 April 16, 2011 - 8:43pm | I've been working on animals native the the yazirian home world and spent significant time on its avian/birds and an idea occured to me about the earlies form of yazirian currency: feathers used for ornamentation a trade/barter system quickly came into play with value based on rarity and difficulting in obtaining latter currencies retain the original words for feather or wing or crest or ruff or even the name of the bird that the feather came from. Of course in the modern Frontier the economies of yazirian worlds are driven by the credit established by PGC but would the yazirians have transitioned to precious metals? or to paper money? I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 April 16, 2011 - 9:25pm | ...yes ... Oh humans!! We discover a galactic community filled with multiple species of aliens, and the first thing we think about is "how can we have sex with them?".~ anymoose, somewhere on the net... so... if you square a square it becomes a cube... if you square a cube does it become an octoid? |
 April 16, 2011 - 9:29pm | Or from animal skins to precious metals to minted coinage to credits. "Hey guys I wonder what this does"-Famous last words "Hey guys, I think it's friendly." -Famous last words "You go on ahead, I'll catch up." -Famous last words "Did you here that?" -Famous last words |
April 16, 2011 - 11:43pm | not coins, beads on strings, can be stored in a pouch or worn skins might be too heavy for glide, and skinning another furred animal a little redundant, some might have, most probably wouldn't. Parchments might be ok, but beaded knotworks combines scroll/knowlege with currancey/value for early versions of 'script currency' as an alternative to paper money Oh humans!! We discover a galactic community filled with multiple species of aliens, and the first thing we think about is "how can we have sex with them?".~ anymoose, somewhere on the net... so... if you square a square it becomes a cube... if you square a cube does it become an octoid? |
April 17, 2011 - 4:45am | I like the idea of beads [along side feathers] as the primitive early yaz would have braided them into his mane for adornment and his wealth would have shown off his status for all to see. "You think you're going to rob me? Well you can shave my mane from my dead body." [rolls for battle rage] early beads may not have been gold or silver but matterial from the natural world that is beautiful to the eye and difficult to obtain- think native American wampum (shells as currency) Over time beads of gold, silver and fereranium came to be valued. In a society that doesn't manufacture trade good and what is made by hand can be made by most people, trade and barter would be things that dont happen often. Big clan meetings, special holidays when people gather then some trading and bartering will go on. As the society mattures and specialized artizans begin to produce specialized products that take specialized skill, unbraiding currency from your mane will become tedious as trade will happen more often on a weekly or monthly basis so strings of currnecy that can be attached to clothing or worn as jewelry will come to the fore. Rare feathers will be traded less as they are less durable then beads. A new problem that will come into play is the wt. and size of the beads as these are not really being minted. Eventually large clans will organize minted beads and guarrentee their value. Each is a set wt. and size and thus a set value. Clan war could errupt when one clan conterfiets someone else's coinage with base metal cores and gold overlays to destablize that clans coinage and bring shame on them. When the secret is learned look out- you thought clan wars were vicious? I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
April 17, 2011 - 11:01am | "You can shave my mane from my dead body." I see a quote! aplicable anytime somone wants to take somthing for you, or in general situations, where you are implying that a person is a murderous thief. gold, silver, and ferralium isn't neccesarily that rare, prety, or useful, and are not the only examples of metals that could be used. I could go with... Cats Eye, Amberite, Crystalline Calcium Carbonates, Niobium, Ruthenium, Tellurium, and Iron.... but a generic 'Precious Metals' that works too... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rai_stones this could be the root of modern Yazi ecconomics too The feathers and knotwork-scripts could merge into a minted and standardized currency also, similar to 'paper-script' but based on a different cosmetic. Rai stones are a little heavy, minted they can be artificaly rarified, and with holes could be braided into manes, bracelets, belts, and sashes, inset with precious stones and metals, or sliped onto bar-stacks. Oh humans!! We discover a galactic community filled with multiple species of aliens, and the first thing we think about is "how can we have sex with them?".~ anymoose, somewhere on the net... so... if you square a square it becomes a cube... if you square a cube does it become an octoid? |
April 17, 2011 - 2:55pm | Somehow the precious metal or gems that would have been made into beeds to braid into hair and be used as currency would need to be something that would have value and be easy enough to work with. currency brain storming table
Note that two currency denominations went by the same name, requiring visual inspection and bartering as to the relative value. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
April 17, 2011 - 2:34pm | Cats Eye, Amberite, Crystalline Calcium Carbonates (basically pearls, and mother of pearl, perhaps made by alternative sources, like fungoid/fly-traps?), Niobium, Ruthenium, Tellurium, and Iron.... precious, valuable, easy enough to work with, and alternative.... Copper, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum are all just as artifically pumped as any other commodity currency would be. Why would aliens find the same materials being artificially elevated in status as found on earth? Many of the alternatives to the gold and silver standards used on earth, were 'forced' out of popularity to make room for such 'iconic currency' found in D&D. Arboreal people, amberite instead of tin, cliff's and rugged mountains, cat's eye and instead of copper, crystalline calcium carbonates instead of bronze, niobium, ruthenium, and tellurium could fill out for the silver and electrums iorn and some sort of naturally occuring ferralium could be artifically inflated instead of gold and platinum, both of which have traditionally required refinement and rarification processes also. refinement and rarification of silver, electrum, gold and platinum, and to some extent tin, copper, and bronze, has been used in the minting processes for centuries, the same could be true for any other mineral or metal used instead, The difficulty of making hard currency, is historically quite seperate from it's value, only pressures of privileged fiat has been a major contribution to what was used, when, and why. in short 'them what have the commodity, make the rules, and set the values.' not the rarity of the commodity. Oh humans!! We discover a galactic community filled with multiple species of aliens, and the first thing we think about is "how can we have sex with them?".~ anymoose, somewhere on the net... so... if you square a square it becomes a cube... if you square a cube does it become an octoid? |
