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Hey guys, I was just wondering whether there was a uniform currency used across the Imperium, or in fact whether the Imperium used currency at all? Also would there be trade between Imperial planets, or would they simply be forced to provide certain products to other planets by the Administratum?

Lives are the Emperor's Currency, spend them well.

That and supplies. A money called "Thrones" is occasionally referred to as well.

Best not to delve too deep into the details of the 40k universe, conflicting fluff and a lack of clarity tends to see it all fall apart.

They have coins in Gaunts Ghosts. The rengades defaced them and some looting occured. There probably isnt a imperium wide currency though. Most planets civilians probably get paid in food stamps or something.

Good question, each imperial world is different so i wouldn't have thought they had a unified currency. As long as a planet pays the tithes expected of them by the Administratum they really aren't too fussy. The tithes could be anything, be it Imperial guard regiments, food, water, industrial goods, munitions or minerals. An agri world would provide grain to a hive world for instance and in return they would get agricultural machinery and complex manufactured goods. You do read about in the stories about many hideously rich nobles so there must be currencies, maybe they will be accepted on different planets in civilized more stable sectors. I for one would like to know more about stuff like this, although normal lives of people doesn't sell many miniatures or books.

I imagine there is a imperium wide currancy, but it's proably mostly used by nobles, guardsmen and people who travel. each planet proably has a local currancy that is used for 99.99% of all local transactions

Some planets in the Imperium only recently invented fire, they don't have currencies or banks or even much in the way of clothing.

Currency is probably a local thing, based on the relative wealth and value of the world, so that Rogue Traders make their wealth through trading something from Planet A that is valued by Planet B, which pays him/her in something that Planet C just can't do without.

The Guard, at least according to Abnett, is paid in a non-currency script that can be exchanged for local currency on any planet the IG finds itself (because the Administratum is everywhere), and the Inquisition can convert a given Inquisitor's wealth into whatever currency they need through their various agencies.

For a uniform currency you'd need a central authority keeping tabs of stuff like local inflation and exchange rates against goods and services. The Imperium, however, is so vast and interstellar communication so unreliable that they don't even manage to impose a uniform code of law beyond "pay your tithes" and "the Emperor is your god". Hell, the Administratum manages to misplace entire planets because lol bookkeeping.

As far as I can see, currency and trade in the Imperium means "barter". Money is something for individual planets or clusters of worlds. Some sources mention specific local currency such as the "Thrones" of the Calixis sector from FFG's series of roleplaying games. However, I also like the idea of "scrip" I've read in one of James Swallow's novels, where it was basically issued like a sort of Imperium-stamped coupon that the owner could trade in anywhere. Scrip has been used in the real world in cases where uniform currency is a problem, too, such as military occupation zones or isolated company outposts, so it feels sensible for a setting like 40k. I would imagine that Imperial Scrip comes with a "you are obligated to accept this" note for the merchant to ensure acceptance, and the merchant might be able to trade it in for local currency at a local branch of his government - with the government then offsetting these expenses with the next tithe in men and/or raw resources, whenever it is due. But that part 's just a theory of mine.

Everyone know that the Emperor's Express card is accepted in over a million worlds! Never leave your house without it!

The way I've imagined it is that there is an interplanetary currency that is maintained by the Administratum. Think of it like a currency exchange booth. You take your home coins (thrones for example), take them to the exchange and receive the local currency.

The problem there, though, is that those coins from another planet, which might be 3 sub-sectors away, has no local value. What is the local planet going to do with them? Unless all of the planets involved use some sort of valuable resource (gemstone, precious metal, whatever) as their currency, then currencies from other planets simply have no value.

A fiat currency, which would be any sort of paper money if paper has no intrinsic value, would be worthless at interstellar distances, since the vast majority of people (like 99.999% of them) will never leave the planet they're standing on.

official imperium wide currency depends on whos writing it.

