>>>I'm running a game set in Prax dealing with a Lunar punishment regiment
>>>and drug running, so I have a couple questions:
>>>How much does the average Lunar soldier in New Pavis make a month?
>>(Or whatever the pay rate is.) Or any guesses to what the amount might be.
I don't think the members of the punishment regiments get paid at all, they are Danfive Xaroni - mostly criminals who have been sentenced to the cult and a few penitant volunteers.
Other soldiers will be paid depending on the unit and rank. To pull some figures out of the air - say a lunar a day for a hoplite, seven clacks for a peltast and half a lunar for other infantry. Cavalry probably double those figures. From that there are deductions for equipment, food and so on.
>>Hmmmm, whatever the nominal pay is, I have the suspicion that the
>>actual payments may be erratic and in arrears. After all, shipping
>>large amounts of coin across Prax to some dusty town on the edge of
>>nowhere is risky, and from a bureaucratic perspective wasteful--why
>>teh soldiers aren't willing to just have their wages put on account
>>for when they return is completely impossible to understand from a
>>civilized perspective, given that the army gives the lodging and
>>food. So I'd guess that the average trooper actually sees more coin
>>from bribes and shake downs than from formal pay.
>>
>>But that is just my cycnical view of things.
>Hmm, good point. Bribes are definetly going to be a big part of the
>game. I would guess that many soldiers don't want their money put in an
>account is because they want to have it to use on drink and women. And
>of course gambling.
The Lunars don't have a banking system that would cope with it. Banking is on the level of medieval european - merchants trade on account with each other and lend to the government. Other people may be able to send money via merchants but they'll be charged for it.
Certainly whatever pay there is will usually be in arrears outside the Lunar Heartland - taxes collected locally are supposed to cover pay for the occupation troops but there won't be enough coin, or it'll be in the wrong account or something.
>From a game point of view, I'd give the players what fitted the story
at the time as partial arrears - cause for a major celebration because
it doesn't happen often. Unless the players have a numeracy skill they
won't know how much they're owed anyway and if they want to argue face
them with a paymaster who's got bamboozle with numbers 5w2.
>I have a faint memory of reading about a mint in the Rubble, but I don't
>remember if it's still working or who controls it.
The Pavis Old Mint, controlled by whoever's there - any currency produced will be highly suspect as there's no guarantee of quality of the metal used. If someone ever makes Lunar coins there the army will be sent in to arrest them.
-- Donald Oddy http://www.grove.demon.co.uk/
Powered by hypermail