Tutorial 13: The Economy (as a single page)
From FiranMUX
| This page includes all the text of the "Economy" Advanced Firan Survival Guide tutorial. It's on one page for ease of searching, reading, or printing. |
Contents |
WARNING! The information contained here is based on the state of the game as of this writing. Since FiranMUX is an evolving game the economy system is, as with everything, subject to change. Odds are the basics will remain the same, but the details may be tweaked. Also, there are things I don't know about the economy systems, and worse yet, things I might be wrong about, so don't put 100% faith in this.
On the subject of code mechanics, rolls are done according to a very slight modification of White Wolf dice rules. Ask around if you don't know how it works, it's a popular dice system. Code mechanics are especially subject to tweaking so what's described may quite possibly be out of date, or else temporarily altered for plot reasons.
| Some general information about the economics system on Firan. | |
| The role of sponsors in Firan, and why you might need one. | |
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Two ways to work 'in the abstract': with EP or with ERP. | |
| How to determine how much things should cost. | |
| The most-used mechanism for buying and selling: the market. | |
| Aside from the market, other places to peddle your goods. | |
| On the subject of debt, loan sharks, and other sundry topics. |
Economy Introduction
The economic system is easier to experience than to read about, I've found, but having a general idea of how things work is good. Here's a list of some relevant help files:
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The general economic system
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EXAMPLE ITEM CREATION
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Economics on FiranMUX is a fully coded, mostly-closed system. The standard currency is in the units of stenis, which are used in the buying and selling of goods and in the paying of wages. Money is important as everything in the game must be bought: food, clothes, housing, baths, messages, jewelry, notable pieces of furniture, whore services (as thematically defined), pantries, childcare costs, and so on.
Items on the game are fully coded. Though some items are assumed to exist, such as standard furnishings in a home, torches lining a street, and so forth, the vast majority of items exist as coded objects that must be created. Instead of describing the clothes you wear, you buy actual clothes objects and wear them, altering your description. Instead of posing that you eat food, you buy or cook actual food objects and eat them, using the coded systems available on the game. The reason these items even exist is that they all interact, in some fashion or another, with various coded systems.
Making items requires raw materials, energy, and the appropriate skill. For a list of all products creatable in the game, use the (very spammy) @products/all command. You can find information about a particular product with the @products command. You'll see mention of the raw materials that are needed, additional tools needed, required skills, and the energy cost, along with the number of finished goods that are produced (which tend to be multiples in the case of items like food, but singular otherwise).
In general all of the coded systems are tightly interrelated. In particular, the energy system, the economic system, and market system are heavily tied together. A good understanding of these systems is useful in understanding how economics work.
Economics and Firan's theme
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THINGS THAT COST MONEY
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Not all characters on Firan should be rich. In fact, some characters on Firan should be downright poor, struggling to make ends meet and relying on friends and charities for help. This is the vision that the creators had when defining the socio-economic aspects of theme, and though this vision is not always present in the game, it's a goal that the wizards strive to achieve.
Nobles should be the economic elite, with valuable land held by their families and enough discretionary income to buy clothes in excess, fine jewelry, fancy mansions, and the like. Some of this income comes from their land holdings. Other income comes sponsoring members of lower classes. Below them are the middle class, hard-working crafters and other generally high esteemed members of the community. Though their life is a comfortable one, they do have to work, sometimes fairly hard, to maintain their lifestyle. Below that are the commoners and then the outcasts, those whose economic lives are a struggle to maintain, who sometimes have to rely on charities for financial help. Such is the theme as defined on Firan.
Enforcing this theme has, historically, led to some unfortunate heartache on the game. Periodically economic changes will be put in place to move the actual state of the game world closer to this reality. Examples in the past include taking money from non-noble characters for various explained reasons, or raising the sponsoring tithe (that is, the amount of money a non-noble selling goods or services must pay their sponsor) from 5, to 25, to 75 percent.