I've heard of Thrones, to Credits to Eagles and other things.
planets each have their own currency and that's the only "constant", Imperium wide is broken an disjointed in terms of official fluff.

 Swastakowey wrote:
They have coins in Gaunts Ghosts. The rengades defaced them and some looting occured. There probably isnt a imperium wide currency though. Most planets civilians probably get paid in food stamps or something.

There would be no work, no commerce, and no rogue traders without some form of wealth. Even without paper/coin money, you still have valuable materials that are more readily negotiable (gold, silver, copper as examples).

Barter, like 'hard currency', only really works because someone deems that 'something' to be worth anything.

It's a boring book on the whole, that doesn't go anywhere really, but Terry Pratchet's The Long Earth is kind of interesting in terms of how do you deal with effectively limitless resources and how that effects currency. If you had unlimited access to gold, of what value is it really? Even with limited access, what value is it really? It is valuable only in the perception of value (on one iteration of the Long Earth they trade 'favors' as a form of currency, someone fixes your stove, so you make pots for the restaurant that is owed a favor by the guy who fixed your stove, and even then that is all perception based).

In the Imperium, what has value will be different locally, but something must have value in order to motivate, as every planet isn't a slave planet.

 Maniac_nmt wrote:

 Swastakowey wrote:
They have coins in Gaunts Ghosts. The rengades defaced them and some looting occured. There probably isnt a imperium wide currency though. Most planets civilians probably get paid in food stamps or something.

There would be no work, no commerce, and no rogue traders without some form of wealth. Even without paper/coin money, you still have valuable materials that are more readily negotiable (gold, silver, copper as examples).

Barter, like 'hard currency', only really works because someone deems that 'something' to be worth anything.

It's a boring book on the whole, that doesn't go anywhere really, but Terry Pratchet's The Long Earth is kind of interesting in terms of how do you deal with effectively limitless resources and how that effects currency. If you had unlimited access to gold, of what value is it really? Even with limited access, what value is it really? It is valuable only in the perception of value (on one iteration of the Long Earth they trade 'favors' as a form of currency, someone fixes your stove, so you make pots for the restaurant that is owed a favor by the guy who fixed your stove, and even then that is all perception based).

In the Imperium, what has value will be different locally, but something must have value in order to motivate, as every planet isn't a slave planet.

I am not taking offense or getting defensive so dont worry

But i think you missed the point or i didnt explain but for example on a hive world where there are untold amounts of people they probably dont bother with currency for the most part, you probably work X amount of hours and get X amount of food or other important goods. No work no food. For an industrial world its probably similar. Then you got trade circles between them because obviously one cant live without the other. Then you get worlds like ours with schools universities and churches cities what not who probably use cash as they (like us) have a lot of the needed resources in one area and the list goes on.

But my example with the food stamps wasnt an example for an imperium wide currency just an example of what i think many planets will probably use as currency given a lot of planets probably cant sustain themselves like ours can (to a point).

I think there absolutely has to be some form of currency in use, otherwise we wouldn't see things like traders or very rich individuals. Pretty much everything in fluff novels relies on currency. Apart from coins mentioned in Gaunt's Ghosts, there's currency in the Eisenhorn and Ravenor series (though admittedly those are both by Dan Abnett). There's money involved in The Last Chancers as well. Besides, think of gambling, prostitutes, retail stores, etc. Food stamps wouldn't work for that. I think there has to be a universal currency, more common than simply between .01% of the population. Maybe not ubiquitous, but common enough to be accepted pretty much everywhere as valid currency. Otherwise there would be very little motivation for most civilian activity.

Conviction1144 wrote:
I think there absolutely has to be some form of currency in use, otherwise we wouldn't see things like traders or very rich individuals. Pretty much everything in fluff novels relies on currency. Apart from coins mentioned in Gaunt's Ghosts, there's currency in the Eisenhorn and Ravenor series (though admittedly those are both by Dan Abnett). There's money involved in The Last Chancers as well. Besides, think of gambling, prostitutes, retail stores, etc. Food stamps wouldn't work for that. I think there has to be a universal currency, more common than simply between .01% of the population. Maybe not ubiquitous, but common enough to be accepted pretty much everywhere as valid currency. Otherwise there would be very little motivation for most civilian activity.

