Travellers, Banks, and Character Finances

I did have players ask me once how their mortgage payments were made, when they were using their Jump-3 ship. I said that the Imperial X-Boats updated files and transferred accounts and they went with that. I did buy GURPS Far Trader and looked at that explanation but I have never made an adventure around the transfer of funds. Makes for a neat thought experiment in sci-fi economics.
 
ColinD said:
I didn't know this about the original rules. Were credits on paper or coins?
Click to expand...
here is what The Traveller Adventure library data has to say:

"Currency, Imperial: The basic unit of legal tender in the Imperium is the lmperial credit. Individual worlds may issue their own currencies, and those currencies may or may not be acceptable on other worlds. Similarly, corporations and megacorporations may issue scrip, and its acceptance outside of the corporate environment is a matter of conjecture. But lmperial credits are accepted everywhere in the Imperium, and in many locations outside of it.
lmperial credits are almost impossible to counterfeit because of their unique method of manufacture. Plastic fibers are combined under high temperature and pressure and extruded as a rectangular bundle of great length. The different colored fibers form the pattern of the bill. It is not
printed on but actually made a part of the structure of the note. The bundle is sliced to paper thinness, and a 14-digit alphanumeric (letter/number combination) is added for uniqueness. Credit bills are issued in 10, 20, 50, 100, 500, 1,000, and 10,000 credit denominations. Plastic coins, manufactured in a similar manner in various shapes, are issued in quarter, half, one, and five credit denominations.
lmperial credits can be bulky in large enough quantities. Bills measure 75 mm by 125 mm; one thousand bills stand 50 mm high and weigh 500 grams."
 
Very often, the appropriate player-facing explanation for "how does X work?" is "it works very well, thank you." Doesn't stop me from losing sleep trying to make sense of it to my satisfaction.
 
ColinD said:
I didn't know this about the original rules. Were credits on paper or coins?
Click to expand...

Both (sort of . . . ). Depending on your definition of "paper".

The Traveller Wiki entry seems to be correct as I remember it (and has the references at the bottom) - although I do not remember the large denomination coins. But in brief:

The coins were originally described (I believe) as a type of plasteel (so not necessarily specie currency) in denominations of (IIRC):

Small-value Coins:
  • Cr 0.10 (I don't remember if there was a deci-credit coin, but it seems logical in a metric-based system)
  • Cr 0.25
  • Cr 0.50
  • Cr 1.00
  • Cr 5.00
Large-value Coins:
  • Cr 10.
  • Cr 100.
  • Cr 500.
  • Cr 1000.
  • Cr 10,000.

The "Bills" were also an extruded semi-polymer in a long rectangular block that were sliced paper-thin with digital information encoded in the pattern of the stack and serial numbers added to each individual bill after slicing.

Bills came in the following denominations:
  • Cr 10
  • Cr 20
  • Cr 50
  • Cr 100
  • Cr 500
  • Cr 1000
  • Cr 10,000
Physical currency is mostly still necessary due to lower TL worlds that cannot handle sophisticated electronic banking and fund-transfer systems over interplanetary or interstellar distances.

But even CT-JTAS had the ISCC ("Imperial Standard Credit Card") that I mentioned upthread, which was described as a "Portable Bank Teller/Microprocessor" with a thumb-print actuator and containing a Retina Print record for transactions over kCr 100, and as accepted on most TL13+ worlds and Starports. "Millionaires" have access to the Iridium Edition Card, which contains the owner's DNA Information for verification. The TAS also has its own equivalent version of the ISCC, the TAS Services Card.
 
ColinD said:
I didn't know this about the original rules. Were credits on paper or coins?
Click to expand...
Somewhere I have some imperial credit bank notes that I got from FFE as part of the T5.10 kickstarter, I think. That was paper. Need to dig through a box to see if I can find it.
 
Geir said:
Somewhere I have some imperial credit bank notes that I got from FFE as part of the T5.10 kickstarter, I think. That was paper. Need to dig through a box to see if I can find it.
Click to expand...
That is something I'm sure we'd love to see! Hope you find them.
 
Geir said:
Somewhere I have some imperial credit bank notes that I got from FFE as part of the T5.10 kickstarter, I think. That was paper. Need to dig through a box to see if I can find it.
Click to expand...
Well, yeah. Exchange rate is probably getting better all the time.
 
There are eight euro coin denominations, ranging from one cent to two euro[1] (the euro is divided into a hundred cents). The coins first came into use in 2002. They have a common reverse, portraying a map of Europe, but each country in the eurozone has its own design on the obverse, which means that each coin has a variety of different designs in circulation at once. Four European microstates that are not members of the European Union (Andorra, Monaco, San Marino, and Vatican City) use the euro as their currency and also have the right to mint coins with their own designs on the obverse side.

The coins, and various commemorative coins, are minted at numerous national mints across the eurozone to strict national quotas. Not every eurozone member state has its own mint. Obverse designs are chosen nationally, while the reverse and the currency as a whole is managed by the European Central Bank (ECB).


ed429225-ae0f-433d-8dc7-7e87913c0ac5.jpg
 
Thoughts:

Banks would be quite loath to lend to anyone they didn't think would pay them back. Travellers with no collateral wanting a zillion credit loan to fix up and operate a tramp freighter would be met with a eyeroll and shown the door.

