Super Numerate, Public Speaking

**Trappings:** Light Armour (Leather Jack and Leather Skullcap), Riding Horse with Saddle and Harness, One Set of Good Craftsmenship Clothing

### **Career Exits**

Militiaman, Politician, Protagonist, Racketeer, Smuggler, Toll Keeper

## A Day in the Life

Being a bailiff is not an easy task. No one looks forward to seeing the bailiff on any occassion - especially when taxes or rent are due. During tax season, the bailiff can expect to work long, thankless days at his lord’s many tasks. Rising early, a bailiff travels to the furthest outskirts to collect tithes and taxes from the farmers working his lord’s lands.

As the day wears on, he winds his way back toward the manorhouse, collecting his due from local merchants, shopkeepers or proprieters renting space from the lord. His daily routine ends with him bringing the collected monies to his lord or the lord’s steward to be applied to the many expenses associated with managing the land.

While the bailiff may not be popular, the rents and taxes he collects do not just sit idly to line his lord’s coffers; the lord’s buildings and domain must be maintained, and his advisors, soldiers and retinue must be compensated. And in times of need, it is often the lord’s coin that replaces the village’s broken mill wheel or pays to dig a new well in the village green for all to use.

But the bailiff earns no affection for his task. His is the face of avarice, detached indifference and all such things the commoners despise about their lord. Because of this, the bailiff may find himself subject to the curses, tirades and challenges a commoner would not dare levy against the lord.

After suffering from the spite of those he visits throughout the day, the bailiff finds it difficult to relax. His occupation puts him in an unenviable social position - the bailiff is generally reviled by the working folk and will find himself unwelcome in the taverns and inns frequented by the locals, yet he has no claim to nobility or the luxuries of life, so often finds himself without peers with which to socialise.

## Bailiffs in the City

While bailiffs may be most commonly found in the employ of a noble lord or the burgher of a small community, it is not without precedent to see bailiffs in service in larger cities such as Nuln or Altdorf. In these cases, the bailiff often fufills a slightly different role.

Large cities are comprised of myriad organisations, guilds and unions, each of which functions as a smaller community within the whole. It is within these sub-divisions and specialised communities where a bailiff finds his place in city life.

For example, a bailiff may be on the payroll of a local guild to make regular rounds throughout the city proper and collect fees and dues from its members, collect payments from organisations that rely on the guild’s services, parcel out expenditures on behalf of the guild’s leadership or all manner of similar tasks and responsibilities.