What does an incomer use for money in Felarya?

Pendragon wrote:

I'm gonna go ahead and suggest this:

Maybe we should devalue Ascarlin a little. I know it sounds insane, but it just sounds weird when entire kingdoms would fight over a handful of it, yet there's an entire MINE near Negav.

Basically that would make Negav richer than every Universe and Dimension COMBINED.

I think that's the point. Negav has become a powerful interdimensional trade hub. The ascarlin would be the big-money item, but when you have people from different worlds, galaxies and universes coming in and out to peddle their wares...there is a LOT of money and trade flowing through that city. You want to talk about a reason to come to Felarya, trade is definately one of them. You could take a portal to Negav, sell your wares to people from a dozen different worlds, and make a profit without ever leaving the city walls. Its a merchant's wet dream.

That's why my theory is that Negav gets almost all of their major supplies from off-world these days. There's no room to farm that much food, so they gotta get it from soemwhere. Same with various types of supplies and such. Stone to build more buildings and keep the walls maintained, metals to make weapons and ammo, and the list likely goes on. The money they make off Ascarlin sales could easily pay for all their essential purchases.

I usually thought they made some sort of magical hydroponic system to maintain the food schedule. Also, I was always under the assumption the magiocrats ran a communist smurf society.

It's an interesting idea, though, if they rely on off world trading.

Anime-Junkie wrote:

Mentalguy wrote:

I call BS. I know they take Visa.

Hahaha--- HOLY CRAP MENTALGUY POSTED!
Wow, I haven't seen you around for a long time.

Ya man, im in Afganistan, finally was able to get on the internet not to long ago.

Nyaa, I bet the Felaryan dollar beats the Canadian dollar in trading right now. T.T

Sean Okotami wrote:

ZionAtriedes wrote:

To be honest, while currency may exist in certain areas, I think bartering is probably the rule of thumb in a world like Felarya. Tech, weapons, even knowledge can all be bought and sold. See, and this could just be my darker view of Felarya kicking in, I'd imagine a lot of people are pretty survival-oriented. Anything to increase their chances of survival would be more valuable than some gem.

Well, when you're in a place like Negav where the number one danger is criminality, they gotta have an economy, implying they have a currency, which Karbo put in the wiki as Skevols, Faldong Gems and others I don't remember.

It depends on whether we're talking about Negav, or the wilderness.

Mentalguy wrote:

Ya man, im in Afganistan, finally was able to get on the internet not to long ago.

I'd be there with you if it wasn't for my damn nerve damage. *punches wall*

Well no, I think I'd still be in Twenty-Nine Palms for my MOS schooling (I've heard 0656 is the most technical MOS in the Corps), but you know what I mean.

Back to Ascarlin. If their currency is based off it, and I believe it is, then the value is fixed by the power of Ascarlin.
If anyone's is doubting that their currency is based off it, I have here a quote from the wiki:
Most normal transactions on Felarya are made in skevols, with larger ones in Faldong gems or various local gemstones, and the greatest exchanges (such as buying a space battle cruiser or an imperial palace) being negotiated in pure ascarlin.

It's stated in Ascarlin can increase a magic artefacts power by tenfold, but we're not told how much Ascarlin is required to increase the power of an Artefact of a given power or size.
I'm not going to attempt to quantify it, that's up to Karbo.
So, if when we know the exact power we can work out the value.
Having a currency based of Ascarlin is an interesting thing because the power of Ascarlin never changes and it is always in demand, so the Felaryan Skevol would always have a fixed value. This would add to Negav being a multiversal trade hub, as when people from 2 different world trade, they need something fixed to trade in.

I always assumed that meant that Ascarlin is used only for exhorbitant purchases, like the battle cruiser and imperial palace, and as such, wasn't exactly used as a base for the currency.

Sean Okotami wrote:

I always assumed that meant that Ascarlin is used only for exhorbitant purchases, like the battle cruiser and imperial palace, and as such, wasn't exactly used as a base for the currency.

Well, at one point in history gold was used as the base for many a nation's currency, but wasn't used in everyday trade, instead coins that represented value in gold were used. Later, people stored their gold with goldsmiths (because they had a safe for the gold). The smiths wrote out notes which entitled the bearer to receive X amount of gold from the safe. These were used in trade because they represented gold (and were a lot lighter). Gold was still used of course, for very large transactions.
So it is with Ascarlin.

Exactly. It isn't fiat money like modern currency, but representative. Ascarlin itself wouldn't be in the coins (as currency must be readily available), but it may serve as the standard of value (X skevols equals Y ounces of ascarlin).

However, I stick to my defense of the bartering system. While there may be limited success with representative currency among Negavites, I still think the majority of Felarya would rely on simpler forms of trade. After all, a coin representing so much ascarlin wouldn't be worth shit in an area where you couldn't go exchange it for ascarlin. A gun and some ammo, however, is valuable anywhere at all.

Ascarlin is in a limited amount however. There may be a massive mine next to negav, but so far as I know it, that's the only major deposit known to have ascarlin. Since negav's been around for like 1500 years or so probably, wouldn't it be safe to assume that the mine is at the very least running out of ascarlin?

Archmage_Bael wrote:

Ascarlin is in a limited amount however. There may be a massive mine next to negav, but so far as I know it, that's the only major deposit known to have ascarlin. Since negav's been around for like 1500 years or so probably, wouldn't it be safe to assume that the mine is at the very least running out of ascarlin?

Actually, they say they can dig deeper, but there's the problem of rather unfriendly creatures down there.