Inevitably after such a change it takes a while for things to economically sort themselves out, and a new balance to be worked out. Some players panic during these transitions, because it's not always clear at first how exactly things will work out in response. Though it's natural that those affected by the latest changes might feel upset at having what they've gained "taken away", it's best to remember that the changes are made with the purpose of moving the game world closer in line with the theme, not to punish certain groups.
There are characters who are better off economically than others. If you find that you, as a player, are just not having much fun playing the character you chose because of the current economic situation, you can always ask around to find recommendations on a new character. In general, the nobles on the game will be more financially with less work involved, while the lower classes will be less financially secure with more work involved.
Large scale economics
There is an entire system of clan-level economics, encompassed in the @clan system. This system is what controls the wants and needs of a clan on a seasonal basis, allowing clans to trade amongst themselves while producing goods of their own. Also included in this system are clan accounts, funding improvements, sabotaging other clans, and many other things. It's not described in detail here as it's primarily of use only by political leaders, such as clan leaders, proxies, and their ministers. Of potential interest to players, however, is the fact that if a clan's needs are not met for a season (defined in game terms as 6 IC months), riots will likely erupt. Such has happened in the past, most notably with the Hydran clan following their exodus, and the Cockatrice clan following a poor trading season.
Sponsors
Sponsoring is the process by which a character of a higher social class gives support to a member of a lower social class. Most commonly, sponsorships are performed by nobles, as this gives not only social but also economic advantages to the sponsoree. Nobles are limited in the numbers of sponsorees they can have at any point in time, typically between 3 and 5, dependent on their social stats. It's possible for non-nobles to sponsor those of a lesser class as well. For example, a middle class person may sponsor a commoner class person. An example of this might be a craftsman sponsoring their apprentice. In this case, however, the economic benefits of a noble sponsorship are not attained.
In order for middle class, commoner, and outcast characters to sell their goods or labor, they must have a noble sponsor. This is one of the federal laws of the Republic and is outlined in news federal laws3. There are relatively few things a non-noble character to do to gain money without having a sponsor. One of them is steady employment through the hire command or military enlistment. Such regular wages do not require a sponsor to earn and, if the character has a sponsor, are not subject to any fees. Unsponsored non-nobles can earn regular income from owning land. They can participate in most (but not all) competitions within the city, and earn stenis in prize monies.
All other forms of earning money require that a non-noble citizen have a noble class sponsor. This includes, but is not strictly limited, to:
- Selling goods (crafted or raw materials) to the market
- Selling ERP (labor)
- Performing services that are paid for outside of the hire code (entertainers, midwives, whores, etc.)
- Selling goods at the auction
- Selling goods to other PCs, including merchants
By law, a 75% sponsor fee on income earned must be paid to one's noble sponsor. For those selling goods, this fee is on the price of the good sold, not the profit derived. This fee applies to almost any income that requires a sponsor to earn (i.e., selling goods or services), but not to other means of obtaining money that do not require a sponsor (i.e., steady employment or prize winnings) unless stipulated in the sponsorship agreement. Failure to pay sponsorship fees will result in legal action for regulation violations, if caught. It can also seriously annoy your sponsor. However, there will be some characters who do not pay fees because it's 'in character' for them to break the law. Still others might sell goods and services without a sponsor at all. Most characters, however, will tend to be law-abiding citizens in this respect, unless implied otherwise on their character sheet.
Nobles do not require sponsor to sell their goods. However, society dictates that nobles only deal in goods befitting of their elevated station. Nobles can sell farm goods, alcohol, and weapons to the market, but no other items whatsoever. Though they can sell such items to other PCs it is looked upon disfavorably, and there will likely be social consequences if such transactions fall under public notice.
