I was going to work on chapter two of Legend of Galactic Girls over lunch, but everything hit the
fan at once... By the time that was over, I was too tired to do much in the way of creative work. Instead, I pulled together some scattered notes from various
threads and added a couple of bits of my own to them... What did I get wrong, and what did I leave out?
Finance in Fenspace
"Can you imagine the bragging rights? That's the real Fen
currency, you know that."
- Eric Zhu (owner of The Island), in Disturbing Implications of Land Rising into the Sky
Bragging rights may be the real currency of Fenspace, but you can't (usually) buy a tank of fuel with them.
Money
Currencies naturally divide into two groups - those from the 'Danelaw and those native to Fenspace.
'Danelaw currencies - in decreasing order of popularity, Australian dollars, US dollars, Euros, Pounds sterling, and others - are used by Fendanes and Fen
who have a great deal of business with Earth (such as Stellvia). They have the advantage of being
well-known and having established rates of exchange, but are disliked by Fen who left Earth to get away from the 'Danelaw.
Currencies native to Fenspace are based on goodwill, assets, or both. Most are officially pegged to the Bank of Sol's "solar credit". In
actuality, some privately-issued currencies are more valued than others (just like in the American old west):
* "A-list" currencies are backed by both goodwill and assets, and issued by reputable known groups - which limits them to the Mars and Venus
Terraforming Projects, The Island, and Hephaestus.
* "B-list" currencies, such as the one issued by the Hidden Asteroid, are backed by goodwill or
assets.
* "C-list" currencies are not backed at all, and thus are strictly novelty items outside of the issuing group - the equivalent of the old west's
"wooden nickels". If Candy Apple Red's issued its own money, this is where it would be
ranked.
The most common asset used to back Fenspace currency is biomass - it's the one thing not easily available in the greater Solar System. Seeds, plants,
animals, soil... even sewage has a high intrinsic worth, especially in the terraforming projects. On
the biomass standard, the several hundred acres the Grover's Corners lifted gives those hardy
pioneers a net worth higher than Hephaestus and Stellvia
put together. The only reason this didn't cause a noticeable economic dislocation was that Operation GREAT JUSTICE began a couple
of weeks after the Grover's Corners launch.
Currency trading on Earth determines the exchange rate between the baseline "solar credit" and major 'Daneside currencies. As of the beginning of
Operation GREAT JUSTICE, the Solar Credit was close enough to parity with the U.S. Dollar to not matter.
Balance transfers between Fenspace banks, or between Fenspace and the 'Danelaw, are handled by bonded AIs that were specially programmed and 'waved to
be as incorruptable as possible.
Physical Currency
There's not much paper money in Fenspace, mainly because the paper is worth more as stock for Martian fertilizer than as money. But like so many other
things these days, money can be reduced to electronic transactions. For practicality if nothing else, Fenspace is a "cashless" society.
Thus, any institution that issues its own currency also issues its own credit card. These vary greatly depending on the issuer - the "Venus Express"
card is valuable in its own right because of the Venusian-diamond inlays in the card, while the Hephaestus
"Steel Credit" routinely sets off metal detectors. (Both are pegged to the Bank of Sol's "solar credit" at a
1:1 exchange rate.) On the other hand, little distinguishes Stellvia's "Visa" cards
(based on the Australian Dollar) from those issued by Earth-side banks.
The credit card has become Fenspace's de facto identification card, since everybody needs to
have one in order to do business with anyone else without resorting to barter. Libertarian and anarchic factions tend to make it easy to obtain cards issued to
"John Smith", "Jiro Yamada", or other cultures' equivalents; other factions tend to require, if not a real name, at least a false name
that isn't blatantly obvious.
-Rob Kelk
"Read Or Die: not so much a title as a way of life." - Justin Palmer, 6 June 2007
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
fan at once... By the time that was over, I was too tired to do much in the way of creative work. Instead, I pulled together some scattered notes from various
threads and added a couple of bits of my own to them... What did I get wrong, and what did I leave out?
Finance in Fenspace
"Can you imagine the bragging rights? That's the real Fen
currency, you know that."
- Eric Zhu (owner of The Island), in Disturbing Implications of Land Rising into the Sky
Bragging rights may be the real currency of Fenspace, but you can't (usually) buy a tank of fuel with them.
Money
Currencies naturally divide into two groups - those from the 'Danelaw and those native to Fenspace.
'Danelaw currencies - in decreasing order of popularity, Australian dollars, US dollars, Euros, Pounds sterling, and others - are used by Fendanes and Fen
who have a great deal of business with Earth (such as Stellvia). They have the advantage of being
well-known and having established rates of exchange, but are disliked by Fen who left Earth to get away from the 'Danelaw.
Currencies native to Fenspace are based on goodwill, assets, or both. Most are officially pegged to the Bank of Sol's "solar credit". In
actuality, some privately-issued currencies are more valued than others (just like in the American old west):
* "A-list" currencies are backed by both goodwill and assets, and issued by reputable known groups - which limits them to the Mars and Venus
Terraforming Projects, The Island, and Hephaestus.
* "B-list" currencies, such as the one issued by the Hidden Asteroid, are backed by goodwill or
assets.
* "C-list" currencies are not backed at all, and thus are strictly novelty items outside of the issuing group - the equivalent of the old west's
"wooden nickels". If Candy Apple Red's issued its own money, this is where it would be
ranked.
The most common asset used to back Fenspace currency is biomass - it's the one thing not easily available in the greater Solar System. Seeds, plants,
animals, soil... even sewage has a high intrinsic worth, especially in the terraforming projects. On
the biomass standard, the several hundred acres the Grover's Corners lifted gives those hardy
pioneers a net worth higher than Hephaestus and Stellvia
put together. The only reason this didn't cause a noticeable economic dislocation was that Operation GREAT JUSTICE began a couple
of weeks after the Grover's Corners launch.
Currency trading on Earth determines the exchange rate between the baseline "solar credit" and major 'Daneside currencies. As of the beginning of
Operation GREAT JUSTICE, the Solar Credit was close enough to parity with the U.S. Dollar to not matter.
Balance transfers between Fenspace banks, or between Fenspace and the 'Danelaw, are handled by bonded AIs that were specially programmed and 'waved to
be as incorruptable as possible.
Physical Currency
There's not much paper money in Fenspace, mainly because the paper is worth more as stock for Martian fertilizer than as money. But like so many other
things these days, money can be reduced to electronic transactions. For practicality if nothing else, Fenspace is a "cashless" society.
Thus, any institution that issues its own currency also issues its own credit card. These vary greatly depending on the issuer - the "Venus Express"
card is valuable in its own right because of the Venusian-diamond inlays in the card, while the Hephaestus
"Steel Credit" routinely sets off metal detectors. (Both are pegged to the Bank of Sol's "solar credit" at a
1:1 exchange rate.) On the other hand, little distinguishes Stellvia's "Visa" cards
(based on the Australian Dollar) from those issued by Earth-side banks.
The credit card has become Fenspace's de facto identification card, since everybody needs to
have one in order to do business with anyone else without resorting to barter. Libertarian and anarchic factions tend to make it easy to obtain cards issued to
"John Smith", "Jiro Yamada", or other cultures' equivalents; other factions tend to require, if not a real name, at least a false name
that isn't blatantly obvious.
-Rob Kelk
"Read Or Die: not so much a title as a way of life." - Justin Palmer, 6 June 2007
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012