CORE RULE
Valeune’s economy must remain materially grounded.
Food, housing, clothing, tools, medicine, transport, education, servants, weapons, magic, and luxury all require labor and resources.
Money should communicate relative value rather than become meaningless fantasy numbers.
Exact denominations may be established elsewhere.
Until then, describe prices through consistent relative categories and avoid inventing a complicated currency system that later lore must untangle.
CURRENCY
Valeune uses recognized coinage and legally accepted forms of payment.
Currency may include high-value, middle-value, and low-value coins made from appropriate metals or alloys.
Do not assume every transaction uses precious gold coins.
Ordinary people primarily handle smaller denominations.
Large transactions may use:
Written credit.
Sealed contracts.
Banking or ledger arrangements.
Trade goods.
Letters of payment.
Faction guarantees.
Property transfers.
A laborer purchasing bread should not casually hand over gold.
ROYAL COINAGE
Coinage may bear symbols of the Crown, Union, region, mint, or issuing authority.
A coin’s value depends on recognized weight, metal, condition, and political trust.
Counterfeiting threatens markets.
Clipping, debasing, or false stamping may occur.
Do not make coins magically impossible to forge unless an exact @SPELL or @ITEM establishes protection.
REGIONAL MONEY
Regions may use the same Union currency while retaining local accounting customs, older coins, trade tokens, or accepted foreign forms.
Money may exchange at different rates depending on trust and metal value.
Do not create a completely separate currency for every city unless exact canon requires it.
Too many currencies would obstruct trade and provide the AI another delightful avenue for arithmetic failure.
CREDIT
Credit allows purchases without immediate coin.
Credit may be based on:
Reputation.
Property.
Faction membership.
Future harvest.
Employment.
Commercial records.
Family guarantee.
A wealthy person may conduct daily business through accounts.
A poor person may be denied credit or charged harsher terms.
Credit is a form of power.
It can support investment or create bondage.
PRICES
Prices vary by:
Region.
Season.
Scarcity.
Transport.
Tax.
War.
Weather.
Faction control.
Quality.
Urgency.
A product abundant in one region may be expensive elsewhere.
Fresh fish is cheaper near water.
Timber is cheaper near managed forest.
Grain prices rise after failed harvest.
Imported luxury goods cost far more than local necessities.
Do not assign one universal price to every item across Valeune.
ORDINARY COSTS
Ordinary households spend most resources on:
Food.
Housing.
Fuel.
Clothing.
Tools.
Transport.
Medicine.
Taxes.
Debt.
Childcare.
Work-related expenses.
Poor households repair, reuse, share, borrow, and preserve goods.
Replacing an ordinary coat or cooking pot may be a serious expense.
Do not treat common people as constantly purchasing new belongings.
FOOD
Staple food should be affordable enough for society to function but expensive enough that shortages matter.
Bread, grain, vegetables, beans, roots, preserved fish, dairy, or local equivalents form much ordinary diet according to region.
Meat, imported spices, fine wine, sugar-like luxuries, and rare fruit are more expensive.
A feast represents significant cost and labor.
Food prices may rise rapidly after disrupted roads, flood, war, or Elder Beast activity.
HOUSING
Housing cost depends on:
City or rural location.
District.
Size.
Condition.
Access to water.
Heating.
Security.
Proximity to work.
Ownership.
Shared rooms are common among poor urban workers.
Servants may receive household rooms as compensation.
Rural tenants may receive housing tied to land.
Loss of employment may cause immediate eviction.
CLOTHING
Clothing represents material and labor.
Ordinary people own fewer garments than wealthy people.
Clothes are repaired, altered, inherited, resold, and repurposed.
Fine dyes, embroidery, silk-like fabric, jewels, race-specific tailoring, and imported materials increase cost.
Wing-, tail-, horn-, or antennae-adapted garments require additional skill.
LUXURY
Luxury communicates status because it consumes scarce labor and materials.
Luxuries may include:
Fine jewelry.
Imported food.
Rare dye.
Large gardens.
Private carriages.
Elaborate architecture.
Books.
Art.
Musicians.
Multiple servants.
Custom magical services.
A luxury item should remain unusual enough to signal wealth.
Do not decorate every modest room with marble, gold, crystal, and silk.
WAGES
Wages depend on:
Skill.
Danger.
Region.
Season.
Class.
Gender prejudice.
Race prejudice.
Faction protection.
Demand.
Employment arrangement.
A Laborer may be paid daily or seasonally.
A servant may receive room, board, clothing, and coin.
A Professional may charge per service or receive salary-like support from an institution.
An Artisan may earn from completed goods.
A Merchant earns through profit rather than wage.
Wages must be compared to living costs, not presented as isolated numbers.
LOW WAGES
A low wage covers little beyond immediate food and shared housing.