How do nobles make money then? One way is through the sponsorship fees paid by those they sponsor. Land income is another source, as is money from farming the land. They can win prize money. They may be employed in the military or by their clan, as a minister or some other official. They can have their sponsorees sell items for them, though this is typically nothing too blatant. Finally, they might simply sell goods they're interested in selling to PCs, and risk whatever social consequences might come of them. Selling horses, for example, might be something with no social repercussions, as horse breeding is a more noble appropriate pasttime. Mining gems to sell may simply look crass when done by a noble.
With sponsorship fees on the rise, trading is another way for the lower class to deal in goods and services. For example, if your character is a carpenter you might agree to made a chest for your friend, if they in turn make a new tunic and boots for you. No money would change hands, as only goods would be exchanged. How do sponsors figure into such transactions? In general, people who trade tend not to pay any fees, as no money changes hand. Is this legal? Well, no one has been charged with regulation violation for trading, but it's a matter that's not been challenged in court as yet. Best advice is to review the current federal laws (news federal laws), or consult a lawyer, or ask your sponsor, and then handle it how seems best for your character.
Working: ERP vs EP
If you want to, you can do general labor in exchange for money by selling energy. When you do this, it's either in a day-to-day hired job (selling EPs) or as a one-shot business transaction (selling ERPs). The latter requires a sponsor; the former doesn't. Whether or not you RP anything related to the various forms of employment and labor is between you and the other party.
Buying and selling ERPs
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ERPS AND THE MARKET |
As Firan is a closed economy system, and energy or labor (in the form of ERPs) is needed to create things, energy becomes a commodity much as any raw material might be. Certain vocations like farmers and craftsmen can turn ERP into enormous profits through their work. In the case of farmers, land will lie wasted in a season if they can't get the ERP to farm. Thus, there's a market for ERP.
ERP is often bought and traded on the Classified board, and the price can vary. Clans may also buy ERP from its citizens to work on projects within their districts. By searching the Classified board you can get a ballpark figure for ERP, and you can use the board to advertise either ERP for sale or ERP needed. ERP is granted to another person via the assist command, and stenis are paid out through either the pay command or by sending them via messenger.
What ERP means in an IC sense is fuzzy. It represents work done, though this work may be in farming a field, or making perfumes, it depends on who is buying it. Sometimes it is assumed that the person selling ERP is supplying laborers from their work force. This is a convenient assumption for those who might plausibly have laborers, such as nobles or middle class folks. In other cases it's assumed that the person selling the ERP is doing odd jobs off screen, allowing the purchaser time and energy to concentrate on their trade. Sometimes it's just left vague. On rare occasions you might find some RP over selling or buying ERP but usually this isn't the case.
In short, buying ERP can be useful for farmers and other people with labor intensive needs, especially if they can convert ERP into more money than they paid for it. Selling ERP can provide for some quick cash, and is especially useful for those in trades where they're having a hard time making ends meet through their craft (as is sometimes the case with auctioneers, merchants, or ropemakers, as a few examples). Remember, however, that you must have a sponsor to sell ERP if you're not a noble, and that you must pay sponsorship fees on what you earn.
Employment
Employment represents daily work done for one's employer. The hire command is used to employ a person for a certain number of 'work units' (sometimes 0) at a certain number of stenis per day. What these work units represent is somewhat nebulous, but in general an average job is 4 units of work per day. Some people may work two, three, or even more jobs, of varying degrees of involvement, but it's best to keep in mind just how much one is doing and whether or not it's feasible to actually keep up with.
When a person is hired they lose a certain number of EPs daily at 6:05 pm IC. These EPs are converted to ERPs and give to their employer. In return, money from the employer's inventory is given to their employer. If the employee has no EPs then ERPs are taken; if they have no ERPs, then they do no work that day and receive no pay. Similarly, if an employer doesn't have enough money to pay their employee then no energy is transferred and no stenis paid out. If either of these two conditions persist for too long, the employment may be terminated via the code. In any event an @mail notification is sent out alerting the other involved party of the fact.
