Currency
Life in the Inner Sphere during the Blackout (excerpt taken from Sandhurst Academy, Terra)
Currencies
The topic of currencies and economics is one that is often addressed in some basic form during every school child’s educational instruction. Still, a refresher course is often necessary to jog those nubile young minds of yours and to help shake the cobwebs free from your brains. Upon graduation many of you will take your place out among the stars. Knowing how to buy a cup of coffee might come in handy and one day it might even save your life.
The Germanium Standard
The Star League currency was based on the Germanium standard. Germanium, as a superconductor, medicinal remedy, and a primary ingredient in early K-F Jump Drives, was and is a valued rarity. Similar to ancient gold standards (rendered obsolete on an Intersellar scale by the proliferation of gold sources), a Star League bill could theoretically be exchanged for a given amount of Germanium. This was just in theory of course. No member-state or individual actually attempted an exchange.
The Amaris Coup ruined the Star League’s integrated economy and currency exchange. The Usurper sacked mints, raided Star League Germanium depots in the Hegemony and generally just ruined a very good system of commerce. By the beginning of the First Succession War, each House was printing their own version of currency, backed by their own supplies of Germanium.
At first, the Germanium standard was universally followed. Later, as the devastation of the First Succession War wore on, Houses that were still capable, abandoned the Germanium standard. This was due in part to a dwindling stockpile of the resource, but also because the House economies were so wrecked, inflation skyrocketed. Soon, House bills were backed by water supplies and other resources, but it is more realistic to say that the value of these bills fluctuates with the fortunes of the backing House.
After the Blackout, House bills often varied not just by the currency’s backer, but by the script producer. With so many new interstellar nations coming into existence during the 30th century, the number of currencies available skyrocketed, if used at all.
Planetary Currencies
Individual planets often print their own currency for local use. Some developed planets are stable enough to be able to print notes against the good faith and credit of their local governments or ruling noble house. Most, however, back their bills with some local resource in order to give their script some off world legitimacy. Typically, though, local script is referred to derisively as "toilet paper" and such. Several planets refuse to accept off world currency in day to day dealings, and often the planet profits from the forced conversion to local script.
Trading and speculation on currency is usually a fairly unstable affair. Still, an aggressive individual can make a profit off of those wide fluctuations, but such a volatile market carries extreme risk. The cautious investor diversifies his assets between various currencies, or in valued resources and commodities.
ComStar Bills
The most commonly accepted currency in the Inner Sphere by far is our Comstar Bill (symbol: CB or C-Bill). While large nation or House currencies are based on the good faith and credit of the ruling House, the C-Bill is based on the cost of a 1 millisecond Hyperpulse Generator message (approximately 2 pages of text or 1 small picture.) Decimal amounts are used in electronic transfers, stock prices, banking and other economic transactions. Even with the fall of the HPG network, the C-Bill standard is still imposed by the corporation. We simply use JumpShips instead of HPGs to transport messages.
Coins exist, called demis, and before the blackout were found only on ComStar administered worlds, like Terra. Since the blackout however, physical currency is now the standard and ComStar bills are found throughout the Inner Sphere as the medium of off world trade and exchange - especially on poor independent worlds. Most change is handled in local currency. Paper notes are printed on Terra using a hard wearing but flexible plastic. They come in 1, 5, 10, 50, and 100 C-Bill notes. The bills depict the ComStar symbol and pictures of various monuments on Terra. Almost 32% of all currency in circulation in the Inner Sphere is found in C-Bills.
The Eagle
For all its internal divisions the former Free Worlds League had always had a strong economy. Its currency, once known as the eagle (symbol: E or M-bill), reflected this. Since the collapse of the HPG network only the Marik Commonwealth continues to use the old currency whereas other proto-League nations of the once mighty Free Worlds League print their own local variant of the original currency. Though other denominations exist, the most common coins of the M-Bill include 1, 5, 10 and 25 cent pieces (usually copper alloy) and 50 cent and 1 eagle pieces (silver alloy). The most common notes are 1, 5, 10 and 20 eagle bills – though denominations up to 1 million eagles do exist (most of these were printed during the height of the First Succession War when M-Bills were worth less than the cost of the note’s actual physical material.)
The Yuan
The Capellan yuan (symbol: Y or L-bill) is still used by the fractured Capellan Confederation, St. Ives Compact and even in the tumultuous Warrior Fiefdoms. Even the Wei Collective has been known to dabble in the printing of L-Bills, ostensibly to under cut the already weakened value of their hated neighbors. Only the Sarna Commonality produces a different, local type of currency. Each ex-Capellan state produces their version of the yuan and refuses to accept any other. As a result, C-Bills and hard commodities feature prominently in what little off world trading that does occur in Capellan space.
