[Drinax] What do the people on the floating palace do?

[Pyromancer]

There are 40,000 people living on the floating palace. What do they do?
There will be a some people doing agriculture in the broadest sense, and a lot of people doing maintenance work to keep the palace floating, but I can't imagine more than a few thousand people doing this without stepping on each others toes. Administration, education and basic services will keep another few thousand people occupied. What does the rest do?

 

[paltrysum]

The campaign books mention that they converted one section to hydroponics, but there is also the fact that they reconquered the agricultural world of Asim. I would expect that that's where they now get the majority of their food supply.

In my campaign, the University is also a place where a lot of activity takes place. Despite its remote and precarious location, it is one of the most advanced and comprehensive sources of knowledge in the sector. Getting an education at the Drinaxi Scholar's Tower is perhaps only a shade below Tobia's top university. You can even learn some of the "dark sciences" that are forbidden on Imperial worlds: unfettered artificial intelligence, experimental gravitics, combat and psychotropic pharmaceuticals, mass drivers (they have the scorched remnants of an impact-ridden planet right below them), perhaps even...psionics?!

It might also serve as a sort of ineffectual "United Nations" of the Void. Lady Hil, Thao Poloc, and the rest of the court might entertain foreign dignitaries who come to debate the politics and future of the Outrim Void. Such seminars and summits could become more and more well-attended and valuable as the players strive to make Drinax a player in the region.

 

[Pyromancer]

My attempt at a population breakdown of the floating palace.

Total inhabitants: 40,000
Working population: 24,000 (The rest is either too young, too old, or otherwise incapable of working)

Agriculture: 4,000 (very labour intensive)
Maintenance: 4,000 (keeping the palace floating is a hard job)
Education: 1,000 (including childcare, schools and professional training for the inhabitants of the palace)
University: 1,000 (the scholars in the scholar's tower, their students, and support staff)
Healthcare: 1,000 (normal doctors and nurses, in addition to the weird science stuff in the scholar's tower)
Basic services: 2,000 (cooking, cleaning, washing, hairdressing, ...)
Security: 1,000 (police, the hawk guard)
Starport: 1,000
Administration: 2,000

That leaves 7,000 people to do other things.

 

[Baldo]

That leaves 7,000 people to do other things.

Does anyone know if The Drinaxian Companion has information on the Drinaxian solar system? Maybe King Oleb has established mining colonies on asteroids to alleviate population pressure.
And I suppose the 'Pirates of Drinax' have recruited at least a few unemployed Drinaxians for their fleet...

 

[JMISBEST]

My attempt at a population breakdown of the floating palace.

Total inhabitants: 40,000
Working population: 24,000 (The rest is either too young, too old, or otherwise incapable of working)

Agriculture: 4,000 (very labour intensive)
Maintenance: 4,000 (keeping the palace floating is a hard job)
Education: 1,000 (including childcare, schools and professional training for the inhabitants of the palace)
University: 1,000 (the scholars in the scholar's tower, their students, and support staff)
Healthcare: 1,000 (normal doctors and nurses, in addition to the weird science stuff in the scholar's tower)
Basic services: 2,000 (cooking, cleaning, washing, hairdressing, ...)
Security: 1,000 (police, the hawk guard)
Starport: 1,000
Administration: 2,000

That leaves 7,000 people to do other things.

I imagine that those 7,000 are secretly running things behind the scenes on Asim and any Drinax Mining Operations in The 2 Systems controlled by Drinax but in the official records are on The Floating Palace on their almost all if not all the time, that way any crimes that they commit in order to help Drinax can't be linked to them in a way that would convince a jury that wasn't either taking bribes from the accusers or biased against the nobles that committed the crimes or Drinax or both

 

[Pyromancer]

I need the status quo ante, from the time before the campaign starts.

There will be some merchants, and a few jobs in manufacturing. I think the rest of the people will clean statues and polish floors.

 

[MonkeyX]

Don’t forget there are supposed to be a lot of Nobels on the floating palace so a lot of people may just be doing nothing but revelling in wealth. Assuming the limited economy there then at least a fair few of these must be maki g money off world through trade or agriculture.

