Chits
"He handed me a briefcase full of chits. Yeah, like... a briefcase. It was so theatrical, ridiculous. It was only a million... he could have loaded them all up together and passed them off to me. I kind of think he enjoyed the whole ransom thing, even if his wife didn't."
Money
Chits are currency in the PSC. They replaced the labor-backed credit from previous eras. Chits were designed to fit into the Technocratic system by being focused on real needs. Costs are skewed so that all basic needs (not comfort) can be attained by $300 a month. A single chit is made of sealed graphite with a crystal chip all worth exactly $1 and weighing 1 ounce, and has an output on one end and an input on the other.
Backed by Carbon
A single chit is price locked to fabricator use. In theory, one unloaded chit is enough to make a simple item in one ounce, with the crystal holding a charge that would provide that energy. While obviously this would be untenable to miantain perfectly, the fabricators keep this fairly even on average. Denser carbon allotropes and more complex machines cost more from the fabricators, and this exchange rate locks down most of the sprawling behemoth of PSC's financial system into a somewhat manageable and understandable. An empty chit is always worth $1 at the recycler.
Financial Wizardry
A chit is designed to be plugged into other chits. You can 'load' one chits' contents onto another by simply plugging the output of one into the input of the other, and when you do a fabricator in the PSC mint print out new chits to store into the vault. A 'Spent' chit is erased and only worth $1 at a recycler, while the value is loaded onto the recipient chit and the mint transfers the digital serial code onto the new chits.
Forgery Wars
The PSC is notable in history for being relatively unconcerned about maintaining a monopoly of violence. They are not unconcerned about their financial monopoly. Forgers don't tend to make it to trial and forgery cartels don't tend to live long. As an interstellar economy, the financial balances are delicate and the response to any disruption is harsh. The gigacorporations are bound by this, and none of them would dare challenge the PSC's financial domination even if any three corporate militaries could be a threat to the PSC Military Committee.
Planetary Costs of Living
A primary function of a Technocrat is to manage the financial situation of their charge. Planetary technocrats adjust the value of a chit in planetary banks in order to maintain the $300 basic cost of living. This means that a 'Lunar chit' doesn't go as far as a 'Martian chit' which doesn't go as far as a 'Plutonian chit' but much farther than a 'Uranian chit.' This is mostly an academic exercise and a concern for Technocrats and bankers. Some high-end mercenaries with several bank accounts across many different institutions may care what chits they get paid in, but for most freelancers their chits are contained on the chits themselves and backed by the PSC bank and Unionhouse Veylan, making the altered values more of a concern when buying rather than when they get paid.
Comments