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Post by Minister on Jan 26, 2004 9:14:44 GMT -5
A wee bit which has cropped up before. I'm goin to propose an idea which can then be either discussed and modified or replaced by a better idea thought up by someone else. All of the following is presented as a suggestion.
The core currency of the Imperial Administratum is known as the Imperialis. This is the standard unit which the Imperium itself uses for the calculation of ththes etc. It is often used as a basis for local currencies, who will lock their base unit to the Imperialis. However, a world must be able to back up its finance, and no world can actualy have a reservo of Imperial units (as they exist only in the Administratum's databases). Instead worlds with a strong economy will have their own currency which is trusted on an interstellar level. Other worlds can then lock theirs to this, and so-on and so-on.
Example: Anargo itself uses the Imperial Denarius (not actually issued by the Imperium, but named to show loyalty to the Emperor), which is backed up by the great material wealth of the Anargo government. Linked ot this are the currencies of many other worlds, significantly Dorvastor with its Dorvakin currency. The Imperial Fleet uses Fleet Credit Units, which are backed up by the Imperium itself and are widely accepted even outside the Navy.
Hmmm... Maybee that wasn't as clear as I thought, but none the less..
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Post by Kage2020 on Jan 26, 2004 21:17:09 GMT -5
The Imperial denarii is a nod of the head towards Watsons Inquisitor (now Draco), the first place that mentioned an Imperial currency... If - and I presume it has - the 'imperialis' is mentioned as the standard, then I suggest - strongly suggest - that it be placed in a scale of monetary units and which might not be the 'normal' every-day currency. Or vice-versa. Again, it depends on the specific 'fluff'... the 'imperialis' is a new one on me, but that's in part since I have a general blanket policy if trying not to buy GW products. Voting with my feet, as it were, with regards to what I consider the quality of their products (in terms of the absence of decent and consistent 'fluff')... With that in mind, there will therefore be four basic units of currency: sesterci, denari, librum and imperialis. There relative values were, respectively: 20,000: 1,000: 50: 1. Thus 1 sesterci was one twenty-thousandth of an imperialis. If, however, the 'imperialis' is definitely the 'Imperial' currency and this can be backed up with a solid 'fluff' reference to counter the now archaic (but still brilliant) Watson reference, then I would suggest that the denari swaps places with the current imperialis and, if desired, the sesterci and the moved imperialis then swap. Thus either s:I:L:d or I:S:L:d... Or if you wanted a different system... I:d:s:L... But regardless, the Anargo currency is going to be the Imperial currency. By definition. Planetary currencies are a whole different matter, but there is absolutely no way that we are going to have a 'sector currency'... Kage
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Post by zholud on Feb 5, 2004 16:33:11 GMT -5
But regardless, the Anargo currency is going to be the Imperial currency. By definition. Planetary currencies are a whole different matter, but there is absolutely no way that we are going to have a 'sector currency'... Despite there is no sector currency, I prefer to think that we have some kind of stock market where items (credits, tithes, etc) are traded on the basis of several local currencies. The Meksumian economy for example has constantly changing number of currencies, all limited only to the planet and its protectorates in open space.
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Post by Kage2020 on Feb 7, 2004 9:10:24 GMT -5
That would be an interesting premise if it works of the concept that the subsectors, in many ways, mirror some of the old 'micro-empires' that were integrated into the Imperium during the Great Crusade... Of course, going too far down the route of a 'stock market' might be problematic, although it does give a substantial income to the Astropathic Conclave on a world! All that limited data transfer! "1 bushel of wheat is worth... 2 cats are worth..." Blah blah... Oh, and if someone could select a variation of the above that they prefer, that would be nice! Kage
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Post by Minister on Feb 7, 2004 9:14:00 GMT -5
There is also the idea that a certain currency will become less valuable the further away forom the source you go. For example, one Zlobian Shekel will buy roughly the same if it's changed into a Kopilian Krindar, because they are close together, and there will be a reasonable exchange rate. However, if you travel all the way to Bakka, then you will not get a lot for it, as either they will not want to buy something which they cannot make use of as much, or you have had to pay commission on it a great many times on the way.
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Post by Kage2020 on Feb 7, 2004 21:34:56 GMT -5
Which is a reasonable point.. But someone take a stance on the 'Imperial currency'. Please. Kage
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Post by zholud on Feb 8, 2004 10:43:49 GMT -5
But someone take a stance on the 'Imperial currency'. Please. What do you mean? You need the functions of Imperial currency? The main IMHO is the denomination unit for the calculation of tithes and economical capacity of world. There are some ‘coins’ that are created for smoothing the work of extra-planetary organizations, e.g. Inquisition. The local currencies are extremely limited in interplanetary use so to prevent raise of very wealthy and thus influential groups which could endanger Imperium. Do you need more in the same style?