You can choose to end someone's employment through either the resign command (if you're the employee) or the fire command (if you're the employer). A @mail notification will be sent out. You can also hire yourself out to an NPC for the day with the work command. This draws from EPs, but pays at a very poor rate. If you're going to be away from the game for an extended period of time staff may use the @hiatus command on you, but this is generally only in a case where you're set on vacation and have your character offscreen for an extended period of time as well.
Employment can be arranged through IC means, via word of mouth or the like, or it can be advertised on the Classifieds boards. In general it should be easy to find employment as people are often interested in obtaining ERPs from it. You just need to negotiate over a price or what it is you're doing. Clans, temples, and the Republic itself hires people in positions such as guards or soldiers or priests. Often a person's employment can be a source of roleplay.
In the past, hired employees have most often performed as servants or assistants of some sort, performing services that did not involve the creation of coded objects. As such, crafters tended to work purely on commission, and hiring employees was a service-oriented industry. One exception was in the hiring of cooks, who would be expected to purchase supplies and supply actual coded food objects for the family in return. More recently, noble families have been hiring crafters such as tailors or carpenters to serve their family as hired help, not on commission. The details of the contract will vary based on a number of factors: whether the crafter supplies their own raw materials, how much they are expected to produce, whether room and board are included, and so forth. One advantage for crafters in hiring on with a family is that steady income that comes from the employment is not subject to sponsor fees, and does not require a noble sponsor to accept.
The Value of Things
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EXAMPLE: PRICING A TUNIC
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Some of the first questions new players have center around how much things 'should' cost, and how much they 'should' charge for goods or services performed. The answer is maddeningly vague: it depends.
Tangible items
Things tend to cost as much as people will pay, and people tend to charge as much as they can get. At least, frugal businessmen do. When a player creates an item they need to, after their sponsorship fees, recover the costs of supplies and make a modest profit for themselves (though the exact definition of "modest profit" is always up for debate).
That said, for tangible goods on the game there's a rough set of values tied into the market system. These values can rise and fall over time, though historically speaking they're reasonably stable. Someone with the economics skill can use the value command to determine the market value of a particular good, assumed to be of generic design and of average quality. You'll generally need to specify the plural of whatever you're trying to get the value of (that is, 'value linen tunics' as opposed to 'value linen tunic'), and you may have to use the command multiple times to get an accurate guess. This value tends to be about what the market will charge for one of those items, if available, and about what it will pay as well, if it has money. See the market section for a more complete explanation of how the market system works, however.
Though the value command makes for a good basis, it's not necessarily the price you will use when selling to, or buying from, PCs. Historically, the 'market value' of goods has been too low, leading to a problem where selling things to the market would actually lose a person money, after they paid their sponsorship fees. Sometime in 2005 the market values were all redone, and they're now much more accurate. However, there are still certain fluctuations when it comes to selling to PCs.
For example, if the market is perpetually out of a certain type of good, as is often the case with various herbs or luxury items such as silk cloth, their cost when sold by PCs will rise accordingly. This is true also of items that the market never sells, such as certain iron goods. Food sold in inns are automatically raised in price for operating expenses. Higher quality crafted objects will sell for more than poorly crafted items. Also, customized goods cost more than generic ones. For example, consider a linen tunic. One could buy a tunic at the market and it would have a standard name and description. Purchasing one from a tailor or store would give it a customized name and description, though at a higher cost. Again, it's what the market will bear, how much a crafter needs to charge to recover the costs of supplies, and how much people will pay.
Another command for determining the worth of an item, along with various other information, is the appraise command. There's a number of appraisal skills and you need to have the relevant one for appraising a particular item. This command takes into account customization, quality of the work, ornamentation, and so forth. It is, however, still just an estimate, and may or may not related to the actual price that is agreed upon for the item.
