Money in the Citadel

[GreatWolf]

In another message, I noted that a glaring lack in my current conception of the world of Alyria is a monetary system.  At the very least, the Citadel needs one.  This is more for flavor than for system purposes, as there are no equipment lists in Alyria.  But still it is an important detail.  Money is a central part of life, and therefore it should be included in Alyria.

I think that I may have hit upon a solution.  Ironically, it is stolen partially from my wargame Junk, but also it hearkens back to the ancient Japanese koku.  It seems to me that the Citadel is transitioning to a money economy from a barter economy.  What if the basic unit of money was a chit, issued by a commodity warehouse somewhere, equal to a bushel of grain.  (I'm thinking that the primary staple is corn, but I digress).  So, rather than trading 5 bushels of corn, I just hand over five tokens that can later be exchanged at the issuing warehouse for the grain.  (If memory serves, I think that this is similar to the historical development of checks.)

So, any gross errors or problems with this scheme of things?

[Jürgen Mayer]

Sounds good to me.

[Ron Edwards]

Agreed. My players thought it was neat.

Best,
Ron

[Mike Holmes]

It seems to me that the Citadel is transitioning to a money economy from a barter economy.  What if the basic unit of money was a chit, issued by a commodity warehouse somewhere, equal to a bushel of grain.  (I'm thinking that the primary staple is corn, but I digress).  So, rather than trading 5 bushels of corn, I just hand over five tokens that can later be exchanged at the issuing warehouse for the grain.  

Pretty neat. But here's an added detail. Perhaps there were chits for other things, water rations, for example. But the chits for common stuff went away fast as local resources suficed, and as tech wore down, the chits for hose stopped bing used... But at the time each sort of chit was referred to by what it was for. Just like when you trade commodities. You don't trade a future of Corn, you just say, I want five Corn.

So, as Corn was the last chit to go off standard (or perhaps its still on the standard), the common term for the still traded chits is Corn.

"Hey, buddy, twenty Corn'll getcha the floorplans to the Keeper sub-temple."

Keeps the history in mind.

Mike

[GreatWolf]

Mike,

The idea about having other chits doesn't quite work.  In my mind, these are supposed to be a relatively recent thing, not left-overs from an old rationing scheme.  And corn is still on the standard.  A person could conceivably take his chits to the warehouse and trade them in for corn.

However, I think that I like the idea of using Corn for the coin names.  Hmm, or maybe Kernels.

Food for thought.  (No pun intended, I swear!)  Thanks!