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Post by Kage2020 on Feb 8, 2004 16:03:17 GMT -5
This is what I was referring to: With that in mind, there will therefore be four basic units of currency: sesterci, denari, librum and imperialis. There relative values were, respectively: 20,000: 1,000: 50: 1. Thus 1 sesterci was one twenty-thousandth of an imperialis. If, however, the 'imperialis' is definitely the 'Imperial' currency and this can be backed up with a solid 'fluff' reference to counter the now archaic (but still brilliant) Watson reference, then I would suggest that the denari swaps places with the current imperialis and, if desired, the sesterci and the moved imperialis then swap. Thus either s:I:L:d or I:S:L:d... Or if you wanted a different system... I:d:s:L... But regardless, the Anargo currency is going to be the Imperial currency. By definition. Planetary currencies are a whole different matter, but there is absolutely no way that we are going to have a 'sector currency'... Kage
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Post by zholud on Feb 11, 2004 15:29:05 GMT -5
As for the naming convention wait till I storm the citadel of Black Library and make any system of name the law [glow=red,2,300]maniac laugher[/glow] ;D ;D
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Post by Caladors on Mar 10, 2004 19:09:06 GMT -5
my personal belife is that there is no galatic standered currency only ever on world currencys. see it's always about the trading of goods never about X ammount of latnem bar or any other things look at the inquisitor book where esionhorn has a discussion with some alien creature it doesn't want alien or imperial currency it wants goods money does not speak louder than words in 40k but if you have the goods it's a different story i mean you hear about rouge traders and gun running empires but you never hear about them exchanging vast ammounts of cash.
goods and stock is the currency of the 41 first you can't trust that your money will be good else where.
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Post by Kage2020 on Mar 10, 2004 20:10:44 GMT -5
Fair enough... I'm still drawn by the concept of an abstract current defined relatively through the same form of system which determines the tithe. I say again that the Anargo sector does use the Imperial currency, as discussed in another thread (forget which one at the moment). The suggestion therein was that the denari, solei, librum or whatever were subdivisions of this currency unit (or even the imperialis was a subdivision of one of these). Kage
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Post by Shoulder on Mar 13, 2004 20:19:41 GMT -5
my personal belife is that there is no galatic standered currency only ever on world currencys. see it's always about the trading of goods never about X ammount of latnem bar or any other things. True, yet for the sake of simplicity the imperium would measure things by TSC [Terran Standard Credit] (in no way a name suggestion, just using the term) to calculate tithes etc.
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Post by Caladors on Mar 13, 2004 23:57:00 GMT -5
I don't think i would even go as far as that i mean i hear about any sort of standered curreny i mean i hear alot about tithes but never about anything which has any standered but in a system you here about in system trading.
in system trading where they make trades but only on world would i think that they will have a currency.
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Post by Kage2020 on Mar 14, 2004 5:49:15 GMT -5
The term 'tithe' as applied to the goods that a world supplies to the Imperium as part of their fuedal obligation is, I would suggest, not necessarily the same as the concept of the tithe more familiar through history. It is there to evoke an image, but one that can be misleading... A 'currency unit' based upon the calculations used to determine a tithe - you could likewise call it a tax - makes a whole lot of sense, regardless of whether a given world practices a monetary economy. Kage
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Post by zholud on Mar 14, 2004 14:50:56 GMT -5
my personal belife is that there is no galatic standered currency only ever on world currencys. To a large extent you are right, it is very unusual for ordinary Imperial citizen to see Imperial currency, the chances are roughly equal to you seeing golden bars in the shop. They all use local currency or currencies like you do, and even traders prefer to keep their liabilities in good, not in Imperial money. But for the accounting part of Imperium they have to calculate tithes, to check whether they don’t overpay for lasguns or fertiliser alike, as well as to get additional funds by issuing war bond in the most pressing times. There is no material in whole galaxy which could be equivalent of gold or silver as it was used in both middle ages and renaissance, but there ought to be some unit of measurement, and for the totalitarian Imperium it must exist. Otherwise it is logistic nightmare to keep a matrix where each good is priced in everything else. Just an example, US consumer price index is calculated on 100,000 goods, so matrix should be 10,000,000,000 to account any commodity exchange combination. But even this with be wrong, because the exchange rate between commodities isn’t number, but function. You can give dollar for a beer, but would you buy 1,000 bottles for $1,000 now for momentary consumption? I guess after 3rd you wouldn’t like to get 4th, I don’t speak about 10th…
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