Currency in T2K
Barter seems to be the default form of commerce in every T2KU I've ever set virtual foot in. Although realistic, it can feel a bit cliché. Aside from barter, gold is most often mentioned in the published materials as a medium of exchange in the T2KU. But how many common people would have access to more than a couple of ounces of gold? This would go quickly in the post-collapse economy. The closest thing to modern currency that I can find is the ration chits mentioned in the Free City of Krakow. It's printed by the city government and used as payment for laborers in the city's service. It's also accepted as payment by many local merchants.
I'm not an economists, and I find most aspects of monetary theory quite baffling. I've heard modern currency described as a "globally accepted, mutually agreed-upon hallucination" and it's hard to argue with that. In other words, money only has value because we all agree that it does. This was brought home to me a few years ago while I was playing Fallout 3, in which the denizens of the game universe use bottle caps as money. There's no explanation given in the game- not that I came across, anyway- as to why people attach any sort of value to said caps, but, in the game world, they're universally accepted as a medium of exchange.
Feudal Japan is a periodic interest of mine. In the original Shogun: Total War computer game, one's clan measures its annual income in Koku, a unit representing the amount of rice that can feed one person per year. A system like this would make sense in many parts of the T2KU, where food is an incredibly sought-after commodity. I'm not sure how it would translate into a widely used currency system, though. Is this the "food standard" as the "gold standard"?
In the T2KU, there aren't many central governments with the power and resources to issue and regulate paper money. Would forms of currency only work on a very local level? Could one exchange Krakow ration chits for paper currency issued by the Lublin government and vice-versa? Would different polities accept others' money? Without central banks, who would determine the exchange rates?
I feel really ignorant- I'm having trouble wrapping my mind around this idea. I'm hoping that a few of you understand this better than me and can explain it well enough to help me get there.
How do you see currency making a comeback in T2K? Has anyone here put any thought/work into this? If so, I'd love to look at what you've come up with.
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