Yes but the point everyone is making is not all worlds are the same, not every world will see money as usefull. Even on our planet there are plenty of peoples who dont have money at all and have never used it, the amazon is probably full of them for example. So yes there will be currency but its improbable that the its an imerium wide thing. In my opinion food, water, weapons, armours, drugs, slaves and tech will be a lot of the inter planets form of trade.

Also im no economics expert but if currency was a thing, wouldnt the loss of so many planets etc cause so much inflation and deflation on a huge scale? It would be uncontrollable. Economics is hard enough to track and predict on this world imagine it on millions of worlds. If it where a world wide currency you could arrive on a world and find your money is useless because of inflation while you where travelling. It wouldnt work and it would calapse very quickly.

 Swastakowey wrote:

 Maniac_nmt wrote:

 Swastakowey wrote:
They have coins in Gaunts Ghosts. The rengades defaced them and some looting occured. There probably isnt a imperium wide currency though. Most planets civilians probably get paid in food stamps or something.

There would be no work, no commerce, and no rogue traders without some form of wealth. Even without paper/coin money, you still have valuable materials that are more readily negotiable (gold, silver, copper as examples).

Barter, like 'hard currency', only really works because someone deems that 'something' to be worth anything.

It's a boring book on the whole, that doesn't go anywhere really, but Terry Pratchet's The Long Earth is kind of interesting in terms of how do you deal with effectively limitless resources and how that effects currency. If you had unlimited access to gold, of what value is it really? Even with limited access, what value is it really? It is valuable only in the perception of value (on one iteration of the Long Earth they trade 'favors' as a form of currency, someone fixes your stove, so you make pots for the restaurant that is owed a favor by the guy who fixed your stove, and even then that is all perception based).

In the Imperium, what has value will be different locally, but something must have value in order to motivate, as every planet isn't a slave planet.

I am not taking offense or getting defensive so dont worry

But i think you missed the point or i didnt explain but for example on a hive world where there are untold amounts of people they probably dont bother with currency for the most part, you probably work X amount of hours and get X amount of food or other important goods. No work no food. For an industrial world its probably similar. Then you got trade circles between them because obviously one cant live without the other. Then you get worlds like ours with schools universities and churches cities what not who probably use cash as they (like us) have a lot of the needed resources in one area and the list goes on.

But my example with the food stamps wasnt an example for an imperium wide currency just an example of what i think many planets will probably use as currency given a lot of planets probably cant sustain themselves like ours can (to a point).

No worries. What I'm saying is that there has to be something that the populace at large attributes some value to in order to have any form of trade or willingness to work. Why work hard if it does not garner you anything extra? Cross bartering, which is what money is really (a simplified form of bartering that is portable and more universally acceptable), only works if everyone values each part. Why does the farmer make food beyond his ability to provide for his family? He would have to barter extra to get a plow, for example, the blacksmith would have to barter to get his iron, the miner would have to barter to have someone find the iron. Add in each successive layer of even imperial society, and bartering becomes ludicrously complex and people will start to say 'well why do we work for x?'.

Anything, even food, is only as valuable as people want it to be. This is why prices on commodities go up and down, at a given time x is worth less than y and then it changes again. Food stamps would form a sort of commodity based system. Even in a hive world you still need things like a bed, clothes, shoes, lighting, a 'home', furnishings, plates/cups/glasses/etc, and so on and so forth. That has to be made by someone and distributed and consumed.

A hive world, perhaps more than any other, is going to require some form of 'currency' to ensure that transactions happen. With so many people there would be so many layers that a non currency barter system would never work. Do you give some food to the telephone sanitizers or not? Sooner or later people are going to decide they don't need their phones cleaned and not trade with those people. Then everyone dies out because of a plague brought on by unsanitary telephones (poking a little fun at Douglas Adams).

