[edit: this is mostly the same thing, though I've pulled the lists together to organize the information better.]
Economic Level (EL)
Economic Level is related to Social Level, but they can change independently. See the chart on p. 75. Moderately Rich characters and those better off must also maintain a household appropriate to their station. Refer to the chart on 329. When a character is created, they are automatically at the Low end of their income for their Social Level. Maintaining their economic level requires spending 2 week’s income each month on basic living expenses (transportation within London, food & clothing) and a primary residence.
- SL 1 corresponds to Desperate
EL 1 Low
Weekly Income: 7p
EL 2 Moderate
Weekly Income: 3s
EL 3 Well Off
Weekly Income: 7s
SL 2 corresponds to Poor
EL 4 Low
Weekly Income: 8s
EL 5 Moderate
Weekly Income: 12s
EL 6 Well Off
Weekly Income: 17s
SL 3 corresponds to Middle Class
EL 7 Low
Weekly Income: £1
EL 8 Moderate
Weekly Income: £1/8
EL 9 Well Off
Weekly Income: £2/2- Household: Minimum 1 servant, riding horse or horse & carriage, £1 per month.
EL 10 Low
Weekly Income: £3- Household: Minimum 2 servants, horse & carriage, £1/10 per month.
Weekly Income: £8- Household: Minimum 3 servants, horse & carriage, £3 per month.
Weekly Income: £21- Household: Minimum 4 servants, riding horse, horse & carriage, £3/10 per month.
EL 13 Low
Weekly Income: £55- Household: Minimum 6 servants, riding horse, horse & carriage, £5/10 per month.
Weekly Income: £144- Household: Minimum 24 servants, riding horse, horse & carriage, £30 per month.
Weekly Income: £377- Household: Minimum 40 servants, horse & carriage £42 per month, Country estate with riding horse & horse & carriage £5/10 per month. Total: £47/10 per month.
- Household: Country estate with riding horse & horse & carriage £5/10 per month and 24 servants at £3 per month. Country estates may be adjacent, essentially one huge property, or in different parts of the country. Total: £56 per month)
A character is considered to have on hand no more than 1 week’s income. Additional moneys are tied up in lockboxes, hidey-holes, accounts and debts and favors owed. The player should still record any savings he or she has. To purchase any one thing totaling more than 1 week’s income requires the character to tap his or her network, contact the bank and accountant, and reallocate resources. This process takes 1 day per social level. So at SL 1, the character might take a day to gather all her resources to buy a guard dog. If the character maintains a household, a servant will handle the details so that the character can do other things, but it will still take the time.
With no other considerations and living like a monk, a character can sock away 2 weeks’ income each month. In practice, people indulge in occasional well-deserved luxuries, develop bad habits, get sick, and have personal emergencies. PCs live exciting lives, and while they may indeed find their fortune, their path is rarely straight or smooth. And characters that accumulate too much wealth find themselves the targets of thieves and rivals, should they become complacent.
Social Obligations
Each character has certain social obligations that come with maintaining appearances. It may be a funeral, christening, wedding, ball, charity meeting, or making appearances at the salon. The player and GM can work together to determine what they will be, or the GM may roll 1d12 to determine in which month certain events occur, or even write them into the narrative. In general each character will have one significant event per Social Level per year. Preparing for each event will cost 1d4 weeks worth of income to provide for suitable clothing, gifts, donations, and the like. Missing one will result in a Minor Scandal; missing all of them will result in a Moderate Scandal. This does mean that at Social Level 1 missing your event is automatically a Moderate Scandal.
Increasing Economic Level
To move up an Economic Level, the character must establish themselves for a number of months. They must spend the equivalent of 2 week’s income of the desired EL each month for a number of months equal to the Social Level of the EL. For example, Rich corresponds to Social Level 4, so that would be 4 months, whether Economic Level 9, 10, or 11. Furthermore, if the desired level requires maintaining a Household, the character must have enough money saved or borrowed to hire all the help for an entire year, although the help will be paid monthly (and can be negotiated with each servant, which can adjust the actual monthly expense). Once the character has established him or herself, the character’s income goes up to match the new EL.
Increasing Social Level
In order to increase Social Level, the character must earn Reputation in the next Social Level and be of a certain Economic Level.
The Rank of the character’s Reputation must be at least equal to the desired Social Level. So to rise to SL 5, the character must already be SL 4 and must earn Reputation (Social Level 5) rank 5.
The character’s Economic Level must be the at least the minimum for the desired Social Level.
- Economic Level 4 for Social Level 2,
Economic Level 7 for Social Level 3,
Economic Level 9 for Social Level 4, and
Economic Level 13 for Social Level 5
If a character isn’t able to maintain the living expenses, the character may drop in Economic Level, and the resulting Scandal may drop the character’s Social Level as well.
Grace Period
Failing to make The character has a grace period equal to his or her Social Level in months. If the character can’t make the living expenses for any month during the grace period, the character automatically drops an EL. The grace period is done, and the character must maintain the new EL as normal on his or her new lower income.
- Not being able to meet one’s expenses is for a month is a Minor Scandal.
Dropping an Economic Level is a Moderate Scandal.
Not maintaining the minimum Economic Level for your social level is a Severe Scandal.
If the character cannot maintain the household, servants will resign. Not being able to maintain one’s Household is a typically a Minor Scandal. Similar to missing living expenses for a month, the character has a grace period equal to his or her Social Level in months. If the character runs short again during any month of the grace period, or if the missing salaries are not paid within that grace period much of the staff will resign. This is a Moderate Scandal. The Household will shrink to the next smallest size. The character has a second grace period equal to his or her Social Level in months to rehire staff. If not successful, the character suffers permanent loss to his or her Economic Level.