Housing
Housing costs are reasonably fixed. The rent command will always tell you how much you'll pay in rent before you agree to it, and the price is fixed. The same is true for renting rooms. Renting houses from a PC is more prone to price vagaries, though it's also a rarer occurrence. Building houses (assuming one has land) are done at fairly predictable costs as described under help construction index.
Land
Personally owned land is a somewhat rare commodity. Most noble families own a combine total of 10 plots or more of land, though neonoble families may own fewer. Additionally, some middle class characters own land. The value of land is somewhere in the 15-20 million steni range (as of 2005 land auctions) but, as land is very very rarely bought and sold, the price is somewhat irrelevant.
Labor
Labor, or ERP, is another commodity where the value is really what the market will bare. Though you can buy and sell labor at the market it's generally not a good idea and is seldom done. More common is buying ERP from other PCs. To get an idea of the current going rate for labor take a look at the Classifieds bulletin board and see what people are offering to buy or sell at. As of early 2006, it was about 100 stenis per ERP. See the section on buying and selling ERP for more details.
Employment
Where labor comes from ERP, daily employment has energy drawn from EPs. There is a coded system using the hire command for employing PCs. Wages can very, but you'll often be paid less per EP then you would selling ERPs on the open market. Asking around can give you ballpark figures though wages tend to vary widely. See the section on employment for more details.
Services
Services are an area of extreme price fluctuation. Things like hired whores, catering for an event, performers for an event, and the like fall under this category. Really, your best bet here is to ask around to see what the current going rate on these things are.
The Market
Just about anything is theoretically for sale at the market, and you can use the for sale command to find out exactly what's for sale and then the buy from market command to purchase it. The price can vary from day to day, according to supply and demand, but in practice it tends to remain reasonably constant. Just because something is listed for sale, however, doesn't mean that it's always available. Some items, such as herbs or silk cloth or iron ingots, are scarce and tend to sell out quickly when available. When you buy something from the market sometimes you have to specify the commodity in the plural form, even if you only want one of them. There are some things from the market (like infertility potions or poisons) that could generate coded gossip or an @witness if you're spotted by NPC merchants buying them.
How much you're charged for an item depends on its current general value (for which you can look at the value command, plus the market sales tax) along with your skill in negotiation. Someone without the negotiation skill will generally pay a bit more than market practice for everything. Someone with the skill makes a skill check based on their negotation and allure and, depending on how well they do, may see the price raise or lower. In general the price will range from 85% to 125% of its actual cost, depending on the success of the roll. This is why you see people sometimes attempt to buy things multiple times before they accept a price.
Whenever you attempt to buy something at the market, you lose 1 ERP. Also, if you're making the attempt at night when the market is closed, you lose 5 social points. This is true regardless of whether or not you actually make a purchase. For this reason, it's often more cost effective to buy items in bulk and store them, as opposed to spending multiple ERPs every day to buy what you need.
If you do decide to purchase something at the market you must have the stenis to pay for it in your inventory. The cost will be deducted, and a few seconds later the item will appear in the room. At this point you can carry it home. If the item weighs more than you can carry you have a few choices:
- You can spend ERP if it's under your max carry weight.
- You can ask a stronger PC to move it for you.
- You can ask on the Help channel for an @delivery. This will move a heavy item into your inventory, but it may cost a lot of money. You'll have the option to decline to do this once you see the price, if you choose.
- If you have a cart or wagon, you can
loadit into the wagon for a certain number of ERPs. - If it's a separatable item, you can separate things out into a load small enough to carry, then come back for the rest. Usually you can leave something in the market for a short while, and come back to find it still there. It is, however, possible that someone might steal it while you're gone. This is an IC act and if a thief does this, you can take IC actions against them.
Selling to the market
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THINGS THE MARKET WON'T BUY
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You can sell just about anything within reason to the market if you're not a noble, but you need to have a noble sponsor (see the sponsor help file for details). Nobles, however, are permitted to sell only limited types of goods to the market; selling things like a common merchant or craftsman is considered to be beneath them. Some of the things nobles can sell include farm goods, wines, and certain luxury items. It's best to check on the Nobles channel for current limitations. Also, nobles can arrange for others to sell their goods, though there are social implications and pitfalls here so it's best to exercise caution. You can't sell unfinished crafted goods to the market, and you can't sell something back that was recently purchased at the market.
