### The Red Suns Economy
The Red Suns operate a **barter-and-coin economy** built on scarcity, salvage, and blood-soaked raids. Their currency is **gold, silver, and copper coins**—crudely minted in Opulent Spire’s hidden forges from melted-down Rebmosian heirlooms, Anointed tithes, and frontier silver veins. Each coin bears the **Red Suns crest** (a red sun crossed with silver scimitars) stamped unevenly by hand. **Gold** is rare, hoarded by warlords and used for major arms deals or bribes. **Silver** circulates among fighters for weapons, rations, and gambling debts. **Copper** clinks in the pockets of nomads, traded for water, bullets, or a night in a dust-tent brothel.
**Trade flows through three arteries:**
1. **Salvage Caravans**
Dust-caked wagons hauled by steam-camels cross the Redlands, laden with **scrap metal, ether-shards, and black-powder** stripped from wrecked Rebmosian dreadnoughts or abandoned mines. These are bartered in Crimson Gulch markets for **food, water, and ammunition**.
2. **Raider Fleets**
Swift red-sailed skiffs strike Shatterchain islands and Ashen Ocean convoys, seizing **Rebmosian ether-crystals, textiles, and canned goods**. Captured ships are refitted; prisoners are ransomed or pressed into labor. Loot is divided by council vote—**50% to the fleet, 30% to Opulent Spire’s armory, 20% melted into coin**.
3. **Black-Market Hubs**
Underground bazaars in canyon hideouts traffic **stolen tech, hallucinogenic cactus liquor, and “blessed” talismans** (unknowingly warded by ghost-driven shamans). Warlocks peddle soul-bound trinkets for **silver or favors**.
**Labor is unpaid or indentured.** Nomads herd dust-goats for sinew and milk; slaves (captured Rebmosians or debtors) mine **copper veins** under lash and sun. **Water** is the true currency—rationed in thimble-sized vials, worth more than gold in drought seasons.
**Inflation is brutal.** A **silver coin** buys a rifle round today, a loaf of cactus-bread tomorrow. Warlords hoard **gold** to fund **Aetheric Grenade** caches—each worth a dozen lives. The economy runs on **violence and desperation**: every raid resets the scales, every drought starves the weak. There is no banking, no credit—only **steel, dust, and the promise of the next conquest**.