Reputation, trust, and collateral would mean everything.

People personally moving funds from world to world would probably use some kind of letter of credit system, a letter from bank to bank. The issuing bank would confirm that an individual has the funds on deposit, and affirm that it would transmit said funds to the receiving bank via x-boat network after notified that the letter of credit has been redeemed. The receiving bank would then issue the funds to the Traveller bearing the letter, because they know that the bank that issued the letter will transfer the funds. The receiving bank would make a record of the transaction and the letter bearer's identity that would stand up in court, and issue the funds either physically or into a planetary account.

Businesspeople would probably instruct their bank on their world to deposit funds in a trusted bank on the destination world, via x-boat transmission. The bank would tell a businessperson when the funds would arrive, and issue a letter stating that the funds were issued on this x-boat on this date to arrive on approximately this date (and that the issuing bank is good for it if the transmission somehow doesn't arrive). Then the businessperson would begin his trip. The x-boat would arrive before him and the funds would be waiting in a local account when he reaches the destination world.

Physical currency would be moved by Imperial Navy detachments of sufficient strength and power to deter any player-characters pirates or other ne'er-do-wells. That could be a reason for Imperial Navy fleet movements within sectors and subsectors. It could neatly link up with the Imperial Navy showing the flag, delivering hard currency, rotating fleet elements, and doing military exercises. Hostile forces wouldn't know if it's the money fleet or a battle fleet on rotation. Hmm, adventure ideas abound...

Imperial credits might not be used by ordinary people. Residents of a world would probably use local currency, money you can buy groceries with, and if they're going to travel to another world that doesn't accept the local currency of their world, they change money into Imperial Credits, in the form of bills, traveller's checks, or bank transmissions and letters. The Imperial Credit could be something like a reserve currency, in the sense that all transactions between Imperial worlds are on the Imperial Credit standard and the transactions are done only with Imperial Credits (except by special arrangement between worlds). Travellers, Imperial military and government personnel, Imperial nobility, interstellar merchants, and other spacefarers would probably use the Imperial Credit among themselves, at starports, and in the areas close to starports, but ordinary people who don't travel between worlds or live/work near the starport would probably never see Imperial credits. It might be like trying to buy coffee and a sandwich at a little cafe in a rural Italian village using World Bank Special Drawing Rights.
 
ColinD said:
I did have players ask me once how their mortgage payments were made, when they were using their Jump-3 ship. I said that the Imperial X-Boats updated files and transferred accounts and they went with that. I did buy GURPS Far Trader and looked at that explanation but I have never made an adventure around the transfer of funds. Makes for a neat thought experiment in sci-fi economics.
Click to expand...
At gunpoint if they are like most players!
 
I doubt that much actual thought has actually been put into this. In an ultra-capitalistic universe, like the OTU, with massive communications lag, each bank on each planet would need to be sending 1 ship to each planetary system within J-6 every day as well as receiving one ship every day from every planetary system within J-6. There is no other way for them to effectively maintain any kind of cohesive system of finance in a universe where trade is moving from port to port every day. Information is king, therefore, banks need daily updates from the surrounding banks. This will almost guarantee that Travellers almost never outrun their funds.

Also, this would only apply to Class-B and above Starports, with maybe a few Class Cs thrown in for good measure or for maintaining a line of communication through that system.

So, for example...

Rhylanor has 46 systems within J-6. 18 of those systems are Class B or better. Minimum 18 ships need to depart every day to maintain the flow of information between banks, more if some of the Class C ports also receive daily service. 18 ships a day for 2 weeks is a minimum fleet of 252 ships. (This is only if every Imperial Bank in the system used the same ships. If they won't share, then obviously the numbers go up.)

70 J-6 ships
28 J-5 ships
70 J-4 ships
56 J-3 ships
14 J-2 ships
14 J-1 ships

Remember, this doesn't include any of the Class C ports. This would put the X-boat routes to shame and is entirely private. The banks on Capital would know about the start of the FFW before the Emperor would know. lol

Edit- This also means that a minimum of 126 ships a week arrive at Rhylanor just transferring banking data.
 
Last edited:
Geir said:
Found them! The note card with them indicates it was from a test printing run. (maybe smaller denominations are in coins?)
View attachment 3963View attachment 3964
Click to expand...
I think this is amazing! The Navy is shown very prominently. This makes sense as how do you project Imperial monetary policy. I also like that Imperial Currency is high tech and hard to counterfeit. If your Travellers can outrun an X-Boat's news then they could outrun an update to their bank account. Much like in the Age of Sail or even in the Renaissance Medici Bank this would work in the fictional universe. Love it!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

D
Trading and broker skill
2 3
Replies
53
Views
1K
Condottiere
C
Sageryne
[TAS] Type SA: Solomani Free Trader
Replies
2
Views
288
Sageryne
Sageryne
T
Suggested Equipment lists for Careers?
Replies
19
Views
503
Jame Rowe
J
Limpin Legin
How much Hydrogen does a Trillion Credit Squadron need?
2
Replies
39
Views
1K
Condottiere
C
Prodromoi
'Drama at the Starport' on TAS/DriveThruRPG
Replies
2
Views
416
Prodromoi
Prodromoi
Back
Top