I imagine there's some sort of imperial guard currency that regiments may or may not pay their soldiers depending on their world's traditions. This would be accepted by all of the hanger-ons found accompanying a regiment.

At the planetary and intra-system level, ie. non-warp travel, I would expect most civilized worlds to have either a uniform currency or a primary currency backed by local adeptus or other authorities.

Beyond that, I feel at best you'd have sector-wide currencies only if the sector is stable enough and the sector governor wishes to encourage trade. Most likely whatever primary currency of the Sector Capitol will be used as the official 'sector currency'.

Among rogue traders, navis nobilite, and other corporations there might be house-printed letters of debt that are traded among them, each with variable backing from the administratum. However I don't feel there would be any form of universal currency.

 Maniac_nmt wrote:

 Swastakowey wrote:

 Maniac_nmt wrote:

 Swastakowey wrote:
They have coins in Gaunts Ghosts. The rengades defaced them and some looting occured. There probably isnt a imperium wide currency though. Most planets civilians probably get paid in food stamps or something.

There would be no work, no commerce, and no rogue traders without some form of wealth. Even without paper/coin money, you still have valuable materials that are more readily negotiable (gold, silver, copper as examples).

Barter, like 'hard currency', only really works because someone deems that 'something' to be worth anything.

It's a boring book on the whole, that doesn't go anywhere really, but Terry Pratchet's The Long Earth is kind of interesting in terms of how do you deal with effectively limitless resources and how that effects currency. If you had unlimited access to gold, of what value is it really? Even with limited access, what value is it really? It is valuable only in the perception of value (on one iteration of the Long Earth they trade 'favors' as a form of currency, someone fixes your stove, so you make pots for the restaurant that is owed a favor by the guy who fixed your stove, and even then that is all perception based).

In the Imperium, what has value will be different locally, but something must have value in order to motivate, as every planet isn't a slave planet.

I am not taking offense or getting defensive so dont worry

But i think you missed the point or i didnt explain but for example on a hive world where there are untold amounts of people they probably dont bother with currency for the most part, you probably work X amount of hours and get X amount of food or other important goods. No work no food. For an industrial world its probably similar. Then you got trade circles between them because obviously one cant live without the other. Then you get worlds like ours with schools universities and churches cities what not who probably use cash as they (like us) have a lot of the needed resources in one area and the list goes on.

But my example with the food stamps wasnt an example for an imperium wide currency just an example of what i think many planets will probably use as currency given a lot of planets probably cant sustain themselves like ours can (to a point).

No worries. What I'm saying is that there has to be something that the populace at large attributes some value to in order to have any form of trade or willingness to work. Why work hard if it does not garner you anything extra? Cross bartering, which is what money is really (a simplified form of bartering that is portable and more universally acceptable), only works if everyone values each part. Why does the farmer make food beyond his ability to provide for his family? He would have to barter extra to get a plow, for example, the blacksmith would have to barter to get his iron, the miner would have to barter to have someone find the iron. Add in each successive layer of even imperial society, and bartering becomes ludicrously complex and people will start to say 'well why do we work for x?'.

Anything, even food, is only as valuable as people want it to be. This is why prices on commodities go up and down, at a given time x is worth less than y and then it changes again. Food stamps would form a sort of commodity based system. Even in a hive world you still need things like a bed, clothes, shoes, lighting, a 'home', furnishings, plates/cups/glasses/etc, and so on and so forth. That has to be made by someone and distributed and consumed.

A hive world, perhaps more than any other, is going to require some form of 'currency' to ensure that transactions happen. With so many people there would be so many layers that a non currency barter system would never work. Do you give some food to the telephone sanitizers or not? Sooner or later people are going to decide they don't need their phones cleaned and not trade with those people. Then everyone dies out because of a plague brought on by unsanitary telephones (poking a little fun at Douglas Adams).

