Punth! The sun sets. Birds perch on the upper levels of the local ziggurat. Labourers fresh from the field at the communal dinner hear the rhythmic formulation of the Codes sung to the tune of the dulcimer and the tom-tom.
(A new reader may wish to refer back to earlier articles).
At the shops
As befits something very like a planned political economy, there is no formal currency used in Punth. The equivalent used by a local headman would be the 'day's labour', expressed in the phrase 'For those who work in the day, let shelter be prepared for them in the evening.'
Bed and board carries as part of its implication cost of fuel, cost of crockery, cost of blankets, and so forth. So the 'day's labour' amounts to the cost of a day's food and water plus the cost of a day's fuel plus various minuscule fractions of the cost of a house and household goods. Therefore, the Punthite labourer, even if his meals are taken communally and he lives in a state dormitory, is issued with discretionary resources (generally in the form of trade goods) to obtain things he might need.
Now, the choice of household goods is always going to be pretty limited. But having a Punthite hand over trade goods for household goods is a form of authentication that for instance, a new jug is required.
[The Codes actually list the required household goods. It's a little like a really boring domestic pastiche of Sei Shonagon's lists.]
A headman or scribe is given a slightly larger set of discretionary resources, because of their need to be ready for a number of activities - to interpret the Codes or to otherwise lead.
On top of these, a village or civic ward will have be expected to maintain a small surplus capacity to accommodate work gangs or gendarmes or visiting Qryth - as well as for other unforeseen issues. This will be in the control of a headman.
Therefore, a rural headman might deal with a visitor who can interpret the Codes like this:
Headman: All men should live in peace, from which comes plenty.
Visitor: Where there is labour, let there be comfort. Where there is thirst, let there be water. Where there is wind, let there be a shelter.
H: If the people are to be fed, work must be divided between them.
V: The blocked channel may be cleared.
[The Visitor brings out two iron axeheads]
H: May the fruits of the people stay with the people!
V: If a man has fallen in the dust, let his neighbour bend to him.
H:Who must rise first? The mighty.
[The Visitor brings out a handful of nails]
H: For those who work in the day, let shelter be prepared for them in the evening.
V: To the wise will come plenty.
Make no mistake; such trades are Black Market-equivalents. A headman or scribe will be unwilling to make them if there is a significant party of gendarmes in town, or an inspection or one of the Sky-Princes.
Looking further afield
Some trade does exist between Punth and other nations. This is facilitated by a class of scribes, usually only found in the cities, known as Procurators. They have a better notion of money as it is used in other lands and a loose familiarity with trading customs. Procurators will maintain a supply of specie or bullion with which to trade, as well as trade goods or issue plaques (small clay tablets giving the bearer permission to draw a certain set of resources from Punthite authorities).
Punth imports not only tools, iron and livestock but also a quantity of luxuries - dyes, precious metals, the like. These are often used to create monuments to the Codes or in maintaining Qryth households. It is half-known by the Qryth that gold is an effective conductor of electricity.
Antiquities from the time of the Sorcerer-King have been available cheaply in the past, with Punthite authorities knowing little and caring less about them - despite some having valuable scraps of archaic spellcraft.
The Procurators are known as being oddly straightforward dealers to the merchants outside Punth. The transactional cost of getting to Punth, negotiating the borders and learning enough of the Codes to get by is offset by the fact that trade is so often profitable. However, the Qryth loathe anyone else's scrutiny - and they may, if they deem it necessary seize your goods and your ship in time of emergency. Punth emergencies do not line up with what other nations may consider an emergency. Merchants are not known to linger in their ports, not that there is much that might appeal to a holiday-maker in them.
[I can't even claim to be even an amateur economist, and I'm glossing a little from Francis Spufford's Red Plenty - but this is the model for use in Punth. Limited supplies, few sellers, odd government interventions and motivations.]
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