Birthright - Economics - Expenses

Expenses are just as abstract as the revenue side of things. Basic upkeep is determined by adding up the total number (not level) of holdings (not counting level 0 holdings) and provinces, and checking a chart. You must also pay 1 GB per castle/fortified holding owned and per province occupied. Next you add up the upkeep costs of the standing army and navy (1-2GB/unit). Finally you decide how opulent you want this seasons court to be. If your court isn’t up to par, you suffer a penalty when making any diplomacy actions. If you don’t have the GBs to cover everything, you either have to disband your army, or you can spend RP (at a cost of 4 RP to 1GB) to cover those costs. If you still don’t have enough cash after disbanding your army, and selling off your assets... the rule book doesn’t actually address this. I would probably rule that you automatically lose levels of holding for any you can’t afford and/or provinces ruled would drop in loyalty.

Number of Provinces and Holdings Controlled	Maintenance Cost
1-2	0 GB
3-6	1 GB
7-12	2 GB
13-18	3 GB
19-24	4 GB
25-30	5 GB
31-40	7 GB
41-50	10 GB
51-75	20 GB
76-100	30 GB
101+*	1 GB / 3 Provinces + Holdings

I looked at the realms of the southern coast when checking on regency, and I’m going to focus on the same area for expenses. Unfortunately the box set only gives the description of the standing army of one realm on the coast. Roesone is the only realm on the southern cost given the the full 2 page write up. Even the Players Secrets Guides (32 page books on individual realms) don't list the standing armies...

Marlae Roesone, Baroness of Roesone rules 7 provinces with 7 law holdings. Base cost is 3 GB. She has a castle in her capitol city (1 GB), and a standing army of 3 units of archers, 1 artillerist, 1 knight, 3 pikes, and 1 infantry which costs an additional 11 GB, for a total upkeep of 15 GB per turn. On average Roesone collects 17 GB/turn in taxes, and due to her low level of control of the law holdings of her realm she may collect an additional 1 or 2 GB per turn from the guilds and temples. This means that depending on what actions Marlae decides to take during the turn, especially if she decides to hold court, she may end up having to tap into her treasury.

Medoere, a young theocracy is 3 provinces, of which the regent Archpriest Suris Enlien controls 3 temple holdings and 2 law holdings. She also controls a temple holdings in Roesone for a total of 9 provinces/holdings and a cost of 2 GB. There is also a temple in the capital, for a total upkeep of 3 GB. She can bring in 7-8 GB per turn in taxes and an additional 7 GB in Temple collection, and maybe an additional 1 from the guilds.

Ilien is a single province. It's ruled by Rogr Aglondier, a wizard who controls the law and source holdings of Ilien as well as source holdings in 8 other provinces, has an upkeep cost of 0 GB. Source holdings don't require upkeep! Rogr brings in a total of 6.5 GB/ turn in taxes! In addition he can probably claim 3-5 GB/turn from the guilds and temples.

The Impregnable Heart of Haelyn, a temple on the southern cost has 12 holdings, but one of them is a level 0, so doesn't count, for a total cost of 2 GB. It brings in 22.5 GB/turn, but it probably loses 5-7/turn from law collections. Still, without an army or castles to maintain, much of that will go into actions or the treasury!

As you can see, depending on the size of the realm, and the regents control of it, things can get very expensive very quickly!