Agreed, see post above

As to your other question, about currency, loosing worlds, collapse, etc. The Imperium rules by fiat, in a very real sense they could say 1 throne is equal to 1 cm cube of gold, or 1 days rations, or whatever. It does get much more difficult with space travel the way the fluff describes, but still must occur in some form. As an example, the US is no longer on the gold standard. In a very literal sense, the US dollar is only worth a dollar because the government says it is. What is that dollar actually worth? People more or less decide that, and it's why we get things like inflation and deflation. Would that be a problem? Sure, but at what level I don't know, and I don't know how the Imperium handles it.

Who builds the ships, who makes the supplies for those ships, who crews them, etc in order to have that interstellar commerce? I have no idea how the Imperium actually does it, just postulating on the fact that at some level there has to be something that makes the wheel turn. Even if your credits are only good across a few star systems or that you cannot use this segmentum's scrip in that segmentum, there is still a form of 'wealth' that allows things to happen.

Lasguns might be 'cheap', but there is a massive logistical supply chain to make them. Think of all the raw materials that would be needed. All of those have to be procured, shipped, stored, used, etc. That then applies outward to all the machines used to make them. At my company we have something like 4000 parts we use across the various products we use (service company, so we generally consume most of our own manufactured good to provide a service). We have a multitude of vendors who supply us, and they in turn have a multitude of vendors who supply them, and so on down the line. As an example, some of those 4000 parts are multi 'part' themselves (such as circuit boards).

What currency, of whatever sort, does, is simplify the logistical train necessary for keeping track of all the required barters that would have to go on to make us function. Thus, some sort of rules on it would be necessary in order for it to function. By the same token as 'cash', the medicine you want to trade off might no longer be of any value after a warp jump as something different/better/everyone dead already/whatever. So any problems that would plague 'cash' would also plague any 'good' as well.

 Banzaimash wrote:
Hey guys, I was just wondering whether there was a uniform currency used across the Imperium, or in fact whether the Imperium used currency at all? Also would there be trade between Imperial planets, or would they simply be forced to provide certain products to other planets by the Administratum?

It tends to vary world from world. Some RPG's refer to "Thrones", but those tend to be feudal/hive worlds.

I'd say there are a range of currencies in the IOM (besides the Emprah's currency of human lives).
These can include, but are not limited to:
Blood, skulls, sheep, credits, thrones, teeth, bones, body parts, ammunition, information, daemonic powers, technology etc.

40K makes economics awesome. Sometimes I think we should just open a whole school using 40K analogies to teach everything.

 uk_crow wrote:
I for one would like to know more about stuff like this, although normal lives of people doesn't sell many miniatures or books.

Not so sure buddy, reckon there is more of a thirst for this type of thing than you imagine.

We can safely say there is no standard Imperial currency. The requirements for maintaining such a massive system would be impossible, even for the Imperium's bureaucracy.

We do know that there are sector-wide currencies, as mentioned in a few books. Such systems would come about as a result of the area being tied together with trade and natural movement. But as normal people don't typically go very far from their home planet there would be a limit as to how far it would extend.

In such a huge economy, a barter system is more flexible. You don't have to bother with exchange rates and what have you and all that goes along with that. You can simply trade X for Y and be on your way. True wealth is in materials, money is simply a system that smooths it. A system that can easily reach its limits.


What likely happens is the following.


Rogue Trader Smith arrives in a system with a hold full of Iridium ore. He finds a buyer on the planet, who gladly pays him for the ore in the planet's local currency. The money itself has no value to Smith, but he will use the money to buy other materials on the planet that he does find value. He fills his cargo hold with food that this planet produces in vast quantities using the money to buy it.

He takes that food and goes to another planet, a Hive world. He sells the food for a premium price, and picks up a hold full of mining equipment which he takes to the planet where he got the Iridium ore originally and repeats the process. The profits from his endeavors go into his pocket. Currency from dozens of worlds, which in and of themselves are worthless anywhere else in the galaxy, but he can exchange them on those worlds for things he wants.