How much you get paid for an item depends on a number of things, including the current market price for the item, its quality, whether or not it has any customization (as is often the case within things like crafted goods), the current market sales tax, and your skill in negotiation. The market price fluctuates depending on how well stocked it is, so if someone just sold 100 bronze swords to the market, odds are good yours won't go for as much. If something is a container, like a barrel or chest, you may or may not also get paid proportionally for its contents as well. For quality, sales tax, and customization there is a fixed multiplier, but your negotiation skill modifies the selling price based off an @check. This is why you may see people trying to sell something to the market multiple times before they accept the price.
If your chracter isn't noble, they will need to pay 75% of what they're paid by the market to their sponsor. Therefore, it's best to do a little quick math and make sure that what you have left doesn't put you at an economic loss. For example, if you spent 500 stenis buying supplies to make something, and sold it for 1000 stenis, you would only get to keep to 250 stenis after sponsorship fees. Since your profit is less than the cost of supplies, you would lose money on the deal. In that case, you are best off selling the item at a higher price to a PC, or perhaps trading it for something of worth.
The market has a fixed amount of money it can spend buying things. Sometimes the market is simply out of stenis, and no NPC merchant will buy your goods. In this case you'll either need to sell it through some other means, or wait for another day. Note that this is strictly based on value of the goods, and has nothing to do with whether or not there's heavy or light demand for the item.
As with buying, you can only sell during daylight hours unless you have the streetwise skill. You must have the item you wish to sell either in the room, in your inventory, or in a nearby cart or wagon to sell it. Use the sell to market command to sell something to the market. If it's done at night 5 social points are deducated. After you sell an item it will disappear, and the stenis will be added to your inventory. Certain expensive items, such as gems, can be separated into smaller pieces to sell in the event that the market doesn't have enough stenis to purchase them. See the separate command for details.
Generic items sold to the market go into a holding pool, helping to populate available merchandise. Customized object go to one of the shops in the city to be bought at markup by PCs. Clothing goes to Jalon's Merchantile, jewelry goes to Emadissha's Jewelry Shop, food goes to Linosius' Grocery Store, and everything else goes to Thalon's Trinkets. See the section on shops for more details.
Other Places to Sell
Aside from the market, there are a number of other places where you can peddle your goods on Firan.
Selling to PCs
Other PCs represent another potential market for goods on the game. In general you should have a noble sponsor to sell to other PCs (though PCs are likely to be less dilligent in checking than the market merchants are). You can advertise either goods for sales, or goods needed, on the Classifieds bulletin board, or via the @republic command.
PCs are most often interested in buying customized goods (such as clothing or carpentry goods or jewelry), items that the market is scarce in (like cloths or herbs), items the market does sell (like products with 'iron' in their name), or items of question legality or morality (such as poisons or infertility potions). Brewers might sell lesser quality wine for cooking purposes. Any sort of good can be sold, and some people might hire cooks or brewers to cater parties for a certain fee. Also, PCs might buy expensive items when the market is low in stenis. Sometimes you may have to sell at less than market cost, but if you have 200,000 stenis of perfume and can't get them sold to the market, a PC buyer may be just what you need.
Bartering is generally accepted in sales between PCs. Tipping may or may not be done; do whatever is IC for you character. Sometimes you sell for stenis, and sometimes you trade for other goods. Though selling to PCs works exceptionally well for customized goods, it doesn't always work so well for non-customized goods. The problem lies in the fact that a seller skilled at negotiation can sell an item to the market for more than a buyer skilled at negotiation can buy it. This gulf only increases with the quality of the good sold. A little give and take is needed to make some sales.
