Re: Soldiers pay and narcotics?

From: Andrew Barton <AndrewBarton_at_...>
Date: Sat, 26 Jun 2004 16:32:55 -0400


> And the pay is most likely in hard currency, not scrip. Which means that
the
> Lunars have to figure out how to get hundreds of pounds (if not tons) of
> silver and/or gold (for officers, naturally) through Dragon Pass and into
> Prax (and down to the siege at whitewall, and into the Holy Country)
without
> it being snatched by the resistance.

Any skilled adminstrator would try to solve this by setting up a closed cycle: you pay the troops, they spend the money, you tax it back from the locals and pay it to the soldiers again. How well this works depends on what percentage of the cash economy the soldiers' pay forms. It's quite likely that procedures that work well in most parts of the empire break down in Pavis, where the soldiers are quite a large fraction of the total population.

One key component of a Roman legionary's pay was his salt ration (hence our word salary), so this may link into another thread?

Andrew

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