markets, labor and specie

rule

twenty or more families constitute an economic community. a community has economic base depending on how many families make it up:

20	55	400	3,000	20,000
d4	d6	d8	d10	d12

cities, or any larger community with central roles in the region, may be home to masses of slaves or unattached youths. divide this population by five and roll the appropriate die as part of the economic base; keep only the higher roll.

when an adventurer or a merchant would like to buy goods or hire hands, they roll the local economic base; only if the roll is equal to the scarcity rating of what is sought can it be found. it is no good to look again for a number of days equal to 30/20/15/12/10/6 (by die type) minus the roll.

the administrator of a domain rolls the economic dice of all of its settlements each season. the roll for each settlement is the available labor of its residents. an administrator can demand a number of units of labor equal to their authority in each community, but they divert more than is needed without providing for the community's reproduction it will collapse (or possibly rebel). generally, administrators will divert labor to:

• muster armies
  
• work lands that they own
• upkeep bridges, roads or walls
• operate mines
  

a community whose die shows 4-9 produces a unit of specie (which is to say: money) for tax revenue, and one that shows 10+ produces three units of specie. specie is typically used to pay the salaries of armies or of workers for projects. administrators with little authority rely on having ready money to hire soldiers and laborers rather than diverting their labor directly.