 Honor Economy
The Gelack economy would make strong economists blanch and antiprotectionists
howl, comprising as it does of a collection of volatile currencies, based
more strongly on the intangibles of trust, honor and good name than on
goods and materials, underpinned by house monopolies. Monitum, for instance,
dominates the nervecloth industry, and that dominance supports a house
which is relatively weak in political power and regarded both with awe
and suspicion for its ancestral ties with Luverthan. Nersal dominates
shipbuilding, and hullsteel manufacture. The Demish have the most fertile
territory, and so can supply foodstuffs in exchange for technological
goods and services. In addition, the majority of territories and traffic
routes are personally controlled and owned by someone; there are no public
rights of way on Gelion and access must be negotiated.
All large transactions are sealed by Honor Bond, by which goods,
services and access may be exchanged. The form taken by the Honor Bond
varies greatly with the parties involved, the Demish inclining to far
more detailed and rigorous contracts than the Vrellish - since the Demish
much prefer negotiation to settling disputes by the sword, and the Vrellish
preferring action to talking about it. The Monatese are often called on
to act as reviewers during the negotiation of Vrellish-Demish contracts.
The universal currency is klinomantous, produced by the Luverthanians,
who do not discriminate between customers; every house is therefore possessed
of a store, although most would be unable to meet the value of a large
contract.
The petty cash of the Gelack economy consists of Honor Chips,
plastic counters containing blood cells (and therefore genetic material)
of each house's liege. The amount on the market at any given time is determined
by the liege and their advisors, and its value depends upon the liege's
stability and standing. In some cases, the death of the liege completely
devalues the 'currency', unless - as among the Demish and the kinf'stan
of Nersal - it is understood that the new liege will honor the prior liege's
Bonds and Chips - the Demish because of their love or order and the Nersallians
because they consider themselves all one blood. The Vrellish and Dem'Vrellish
would be an exceedingly bad investment risk!
|
