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Money in the Empire - Purchasing power.

The average daily income in Llaza according to social level is as follows:

  • Unskilled labourer - 10-12 yen
  • Skilled labourer/farmer - 50 yen
  • Artisan/Local merchant/scribe - 200 yen
  • Low grade Magister/physician - 800 yen
  • Mid-level magister/Merchant middleman - 1600 yen
  • Wealthy merchant/Councilman - 6400 yen
  • Viceroy - 256000 yen

Halve these figures for those in the countryside.

In llaza, 1 yen will buy you:

  • a bundle of firewood or
  • a scoop of rice or
  • a bowl of noodles or
  • a small chicken or
  • 2 songbirds (for eating) or
  • some onions or
  • a dozen shellfish or
  • half a dozen tallow candles.

10 yen will buy you:

  • 1 day's rent in a leaky one room apartment or
  • a boat taxi or sedan to anywhere in the city or
  • a meal at Fermi's or
  • a piglet or
  • a common tool or
  • menial labour for one day or
  • a dose of medicine for aching joints or
  • a ten word advert in The Green Dragon.

100 yen will buy you:

  • 1 day's rent in a multi-roomed apartment (with plumbing) or
  • the service of a scribe for two days or
  • a side of meat or
  • a wooden stool or
  • a night with a prostitute at Serene Lil's or
  • 4 tembu calves or
  • a shandix foal or
  • 2 stree eggs.

500 yen will buy you:

  • 1 day's rent of a self-contained house in a middle class neighbourhood or
  • a wicker-work carriage (two wheeled) or
  • 2 visits to the bathhouse or
  • 1 year's permit to sell goods on the bridges or
  • a cabinet with marquetry designs or
  • a seat at the races in the Viceroy's Grandstand or
  • a small, second-hand sampan or
  • the services of an exorcist

1000 yen will buy you:

  • 2 day's rent in a well-equipped apartment in the smart part of town or
  • a pre-conditioned vug or
  • passage to Oksa on a reputable ship or
  • a well crafted sword with an engraved blade

The astute reader will notice that an unskilled labourer will just about be able to afford the roof over his head and a very poor meal each day. Such is life in Llaza. Remember, however, that very few people live by themselves. That leaky one room apartment at 10 yen a day may be inhabited by the labourer, his wife, his brother in law and three children, all of whom do their bit to earn money. They may not live well, but they are able to get by.

It should also be noted that goods of better or worse quality can be got for respectively higher or lower costs. A 100 yen wooden stool is functional and may give you splinters. For 500 yen you could get a high quality artisan item with a marquetry seat showing the seige of Galis. The girls at Serene Lil's are costly, but as well as being skilled in the arts of love they offer intelligent conversation and relaxing company. There are plenty of 10 yen whores roaming the streets of Wester Isle but the customer runs the risk of being robbed by their pimp, or ending up visiting Jin the Apothecary for some "special" medicine. In Llaza, as elsewhere, let the buyer beware.


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