Banking in Barsaive

Discussion on playing Earthdawn. Experiences, stories, and questions related to being a player.
Slimcreeper
Posts:1061
Joined:Mon Nov 28, 2016 11:44 pm
Re: Banking in Barsaive

Post by Slimcreeper » Mon Sep 24, 2018 1:14 am

I was thinking of this today! I wrote:

Moneychangers and Merchant Bankers
It isn’t always wise to travel with large amounts of coin, or the wrong kind of coin for the realm. Moneychangers charge 5% to change from one money to another. They will also store coin for a fee of 5%. A few recognized Merchant Houses from Throal have offices in the larger Barsaivian cities will offer a Bill of Exchange. For a fee of 10%, a Bill of Exchange can be purchased that can be exchanged for the local coin once the customer arrives in the city.

I don't know that it is the final version, but is a version.

Bonhumm
Posts:435
Joined:Wed Oct 11, 2017 9:43 pm
Location:Right behind you

Re: Banking in Barsaive

Post by Bonhumm » Tue Sep 25, 2018 1:39 am

I was also thinking of another aspect of banking that would be warped in Earthdawn (and therefore also in Shadowrun) compared to our world.


How would banks deal with the enormous difference in life expectancy between races? In Earthdawn the only effect would probably be whether they would accept a long term loan from someone (20 years loan on that elf? sure! Same for an orc? Hell no, he'll be dead before I'm paid back).

In a more advanced settings (like Shadowrun) it would be even more pervasive: how do you set a retirement plan for someone who can live 300 years? Or just (at best) 40? Where do you set retirement age? Elves would get an enormous advantages on long term investment (so would dragons, if they could manage not to get assassinated).

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