 Grey Templar wrote:


Rogue Trader Smith arrives in a system with a hold full of Iridium ore. He finds a buyer on the planet, who gladly pays him for the ore in the planet's local currency. The money itself has no value to Smith, but he will use the money to buy other materials on the planet that he does find value. He fills his cargo hold with food that this planet produces in vast quantities using the money to buy it.

He takes that food and goes to another planet, a Hive world. He sells the food for a premium price, and picks up a hold full of mining equipment which he takes to the planet where he got the Iridium ore originally and repeats the process. The profits from his endeavors go into his pocket. Currency from dozens of worlds, which in and of themselves are worthless anywhere else in the galaxy, but he can exchange them on those worlds for things he wants.

What you are describing is more like a free trader or someone engaged in the "tramp trade". Rogue Traders, true Rogue Traders with a Charter, are more like conquistadors heading off into the unknown instead of plying known trade routes within the Imperium. The Rogue Trader RPG books even describes one Rogue Trader who is looked down upon by others because he still engages in "boring" trade between established worlds within the Imperium.

All ships within the Imperium are described as being registered and tracked by the Imperium, and aside from Rogue Traders or planetary governors, the average individual has next to no chance of owning a ship. Even the Chartist Captains (called such because they ply the same routes generation after generation according to established navigation charts) are more caretakers and current operators of their ship rather than owners. Given the rarity and huge construction costs of ships, I would imagine entire generations of captains in debt to their employer, paying off the mortgage on their ship. Either that or they are pure employees collecting a salary and the employing institution owns the ship outright.

The Imperium is a mishmash of societies and economies but one thing that does seem clear is there does not seem to be much of an established consumer middle class consuming civilian consumer goods. Almost always when it comes to interstellar trade, it is described either in terms of bulk commodities such as ore or food, or in terms of luxury goods like food delicacies, artwork, or rare baubles for the consumption of the noble or rich. The trade therefore is also therefore most often in the form of trade between institutions or noble houses, than individuals. Whenever GW describes hive cities, it is almost always either the fabulously idle rich in the spires, or the downtrodden masses laboring in the factories. While I do not doubt there must be a middle class of middle managers to manage the administration and day to day runnings, they do not appear to be very large or significant class of their own and appear to be dependent on the rich for their sustenance either via direct salary or through selling the rich the crafted luxury items the rich desire.

The Imperium appears to operate in a mix of command economy, feudal duties, and 19th century capitalism (with capital concentrated into the hands of a very few). Social mobility is minimal, with most people collecting either fixed salaries or existing in a feudalistic exchange of duties and goods generation after generation. Another analogy would be the "company store" syndrome. Most of the average workers will be living in hand to mouth situations, with minimal consumption beyond the basic necessities of life.

From what I've read, Rogue Traders are a little of both. They are really defined as any human with a license to own their own warp capable vessels while also being licensed to interact with Xenos in any way that doesn't involve lasbolts to the face.

So a RT could be just a simple tradesmen, or an independent conqueror of new space. And yeah there are other traders who have their own ships and conduct trade, but technically they don't own.

 Grey Templar wrote:
From what I've read, Rogue Traders are a little of both. They are really defined as any human with a license to own their own warp capable vessels while also being licensed to interact with Xenos in any way that doesn't involve lasbolts to the face.

So a RT could be just a simple tradesmen, or an independent conqueror of new space. And yeah there are other traders who have their own ships and conduct trade, but technically they don't own.

To be a true Rogue Trader they need a Charter, and those things do not just come down to just random people. They are all either descendants of established Rogue Trader families, or new adventurers being sponsored by some form of institution. Rogue Traders are not going to be the lone Han Solo like pilot in a rust bucket freighter. Any Rogue Trader by simple virtue of even having a ship of any sort is already fabulously more wealthy than the average Imperial citizen. In the Rogue Trader RPG description of the "profit factor" scale used to track wealth and influence, even an outcast Rogue Trader is as powerful as a powerful hive guild or impoverished noble. The lesser Rogue Traders are as powerful as a major planetary noble or weak Imperial governor. So even the weakest Rogue Traders would already be like a Bill Gates even if much of their wealth is tied up in assets rather than mobile liquid form. They are not your down on his luck space truck driver equivalent.