It's possible to set up NPC shopkeepers to sell goods for a private shop or business. Once requested, such shopkeepers earn 500 stenis a day in pay, but will both manage the selling of good and guard what they sell. See help shopkeeper for more details.
Personal shops
If you want to sell to PCs personally, but don't want to miss sales from being offline, you can set up a shop to sell your goods. First, you'll need a public location (typically a store) to locate your shopkeeper. Then, you hire the shopkeeper for 500 stenis per day; see the help shopkeepers command for information on this. Next, give the shopkeeper the items you wish to sell and set the prices; the help shopkeeper commands file explains how to do this. Finally, profit!
Shopkeepers are fairly expensive to pay, and though they'll watch over the goods they're assigned to sell, protecting them from theft, they will not watch over other items in the room. Some clans might have communal shops established to cut down on the price of shopkeepers. Currently it is up to the individual to advertise their store.
Selling to clans
As part of the larger macroeconomic aspect of the game, each of the clans have their own sets of needs and wants in order to keep their citizens happy and content. One of the ways these needs and wants can be met is by buying goods from PCs. As clans need huge quantities of goods, they're almost always in a position to buy, and typically at a fair market price. It's more than possible to sell tens of thousands of eggs, meat, flax, lumber, and so forth to the various clans, all without dealing with the market and its taxes. Note that, however, you will still need a sponsor if your character is a non-noble!
Sometimes clans advertise internally that they are interested in buying certain goods. The clan/info <clan name> command can be used to see what a particular clan needs, and where its shortfalls are. This can be considered IC knowledge if your character is likely to know that sort of information (for example, if they're a merchant or someone with a high negotiation or economics skill). Trade representatives are responsible for clan trading and purchases. Typically the proxies of a clan can make purchases, along with designated clan traders who may or may not show up on the @leaders list for a clan. If in doubt, send a message to one of the clan officials to see.
The auction system
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AUCTION HOUSE LOCATIONS
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There are a number of auction houses in Anarinuell, each specializing in certain types of goods. In order to use the auction houses you have to physically visit them, though you can monitor ongoing auctions through the @auctions command. Auctions are managed by the auction house owner, via coded systems (see help auction system for code details).
To sell something, take your item to the appropriate auction house. There are a number of commands used to put your item up for sale, set starting and end dates, set minimum bids and raises, and so forth. You may wish to advertise to the Classifieds board as well. After that, sit back and wait. If no one has bid on the auction you can choose to end it and get your item back, free of charge. Otherwise, the auction ends at the specified time. If no one has bid you have to pay an auction fee to get your item back. Otherwise, both parties get notified and, once the buyer has gone to the auction house to make payment, the seller gets credited the stenis due minus the auction fee. (If the buyer never pays you may have to track them down, or involve the auction house owner or even the guards.)
To buy something, you need to go in person to the auction house and make your bid. There is no system for proxy bidding, and you don't get notified if you're outbid, so pay close attention to the auction. Items for sale are located in the auction block and can be both visually inspected (look block's <item>) and appraised (appraise/contents block's <item>). If you win the auction you'll receive a message to that effect. You then need to go back to the auction block and pay for the item, at which point you can carry it home. Deadbeats may get tracked down by the seller. It's really best to remember to pay because, if you don't, the seller can never reclaim the item and doesn't get paid to compensate for it. Plus it's against the law not to.
Automated shops and inns
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PALACE DISTRICT SHOPS AND INNS
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Some palace district shops or NPC shopkeepers allow you to buy customized goods via automatic code mechanisms. These shops include Jhalon's Merchantile, Thalon's Trinkets, the jewelry shop, and the grocer's shop. Inside these stores you can see lists of items for sale, and inspect them (and possibly appraise them) before purchase. The items are stored in the inventory of the NPC shopkeeper selling them. When you go to purchase an item the price is non-negotiable and not affected by the negotiation skill.
