Hi folks!

I apologize if I'm going over ground that someone else considered already, but the conversation about "networks of trust" got me thinking about information spread in the TU in the political arena. Doesn't it seem like the imperial intelligence services (read primarily the Scouts) would have a more than full time job (literally, physically given the lack of FTTC) chasing down the rumors that arise out of normal miscommunication between xboat visits* { "The Emperor is dead!?" }, much less the deliberate frauds and misinformation spread by criminals and various enemies of the Imperium { "The Emperor has been killed by [the target of my disinformation]" }?

I'm thinking of putting pervasive, harmless rumors in MTU, along the lines of "the Emperor abuses small Solomani mammals that he imports called Gerbils", that would bounce around the systems, endlessly reborn with slight variations { "Those weren't Gerbils! I heard they were special chirpers!" }.

Ian

(* Remember too here that the xboat network information is only as current as the last system it stopped at, so that technically a rumor spreading outward by fast enough ships [read a motivated enemy here] would be like a shockwave, and it would be impossible to catch completely...I could see the Zho and others investing in small groups of extremely long jump ships, probably camouflaged as traders or science vessels, just for specialized psyops?)

On September 24, 2020, at 3:16 PM, Jeff Zeitlin <xxxxxx@freelancetraveller.com> wrote:

On Fri, 25 Sep 2020 05:23:49 +1000, Alex Goodwin
<xxxxxx@multitel.com.au> wrote:

>On 25/9/20 5:02 am, Jeff Zeitlin wrote:
>> On Fri, 25 Sep 2020 04:30:02 +1000, Alex Goodwin
>> <xxxxxx@multitel.com.au> wrote:
>>
>>> I have yet to fully introduce the effects lack of faster-than-travel
>>> comms has had on banking.  That should be interesting.

>> It is likely that your banking model would have little resemblance to
>> today's, and would look a lot more like that of the late-Medieval/
>> early-Renaissance period in Europe - letters of credit or equivalent
>> carried between "branches" which would be owned by the same "family" or
>> corporation. Balancing accounts would involve shipping valuta between
>> branches. This can involve a "network of trust" if, for example, the ship
>> is going from Terra to Ish Kabibble, but no bank has branches on both; they
>> may have to detour to Timbuck Two, where TerraBank/Timbuck will accept the
>> letter of credit from TerraBank/Terra, and arrange a letter of credit from
>> TimBank, which _does_ have a branch on Ish Kabibble.
>>
>> It's also possible that the ship, instead of dealing with LoC, may end up
>> carrying valuta itself.
>>
>> Which opens up Opportunities for the referee...

>GT: Far Trader did flesh this out, and I'll probably steal (even more)
>from said book.

>In your example, wouldn't TimBank be a correspondent bank of TerraBank ?

That depends on what you mean by "correspondent bank". On Timbuck Two,
TerraBank and TimBank don't need to have a closer relationship than (say)
HSBC and CitiBank do here/today - that is, accounts can be verified and
monies transferred routinely between them in accordance with the Timbuck
Banking and Insurance Regulatory Agency.

>As for the chain of deals/LoC... that depends on how sadistic I want to
>get.  You can only lead your players up the garden path so many times
>before they say "to hell with this, let's go play something else".

This is true, and something that the referee always needs to keep in mind.
Sometimes realism has to "give" in favor of gamism.

>I first ran into "valuta" in GURPS Cyberworld (and then "The Moon Is A
>Harsh Mistress") - in G:CW context, was any reasonably-hard currency
>that you wanted to get paid in, and hang onto.  Between Cyberworld and
>TMIAHM, thought was Russian term.  Is apparently Italian.

In reality, "valuta" is _anything_ that is perceived as having intrinsic
value - trade goods, precious metals, precious and semiprecious stones,
etc.

Usually, for Medieval/Renaissance banks, it was gold and silver, but if
you've read Heinlein's _"The Number of the Beast--"_, it's clear that Zeb
ultimately considers things like Hilda's mink stole to be included in the
term.

And yes, the term originates from the Italian; Italy - more specifically,
Venice - was a preeminent "banking" centre.

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