Coins dominate the convoluted Capellan-inspired monetary system. Each yuan is divided into 10 jiao and each jiao into 10 fen. Coins exist in 1, 2 and 5 fen denominations (copper alloy); 1, 2 and 5 jiao (silver alloy); and 1, 5, 10 and 50 yuan denominations (gold alloy). All Capellan coins have a hole bored through the center, allowing them to be carried on money strings. Notes also exist in 10, 50, 100 and 1,000 yuan denominations, but they are considerably less common than coins. Bank notes are virtually non-existent in the Warrior Fiefdoms. Depending on the area of space trade is either conducted in barter or through coin exchange. Very few of the area’s warlords care to foster a market system of any type and simply take what they need from their peasant castes.
The Pound
The Federated Suns continues to use the pound (symbol: £ or D-bill). Each pound is subdivided into 100 pence, through some Francophone regions of the Federated Suns use the term "centime" instead. Coins exist in 1, 2, 5 and 10 pence denominations (aluminum) and 20 and 50 pence (silver alloy). Each coin bears the First Prince's head on one side and the Davion insignia on the other. Notes exist for 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 500 and 1000 pound denominations. The material used for these notes is usually a hard wearing but flexible plastic produced on New Avalon.
The Crown
The official money of the Capellan Marches, the crown or koruna (symbol: KC-bill) is subdivided into 100 hellers, abbreviated as hal. Coins exist in 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 and 50 KC. Each coin is made from stamped aluminum and is rarely used in the Marches. Notes however, are very popular in the Marches and are the second most popular currency next to the C-Bill. Notes are printed in flexible plastic in 50, 100, 200, 500, 1000, 2000, and 5000 koruna denominations.
The Shekel
When the Draconis March claimed its independence from the Davion crown one of the first official changes to the new nation, besides changing its name to the Robinson Freehold was the creation of a new state currency. Named the Shekel (symbol: RF-Bill) is subdivided into 100 agorot. Coins exist in 10, 20, and 50 agorot as well as 1, 5, and 10 shekels. Coins are stamped from locally approved materials and exhibit quite a bit of variation in composition, although the common copper alloy seems to be the most prevalent by far. Shekel notes are available in 20, 50, 100, and 200 shekel denominations. These notes are minted on Robinson and are made of paper. As a result, counterfeit shekel notes are a constant problem in the Robinson Freehold and are mass produced by the Freehold’s underworld and foreign enemies alike. Each denomination is distinguished by color and size, with larger notes having greater value. One side shows the Freehold insignia and the image of the First Duke, while the other shows famous historical figures from Robinson’s past.
The Kroner
The currency of the Lyran Commonwealth is still the kroner (symbol: K or S-bill). Each kroner is subdivided into 100 pfennigs. Most major transactions were once carried out electronically, but notes and coins have become common since the fall of the HPG network. Coins exist in 1, 5 and 10 pfennig denominations, made of copper alloy; 25 and 50 pfennig, made of silver alloy; and 1 and 5 kroner, of gold alloy. All coins are minted on Tharkad, with the Steiner emblem on one side and the Archon's image on the other. Paper notes exist for 5, 10, 50, 100, 500, 1,000 and 10,000 kroner, all of which are color-coded and readily distinguishable. One side of each note bears the Archon's image and the Steiner insignia, while the other depicts a famous scene from Lyran history.
Of all the old major House currencies, the kroner has certainly suffered the worst. The Succession Wars took a terrible toll on the once robust economy of the Lyran Commonwealth, with the kroner’s strength a shadow of its former self. Since the blackout historians have often debated what was worse for the Commonwealth – the Blackout or the Archon. While the blackout was destructive across the entire Inner Sphere, it has been argued that it was the Archon’s draconian economic directives before the fall of the network that caused most of the Commonwealth’s troubles. In fact, most of the worlds Tharkad lost during the blackout stemmed primarily from economic reasons rather than a division in ideology or communication.
The Ryu
The Draconis Combine's economy has been a mess for over a century and consequently the value of Combine’s ryu (symbol: D or K-bill) is virtually worthless. Each ryu is divided into 100 yen. The Combine government is constantly changing the composition of its currency, probably in an effort to confuse traders and the Combine’s remaining nobility. At the time of the last revision, the denominations were 1, 5, 20 and 30 yen coins (copper alloy); 50 yen, and 1 ryu and 5 ryu coins (silver alloy); and 10, 20, 50, 100 and 500 ryu notes. The 1,000 and 10,000 ryu notes used before 3025 are rare, but they remain legal tender in the Combine. Each of the Combine’s reorganized prefectures mint their own coins and notes, but there is little difference among them beyond the name of the mint, which is still embossed on the edge of coins or as a watermark on notes.
Currency in the Alliance of Galedon remains oddly similar to that of the Combine, despite a professed disgust for anything associated with the Dragon. While the Alliance’s economy is in better shape than the Combine’s, ComStar’s C-Bills are still more popular than domestic script. Other areas once conquered by the Combine operate very differently. In the unstable Benjamin Prefectures no one type of currency holds sway, instead the self-styled dictators of the region trade in whatever material they deem of value. Elsewhere the Trolloc Dominion trades strictly in gold coins or bullion. In the one of the most disputed areas of space, currency often fluctuates with a planet’s tide
