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so i was looking at the magnimar city of monuments, and there seems to be a lot of smuggling going on. at first i thought it was drugs but later i learned that drugs are actually legal in magnimar. magnimar has very few laws and id assume that those contain the essentials,( no murder, no blackmail, no theft, no asmodius, etc) and not much else. which begs the question: what is being smuggled?
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Anything that will be taxed, which is most things. Booze is the obvious one, but anything reasonably valuable and portable will be taxed. The things most likely to attract taxes are luxuries, imports that compete with local guilds, things that might threaten the state or things imported from unfriendly countries.
Remember that in 1773 there was something of a dispute over taxes on...tea.
Cursed magic item trade
Helms of Opposite alignment are great gag gifts
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The construct makers of the Golemworks is all upset about these cheap bargain-basement 'constructs' turning up in flagrant violation of their monopoly that turn out to be animated goblin, orc and ogre skeletons concealed under stylized full-figure suits of plate armor...
The owners of these newly purchased 'cheap constructs' have proven to be utterly unaware that they were being sold undead in metal disguises, instead of actual clockwork servants! How are these skeletons (and the stylized suits of armor that hides them) getting into the city?
Meanwhile, chunks of stone from the Irespan suitably sized to be used in the crafting of various constructs continue to get snuck out of town to buyers in Korvosa (at the Academae) and Absalom (at the Arcanamirium), as well as more distant ports, in violation of a prohibition against selling off portions of this city feature.
Creative Director
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Mudfoot's spot on. The main reason for smuggling is to avoid taxes and fines. There's certainly some smuggling of illegal stuff as well—things like slaves, evil magic, stolen goods, drugs like Midnight Milk, dangerous pets/guard creatures, and so on. And finally, there's a bit of smuggling of Thassilonian magic items and art objects.
Cursed magic item trade
Helms of Opposite alignment are great gag gifts
Excellent April Fool's trick for that uptight Paladin in the party...