Everything Else

The Market

The Day's Trade

During the day, Commerce is heavily encouraged.  Commerce is, in fact, the law.  Agreements made without some kind of transaction are highly discouraged.  Doing favors and activities free of charge are similarly frowned upon, or depending on their egregiousness punishable.

Everything must be transactional, when happening in view of anyone else (you are not expected to do favors for those inside your own household).

The general unit of currency used by the Overseers and merchants is Koku, which represents the amount of kibble required to keep a human alive for a year.   One Koku is worth 12 Sho.  Each Sho is worth 64 Go.

There is also the currency Mon, which is the currency generally used by the lower class. Each Koku is worth 1000 Mon

The Night Market

While Currency is the heart of the Lightbringers, there is still a need for an economy among the Umbrean.  They, instead, rely on the exchange of favors, through a process formerly known as the Black Marks (and Black Chits).   One can visit the Night Market and put their name in a ledger, signed with blood, and receive a Black Mark, representing a favor the individual agrees to promise, which they might then exchange for goods (or other services).    One must be careful who they trade their marker to, however.  The favor can be called in by any holding their marker, and are transferable once the marker leaves their possession.  Many an individual has found their markers slowly assembled by one with sinister aims.  These tokens are also ‘soul-baked’.  If an individual refuses to repay the favor they owe, the owner may approach the Umbrean and ask for a portion of the individual’s soul instead, which the Umbrean are happy to collect.

Black Chits are a smaller denomination, used specifically to pay for administrative functions at the night market (and often used as tips, or sometimes used in friendly gambling games).  To take out a Black Mark costs a chit, and the City is always willing to trade a favor for 10 chits.

The Cusp

The Cusp is a strange time of transition inside of Chalcedony, time where laws move from one set, to another.  As a result there are certain deals, transactions and political alliances which can only happen during the Cusp, as this is a time when day and night are both in power, but neither fully so.   While there is no official difference in power, Sunset mildly favors the Umbrean while Sunrise mildly favors the Lightbringers

There are strange results of differing factions being in power at day and night.  Prisons, for example, are staffed with different guards depending on the time of day, and so those who are held during the day may go free at night.  If they flee from justice, however, their list of crimes will be added to during the next day and their punishment if they are again caught, can be swift.

The hiring of Umbrean Bounty Hunters to catch and kill an escaped prisoner, is exactly the kind of agreement that must be made during the Cusp.

Social System

Generally the social system has a series of calls, commands and orders that one player can give to another.  When they do these calls, they will make a hand gesture with it which represents the “style” of social influence they are exerting.  For example, Gambling gives players the ability to Hold up Crossed Fingers (Persuasion) and Tell you to keep gambling.     This is to help your character respond to the style of social pressure being given to you and respond with the appropriate roleplaying.  Characters who have cancels, may also cancel the appropriate symbol.

The Types are:

  • Persuasion/Sincerity - Crossed Fingers - The person is relying on guile or cunning to convince you of something.  This social call fails if the subject is obviously lying (Eg. YOU’RE ON FIRE) or if there is high risk to the recipient (“EX: Lets gamble for our houses!”).   These help convince characters in otherwise believable situations (Characters increasing bets a normal amount in a gambling game, despite having bad cards)
  • Authority - Hand out, palm facing out
  • Fear - Hand out, closed fist
  • Charm - Running Hand Through Hair
  • Logic/Knowledge - Finger, pointed at the temple -This represents reason, or just knowledge a character might possess.  Examples are knowing someone’s heraldry, or convincing someone that robbing a bank might be dangerous
  • Dismissal - You make a “shooing away” gesture with one hand.  This is how you indicate that the social power used against you has no effect.