This is my conception of the Imperial economy (as cobbled together from GW and FW sources and the Rogue Trader books):

1. There is no Imperium wide currency though there are sector wide currencies.

This is due to the fact the sector is the largest functional organization of the Imperium just as the sector battlefleet is the effective largest functional organization of the Imperial Navy. The Imperium's sectors are oases of human civilization separated by wide swathes of "wilderness space" which is unknown, uninhabited, or dominated by alien or non-Imperial human states. The time limitations of warp travel and the limitations of Astropathic communication mean information travels slowly and unreliably, meaning it is difficult to maintain large scale economies with one unified currency. Goods and commodities with inherent value (such as food) would be the main staples of inter-sector trade.

2. The Administratum levies tithes (aka taxes) and it is the responsibility of the Imperial governor to collect them in whatever way they deem fit.

The tithe is tailored to the productivity of the world and can be in the form of food, minerals, processed goods, and/or manpower. In return, the Imperial governor is acknowledged as the legitimate Imperial authority over the planet and has the right to request Imperial aid in case of emergencies. Other than that, the Administratum does not care in the daily micro-management for worlds it does not directly administer.

3. There is some capitalism but at the level of institutions

To the greater universe Lord Helmawr is Necromunda and the planet is his to rule as he pleases. The patriarchs and merchant families of the Noble Houses vie for his attention, and are eager to perform whatever favours are necessary to secure landing and shipping rights, trade licences and tax concessions. Even whilst they curry Lord Helmawr’s favour the Noble Houses scheme behind his back, hoping that one day House Helmawr will be brought low and a new Imperial House will inherit its domain -p. 62, Necromunda rulebook

As head of the planet, the Imperial governor has among other things the right of granting or denying access to space (as per Necromunda rulebook). These rights can be sold/rented. There is thus the appearance of some capitalistic monetary aspects. This is also backed up in the Calixis sector sources by FFG which depict a sort of financial stock market in one of the hives. However this capitalism seems to function at the level of noble house and cartels rather than individuals. Corporations might exist but there are barriers (such as high price or various etiquette or customary laws) to anyone except the nobles or other institutions buying shares.

4. The institutional capitalism is interwoven with feudalism and bloodright and entrenched privilege resulting in limited socioeconomic mobility

Why did the serf work his master's fields during the medieval era? He wasn't paid in money. He did it because it was his duty. His "payment" was in being allowed to live on that land, eat from the produce of that land, and in being protected (in theory) by his master. His labor was his tax payment, just as modern people pay money, which is a representative account of their own labor, to the government in return for government services (which includes use of infrastructure like roads). Ultimately all of these transfers are backed by the threat of coercion whether one is in a feudal system, centrally planned economy, or free market. If one didn't pay one's taxes, punishment in some form was coming, whether in the form of fines, imprisonment, eviction, physical punishment, or death. On feral or other regressed worlds in 40K, this could be literal return of feudalism. On hive worlds, it could be the "company store" syndrome of the worker being charged for all his basic necessities leaving him incapable of ever truly freeing himself from debt or to seek any other option other than work for his employer til the day he dies.

Although there is interstellar trade and merchant houses in 40K, the feel is very much intentionally that of the medieval era. Trade contracts could last for generations. Chartist captains are described as plying the same routes as their fathers and grandfathers, year after year. At that point, it becomes less a commercial contract and almost a feudal obligation between the two parties. An agri-world could be transporting its crops via a Chartist captain to a hive world for decades on end, and the Chartist captain in return is either paid in the local currency as his fee (or perhaps takes a cut of the produce to sell for himself to cover his expenses) . Then on the round trip, he takes a portion of tractor and combine parts from the hive world back to the agri-world. This transaction may or may not involve cash if it has been formalized over generations. The same noble house could be his customer and therefore just supply the machine parts directly in exchange for the food, plus maybe some cash on the side for the captain's fee. This can take place entirely off the open market or in a ritualized fashion of gift giving or rendering up of service and goods like a giving of tribute.

