ECONOMY

 

 

A word on money...

 

The Lodges operate on a gold standard, meaning that the de facto currency of both Phenice and the other known city states is the Lige.

 

150g of gold = 1 Albe = 10 Hurles = 100 Liges = 1000 Sous

 

Given the possibility of coin clipping, the Lodges switched to paper money.  These are large paper bills featuring the faces of notable doges aside from the sou which is a metallic coin.

 

 

A word on wages...

 

A seasonal labourer can expect to earn 500 Liges per month.

 

A skilled labourer can expect to earn 1000 Liges per month.

 

A tradesman or artisan can expect to earn 2500 Liges per month.

 

A Lawyer or Doctor can expect to earn 4500 Liges per month.

 

A senior member of a Lodge or a noble can expect to earn 7500 Liges per month.

 

 

A word on what you can buy...

 

You can download an indication of prices Equipment.rtf.

 

 

 

A word on firearms...

 

The design of the firearm was perfected approximately one hundred and thirty years ago.  The firearm takes one of two shapes; it is either a pistol which is muzzle-loaded and propelled by a spring connected to a winding mechanism in the handle or it is a musket which propels a slightly larger ball substantially further based upon kinetic energy stored in a spring connected to a similar foot-activated winding mechanism.

 

Any attempts to 'improve' upon such designs will be dealt with seriously by the Most Loyal Brotherhood of Armourers as an attempt to de-stabilise the weapons and munitions market.

 

 

A word on vehicles...

 

Automobiles exist though they are rare, expensive and built to measure by registered artisans.  Some models are powered by steam, these tend to be larger, slower and require a large stock of coal to keep going though they have the advantage of being able to operate without winder support.  However, most automobiles are small, light and have an average speed of 40-50km/h.  They have an autonomy of a few hours after which they are obliged to either stop at a winders' or change out their spring for a pre-wound spare.  Obviously though, the more spares you carry, the less time your springs last.

 

Dirigeables also exist but are even rarer than automobiles.  They are composed of large hydrogen-filled sacs with gondolas slung underneath containing the spring-powered motors that allow the balloons to orient themselves (their speed of 25-50 km/h being mostly due to the wind).  However, in many cases dirigeables are seen attached to trains which pull them from town to town making them either the tools of explorers or the extremely rich.

 

Trains are the most common means of transport across the Traverse network.  Vast engines of steam and black iron, they move at between 60 and 90km/h along rails pull carriages whose furnishings run from the luxurious to the torturous.  Trains are staffed and controlled by the Lodge of Stokers.

 

 

A word on winders...

 

The world's energy economy is based upon the Phenician spring.  A technology that is a couple of centuries old and which allows energy to be stored perfectly once it is deposited in a spring.  Wealthier people are able to power their homes, cars or dirrigeables using them though they remain a little too expensive for most people who at most may have one spring fitted in their house that they use slowly over time to rewind watches or weapons or to provide heat in particularly cold conditions.

 

A winder generally owns a small shop in which he keeps mulies, sterile animals that are bread for their astonishing endurance and energy efficiency.  These mulies run on treadmills that then power up springs or, in some cases, vehicles directly.  They exist in towns but are more common in between cities and along trade routes where they sell their energy to traders and travellers.

 

 

A word on food...

 

With growing space at a premium, humanity has learned to adapt his urban environments to produce food.  Most cities have their roof space entirely devoted to growing food.  In fact, many of the poorer areas have slung tarpaulin over the streets, allowing them to supplement their income by selling produce (the side effect being darkness and damp, thereby keeping rents down).  The cities have also extended, wherever possible, their growing space out onto the traverses.  Fearful of disease and wishing to maximise yields, the lodges sell people sterile seeds which will yield no more than one generation of plants.  Some attempts have been made to 'pirate' these plants but all such efforts are treated as economic crimes and dangers to public health.  The only exception to this situation is mander, a reed that grows out of the 'crym itself.  It is harvested en masse and can be used either to produce paper, flour and alcohol (particularly the flowers which produce a delicately flavoured liqueur) despite the boiling required to make it edible and the rather unfortunate taste.

 

Meat is produced from horses, particularly elderly ojnes, and as such tends to be stringy and in need of being hung.  Most meat eaten tends to be from the styrges, a bat-winged bird-like creature that feeds off of mander flowers or howler monkeys who infest the traverses wherever food is produced (silencing their continuakl whooping sound is a most appreciated side-effect of this).

 

There are rumours that other cities have managed to feed larger populations thanks to processes such as hydroponics or the construction of large green houses but lengthy investigations by the farming guilds have conclusively proved that such edifices would be economically unfeasible (just think of all the windows you would need to clean!) and therefore not useful for a mass market deployment.  As a result, to suggest investment in green houses too loudly is seen as an attempt to muddy the philosophical waters... something the lodges do not approve of.