 

[Pyromancer]

Don’t forget there are supposed to be a lot of Nobels on the floating palace so a lot of people may just be doing nothing but revelling in wealth. Assuming the limited economy there then at least a fair few of these must be maki g money off world through trade or agriculture.

Nowadays, ALL people on the floating palace are of nobility, from King Oleb down to the lowest plumber.

I imagine that directly after the fall, the nobles unwilling to pull their weight and work for the survival of the community were "escorted outdoors", so the mentality of "doing nothing, because I'm a noble" was rooted out back then. But I also imagine that at least the higher nobility all have nice cushioned jobs in administration.

 

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

Someone has to plan the parties...

 

[Condottiere]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32FCR7esarM

 

[Pyromancer]

This is how I imagine the economic system on Drinax:

It's state capitalism. Almost everyone is employed by:
- “The Kingdom of Drinax”[1]: The Star Guard, starport personnel and a lot of administration and bureaucracy. Health care and general education is also run by “the Kingdom of Drinax”[1].
- “The Palace”: The engineers who keep the palace floating, the housekeepers, palace guards, cleaning people, and again administration and bureaucracy, …
- “The King”: His personal guards, trainers, cooks, secretaries, servants, …

Then there are enterprises, but almost all are owned by “the palace”:
- Restaurants, cafeterias and soup kitchens (there are almost no private kitchens on the floating palace)
- Laundry shops (there are almost no private washing machines, either)
- The gardens - most are owned by the palace but are run as independent, profit-oriented enterprises; a few are owned by the kingdom, and the king himself has a few gardens of his own
- Shops for everyday stuff

I guess that would be 90% of the working force. So they work and get paid by “the state” (in the broadest sense), and they spend almost all their money on stuff from “the state”. Someone might work as a plumper for the palace, gets paid, and spends almost all of his money on rent (paid to the palace), food (bought from an enterprise owned by the palace) and everyday stuff (bought from a shop owned by the palace).

There is a small private sector. Services like hair dressers. Some merchants. A few privately owned restaurants. Private butlers and servants. Artists.

Private citizens don't pay taxes at all. Enterprises pay a moderate tax on their profit, but most of this is just an administrative act, essentially taking money from the left pocket to put it in the right.

There is a local currency, the Drinaxi Crown, a relatively strong and stable currency. The Bank of Drinax (owned by the King) exchanges Crowns to Imperial Credits at a fixed exchange rate.

--
[1] officially: "The Star Dragon Empire of Sindal in Exile on Drinax"

 

[Mytholder]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32FCR7esarM

Actually, they're probably a lot closer to http://hitchhikers.wikia.com/wiki/The_Longest_Cocktail_Party

 

[Pyromancer]

I wonder about timekeeping. The palace floats around and is not in sync with the rotation of the planet. There probably are strong winds in the upper atmosphere where the palace is located, and it drifts around the planet. Does the palace keep a local time independent of daylight (most people are always indoors anyway), or do they have to adjust their clocks every so often?

 

[Baldo]

Does the palace keep a local time independent of daylight (most people are always indoors anyway)?

THIS, in my opinion. Besides the Very Thin atmosphere, I suspect clear days are a rarity in 'post-apocalyptic' Drinax:

Ever since the Ahroay’if bombed Drinax from orbit, the planet’s weather has been temperamental. Huge dust-storms in the upper atmosphere cause sudden temperature drops, resulting in fierce flash storms below. (...) These flash storms are spasms of atmospheric violence, tearing the skies with gale-force winds and rain like icy spears.

 

[ochd]

Pyromancer, I'm doing lots of copy and pasting of your work - just for my own campaign notes - in case my players ever ask these kinds of questions. I hope you don't mind. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Dan.

 

[Old School]

Pyro has good ideas, as do many others. That’s (to me anyway) the purpose of these discussions - to share ideas to make our games better.

 

[Pyromancer]

Pyromancer, I'm doing lots of copy and pasting of your work - just for my own campaign notes - in case my players ever ask these kinds of questions. I hope you don't mind. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

You're welcome!

 

[locarno24]

Don't forget Rachando's Bazaar and dealing with similar merchants. The comment about a 'neutral port' is a good one but Drinax also deals with (is forced to deal with) a trade in high-end luxury items.