To combat the lack of liquidity in the circulation of black (and to avoid
having to touch them too much) most of commerce in Longbridge is conducted with
a complicated system of authority-backed I-owe-you notes that forms a sort of
hybrid barter and currency system.
A note is similar to a bank note or cheque in that it is in-principle worth an
equivalent amount of black directly. Each one records the names
and stamps of both parties to the transaction, what has been exchanged, and the
date, and is validated by the local promissary.
The beneficiary of a note keeps the physical note and is also expected to
provide the blank at the start (it is considered ‘their’ note). The spender
sometimes receives a smaller receipt note that also has both stamps. Promise
and receipt notes are available as little tear-out booklets, like a chequebook,
and are quite affordable, but any piece of paper with the right details and
stamps will be accepted.
Promise Stamps
Each individual citizen, place of business, and level of authority in the
promise system, has a unique ink stamp which is used to authorise a note.
Making stamps is a skillful and venerated vocation, and it costs a fair bit to
get one made, but citizens can and do make their own, since even amateurishly
made stamps can be difficult to forge accurately. The ink is made from a simple
mixture of candle black and brightslime.
Each step of authorisation on a promise note has it’s own stamp: the buyer, the
seller, the place of business (if any), the local promissary, and the master
promissary at The Mint.
Promise stamps are unique to each person and hard to forge without considerable
experience. It is however, much easier to steal them.
Once in possession of someone else’s stamp, it is essentially possible to spend
their money, but only with people who don’t know them personally. Because of
the local nature of promissaries, it’s often quite hard to get away with using
a stolen stamp. Fraudulent transactions are usually detected by the local
promissary, at which point they will inform the stamp owner and notify other
locations. If a fraudulent transaction goes undetected, and gets approved, it
may be detected by The Mint, and can be reversed before being stamped. However,
if a transaction (or the ledger it’s recorded in) makes it into The Mint’s
permanent records, it’s more-or-less set in stone. This gives most victims of
stamp theft 2 or 3 days to do damage control before suffering actual monetary
loss.
Promise notes for individual transactions are brought to
a local institute called a Promissary, of which there are several in each
enclave.
A promissary is not quite like a bank, since it doesn’t keep any liquid money
on-hand, but it does keep account balances for individual citizens. Citizens
must be signed up with a particular promissary to spend or receive money there,
which can often mean it’s easier to bring black if you are
spending money outside of your local enclave.
The promissary keeps a local copy of all the incoming records, and resolves
incoming notes against citizen’s account balances, and rejects them if they
found to be insufficient. Rejected notes are returned to the beneficiary party,
and a warning is flagged on the spender’s account. Overspending is not
uncommon, since citizens are not always aware of how much they have available,
but repeat infraction will result in eviction of your account from the local
promissary, and difficulty getting membership at a new one.
Once the note is accepted, it is added to the local ledger. At the end of each
day, the ledger is stamped with the promissary’s own
stamp, and transported to the master
promissary at The Mint, where they are reviewed and finally
stamped once more if the issuing branch is in good stead, and then added to the
master ledger. The master ledger is used to resolve disputes over counterfeit
promissary ledgers and other such, and to cash out those who want to resolve a
chain of promises to retrieve it’s promised value.