Unexpected illness, tool loss, or missed work can create debt.
A person paid poorly may still remain employed because housing, references, or family survival depend on the employer.
MODEST WAGES
A modest stable wage supports ordinary housing, food, basic clothing, and limited savings when no major disaster occurs.
A household may still struggle with medicine, education, travel, or several dependents.
COMFORTABLE INCOME
A comfortable income supports better housing, varied food, servants or apprentices where culturally appropriate, education, travel, and savings.
Comfort does not equal elite wealth.
A successful Professional or Artisan may live comfortably without possessing noble luxury.
WEALTH
Wealth includes more than coin.
It may consist of:
Land.
Buildings.
Businesses.
Ships.
Warehouses.
Jewelry.
Debt owed by others.
Faction influence.
Tools.
Livestock.
Contracts.
Inherited rights.
A person with substantial property may possess little liquid coin.
A Merchant may appear rich while carrying dangerous debt.
LIVING STANDARDS
Living standards vary sharply by class.
The Crown and wealthy Dynasty enjoy secure housing, servants, medical access, education, transport, and luxury.
Gentry and successful Mercantile households enjoy property, servants, and legal access while facing debt and status pressure.
Professionals and Artisans vary from prestigious wealth to modest survival.
Laborers may possess regular work without security.
The Rural Poor depend heavily on harvest, land, and landlord decisions.
The Dispossessed lack reliable access to necessities.
Shadow figures may possess money without lawful safety.
POVERTY
Poverty means insufficient access to food, shelter, medicine, clothing, tools, security, or lawful protection.
It does not mean lack of intelligence, culture, cleanliness, love, or ambition.
Poor households may maintain dignity and beauty through care, repair, community, and tradition.
Do not romanticize poverty as simpler or morally purer.
SCARCITY
Scarcity may result from:
Failed harvest.
Blocked roads.
Storm.
War.
Fire.
Flood.
Eruption.
Elder Beast threat.
Hoarding.
Market manipulation.
Faction monopoly.
Scarcity raises prices and encourages theft, rationing, substitution, smuggling, and unrest.
A shortage affects classes differently.
The wealthy pay more.
The poor go without.
TRADE
Trade connects regions with different resources.
Major trade goods may include:
Grain.
Timber.
Stone.
Metal.
Salt.
Fish.
Wine.
Cloth.
Medicine.
Tools.
Glass.
Books.
Luxury goods.
Animals.
Trade depends on roads, rivers, seas, warehouses, records, guards, and labor.
No region is entirely self-sufficient.
MARKETS
Markets range from street stalls to major exchange halls.
Prices may be negotiated, posted, regulated, or controlled through guild and faction agreements.
@The Lantern Market may support ordinary commerce and smaller traders.
@The Common Scale may influence fair measure, public markets, relief distribution, and protection from commercial abuse.
@The Gilded Compact may influence major investment and elite commerce.
@The Tidebound Exchange may influence maritime trade.
Faction influence does not eliminate independent trade.
TRADE REWARDS
Quest rewards should match the giver’s means and the task’s risk.
A poor family may offer food, shelter, local information, a handmade object, or a small amount of coin.
A merchant may offer substantial coin, credit, goods, employment, or transport.
A noble may offer patronage, legal favor, property access, or valuable items.
The Crown may grant title, pardon, office, money, or rare recognition.
Do not reward every ordinary task with enough wealth to purchase an estate.
PLAUSIBLE REWARD SCALE
Minor local help may earn:
A meal.
Lodging.
A small wage.
A practical item.
A favor.
A modest civic task may earn:
Several days or weeks of ordinary wages.
Professional services.
A useful tool.
Travel support.
Faction introduction.
A dangerous regional task may earn:
Significant coin.
A valuable item.
Long-term employment.
Debt relief.
Property rights.
Political favor.
A realm-saving act may justify extraordinary reward but should remain extremely rare.
ITEM VALUE
An @ITEM may possess value because of:
Material.
Craftsmanship.
History.
Magic.
Ownership.
Rarity.
Political meaning.
A famous object is not necessarily easy to sell.
Royal regalia cannot be treated like ordinary market goods.
A stolen heirloom may create greater danger than its coin value suggests.
MAGICAL SERVICES
Magical services are priced according to:
Spell level.
Rarity.
Legal restriction.
Materials.
Risk.
Caster reputation.
Travel.
Urgency.
A healing spell available in a capital may be impossible to purchase in a remote village.
Do not make all magic affordable to ordinary workers.
TAXES AND TOLLS
Taxes, market fees, port charges, road tolls, faction dues, guild fees, and permit costs affect prices.
Illegal traders may offer lower prices by avoiding tax while increasing legal risk.
A cheap smuggled medicine may be dangerous, stolen, counterfeit, or the only available option.