April 17, 2011 - 2:49pm | iron has a problem with oxidation I dont see it as suitable. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
April 17, 2011 - 3:31pm | it can be rarified and refined for suitability like silver, electrum, gold, platinum, and paladium is. http://hist-met.org/hmsdatasheet08.pdf (British) Has been used well enough by those who would take the time to make it suitable. and is, imho, a precious metal in the eys of the Yazi based on it's strength, durability, and usefulness. British http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/research_projects/iron_age_coinage.aspx Korean http://jspivey.wikispaces.com/file/view/4-2konwonchungbo.jpg/45201839/4-2konwonchungbo.jpg African http://www.arts-ethniques.com/images/imagecache/150x126_1239553637monnaie-africaine-kirdi-cameroun-01.jpg German http://wpcontent.answcdn.com/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a7/10_Pfennig_coin_Deutsches_Reich_1917.jpg/250px-10_Pfennig_coin_Deutsches_Reich_1917.jpg Chiniese http://compciv12.pbworks.com/w/page/21074163/Ancient-China http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200596837982 http://hkmal.blogspot.com/2010_07_01_archive.html Egyptian http://www.bibleandscience.com/products/index2.htm Incan/Mayan and my great-gramma's 100yr old cast iron pots, don't rust... make 'em into coins http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cast_iron Oh humans!! We discover a galactic community filled with multiple species of aliens, and the first thing we think about is "how can we have sex with them?".~ anymoose, somewhere on the net... so... if you square a square it becomes a cube... if you square a cube does it become an octoid? |
April 17, 2011 - 3:23pm | I still dont know about iron- wearing it braided in your mane and you go swimming or take a bath and the ole mane is still a little damp and next thing you know you have rust mucking up your appearance. Still come back to material like gold that doesn't tarnish- I think that feature will put it in demand. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
April 17, 2011 - 3:46pm | but I wash them too... otherwise I couldn't eat out of them. I understand what your saying, what I am saying is that it has been done, and in spite of those problems, ways to correct the metal were found. The non tarnishing feature of gold, did not account it for use as currency in south america, they used it for pots and pans and utensils instead of iorn, and used iorn for trade currencey, in addition to corn, beads, shells.... but either way the currencey was refiened, rarified, corrected, or otherwise modified, to prepare it for use as coin, this inclueds the shells, beads, and feathers of the north american tribes. Feathers needed to be put through preservation processes, so that they could gain some weight, and durability, before they were considered suitable as coinage currencey... as raw commodity they could be traded for goods, but for less value. Oh humans!! We discover a galactic community filled with multiple species of aliens, and the first thing we think about is "how can we have sex with them?".~ anymoose, somewhere on the net... so... if you square a square it becomes a cube... if you square a cube does it become an octoid? |
April 17, 2011 - 5:25pm | The idea behind feathers is that in primitive times it was the first currency used in bartering but was quickly replaced with beads but the names from the feather have lingers over to latter forms of currency. certain rare feather probably persisted to be traded on limited basis for a while longer. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
April 17, 2011 - 5:54pm | yes, I get the reason for feathers, it's very cool. I was pointing out that the use of feathers currency is historical validated, in soite of how the feathers had thier own problems, and how those problems were overcome, so that they made a proper commodity currency. In the same way the problems associated with iron as a currency can be overcome, as represened by historical validation, and even though the silver and gold standard, has become the global basis (except in some parts of the world) for modern commodity currencey, coinage made from those metals have had thier own problems that have had to be overcome. At no time in history, outside of barter systems, has a commodity currency been used in a raw commodity form, for effect in a large stable culture. Feathers quickly qet nasty and loose all their Barbules when wet, and soon break thier quills if handeled poorly. Processes that were used in americas, africa, india, south pacific, and south america, made them durrable for use as currency. Iron can oxidize and become rusty if it isn't refined, hardened, treated properly. Processes of refinement and rarification can alter the hardness and correct the metals properties so that it is lighter, harder, and more resistant to weathering. Gold, silver, and platinum likewise has impurities in raw form thant require rarification, and properties that make it unsuitable for coinage which require refinement, further corrections are made to ensure that it is hard enough and dosent suffer from small temerature changes that can damage it's durrability. Oh humans!! We discover a galactic community filled with multiple species of aliens, and the first thing we think about is "how can we have sex with them?".~ anymoose, somewhere on the net... so... if you square a square it becomes a cube... if you square a cube does it become an octoid? |
