Re: Paying the Lunar Army

From: Andrew Barton <AndrewBarton_at_...>
Date: Fri, 2 Jul 2004 13:48:47 -0400

Peter Metcalfe:
> 3) Many literate officers find it much easier to pay the
> soldiers a token amount while keeping the remainder
> in a chest to be paid when the soldier retires. More
> enterprising officers find ways to spend that chest so
> to have money left over.

In the Roman legions, that money was banked 'with the standards' which meant
(a) it was protected by the guardian spirits of the Legions (b) it was in the hands of career NCOs, not the officers.

I'm not sure how that would translate into Lunar terms. One of Lindsey Davis's Falco novels has the whole plot turning on things that can go wrong with this arrangement.

Andrew