Items in the shops were created by PC merchants, who later sold them to the market. They're usually customized goods, though of various coded quality and various quality in terms of the description. Sometimes people will sell 'mistakes' to the market, so make sure you inspect the description before you buy it. Jhalon's is pretty popular for clothes, armor, and shoes, while Thalon's Trinkets has a hodgepodge of items at a mix of qualities, including some odd things that really should never end up there. (An 8000 steni pheasant corpse is among the odder things that have been on sale there.) The jewelry shop sees less traffic, and the grocer's shop is seldom populated and, if it is, a waste of time and stenis as the food is super expensive.
Inns and taverns sell food at a markup, off a fixed menu. This menu varies from location to location, and there is also a markup on the items (which also varies depending on the establishment). To see what's on the menu, use the menu command; to order something use the order <item> command and the item will be placed in the room when delivered. The inn keeper will greet arriving persons differently depending on their social class and general friendliness to the person. Outcasts will find themselves evicted from most business inside the city walls, though you can work around this via roleplay if it makes IC sense (for example, during a public celebration or if the outcast is accompanied by someone more respectable to vouch for them). During IC festivals the taverns will all be shut down, to promote festival attendance.
Debt
Just as their are some characters on the game who become very, very rich, there are others who become very, very poor -- so poor, in fact, that they might end up in debt thousands upon thousands of stenis. In general, it is the lower social classes -- commoners and outcasts -- who incur occasional debt, but just as in real life the middle class and even nobles are not immune. It is, however, extremely rare for a member of nobility to be in debt.
A character is considered in debt (for the sake of coded purposes) when the stenis in their steni inventory (seen through use of the inventory command) is a negative amount. It is, therefore, possible to owe money without technically being 'in debt' in this sense, such as what happens when fines are owed or money has been borrowed from other PCs and needs to be repaid.
It's also possible for a character to be, according to the code at least, in debt when they in actuality have money in one of their bank accounts. This happens when a fee or tax is automatically deducted and their steni inventory temporarily goes negative. If there's money in the bank, such a debt is easy to fix: simply go to the bank and withdraw enough funds to cover it. (And to prevent this from happening in the first place, you can set up an overdraft bank account, by looking at the sign in the bank for instructions.) In other cases, things are a bit tricker.
The news file on debt (news debt) explains a little about being in debt, and ways to get out of it. If you find yourself in debt, especially when taking a new character off the roster, you're advised to read that series of files for advice and suggestions. Anyone who is considered by the code to be in debt is subject to regular social point hits every week. Also, they can't use the bath house, they can't use messengers, and they can't buy things from the market or NPC shopkeepers.
Being in debt isn't the end of the world. There are ways out of it, and some characters are simply designed to struggle financial. And if worse comes to worse? When you're able to take an alt, you can always look for someone who's rich!
The bank and moneylenders
The main bank of Anarinuell is inside the palace district. You can open up multiple accounts, for a 50 steni fee per account. Multiple people can be included on an account, giving them full access to depositing and withdrawing money. There is no fee for depositing and withdrawing money, and no interest earned. Typical uses of bank accounts are for personal funds, charity funds, family funds, sponsorship funds, and so forth.
PC moneylenders can supply loans for negotiable fees. They're not often used but they are available. Family members may also make loans to persons in need. Banks do not themselves provide loans.
Gambling
Need money in a hurry? Feeling lucky? Gambling might be just your thing! Gambling is legal in Firan for everyone but the Hydrans, and happens in a number of different venues. The Opening Gambit is a gaming establishment with various coded games, such as the roulette wheel, to play. Down at the Sailor's Nook, cockfights are occasionally held. And there are bookies to take bets on sporting events and, well, pretty much anything you can dream up, if they're motivated to do so. Just remember, there's a reason bookies and roulette wheels exist, and it's not typically to make a profit for the people betting. But hey, someone has to get lucky, right?