Money was not the sole arbiter of status. Like in historical societies, bloodline, etiquette, and entrenched privilege all served to hinder upward social mobility.

The Necromunda rulebook talks about the Merchant Guild of Necromunda. They can be fabulously wealthy, have property in the upper spire, yet they are not nobles. Wealth alone does not buy class. In fact, this parallels the historical situation. Rich merchants, but still commoners and not nobility. Wealth alone does not always purchase social mobility. Waving a fistful of Thrones or credits or whatever doesn't always open doors.

Other examples from other fiction would be say from the Game of Thrones novels which are based on an enlarged fantasy version of the British Isles. A certain smuggler is knighted and ennobled by his king for services rendered. However he is still snubbed by the entrenched nobility. However his hope is that with proper education and behavior, his children will be accepted among the noble class. That is similar to how I see the Imperium's noble class working. The rare individuals that do manage to propel themselves upwards whether through service, wealth, or whatever, would still never be fully accepted as "one of them", with the process of acceptance taking perhaps generations.

That is how also poor nobles may also not be powerless. Note that wealth is not the same necessarily as power. Poor nobles could still have influence in the right social circles even though they are poor, and might be willing to sell such influence in return for infusions of wealth. A word in the right ear, or some other social pressure, may open more doors more unobstrusively and subtly than waving a bribe. Similarly they might be open to such things as a marriage alliance or other such tie in return for wealth, such as how for example in the Titanic movie, Kate Winslet's character was engaged to a man so that the marriage would solve their high status family's debt problems.

5. Manufacturing in the Imperium is geared towards capital good production

Whenever we read of the factories in the Imperium they are invariably churning out heavy machinery, weapons, or mass produced goods for the consumption of the Imperial war machine. I cannot think of any scenes of large scale consumer good production. What luxury good production exists appears to be more of the craftsman and workshop variety, for the limited consumption of the nobles and wealthy.

What does this mean? It means the Imperium's manufacturing economy is geared towards export rather than internal consumption. There is no real service economy to speak of since the vast majority of people have no need of more sophisticated services, and those that do need services are the rich or the government.

"Currency" is just a medium that allows us to more easily trade goods and services.

Earth is the simplest example. In the USA we use dollars. I go to work, someone gives me dollars. I then give these to the grocery store (or local plastic dealer) and get a product. This same mechanism is in place all over the world, but with different monies.

Now, for me to buy something from Mexico I need to have something a Mexican wants; like a fistful of Peso's. To get Peso's I can trade dollars to someone that has Peso's but needs dollars. We agree on a conversion rate and both sides are (hopefully) happy. The rate is going to be based on the number of people trying to convert. For example, if more people want Dollars than Peso's then each dollar will buy more peso's; if more people want Peso's than Dollars then Peso's will "cost" more. This is certainly cyclical and based on a huge number of factors. For example, a destination vacation spot is going to have a different exchange rate at the beginning of the season than the end. More people want the local money at the beginning and then want their original currency back when they leave. Another example factor is the perceived viability of the currency. If it appears like the currency will lose it's local value, then fewer people will want to exchange for it and the rates worsen.

That same mechanism is no different when you cross planetary borders. Planet A has Thrones. Planet B has Eagles. The way you trade Thrones for Eagles is by having someone that wants to do the opposite trade. However, the Imperium is pretty vast. Sometimes nobody wants your Thrones. So, instead, you buy something local, like Wheat, then transport that to planet B and sell it for Eagles. Then you take the Eagles and buy whatever you actually want on that planet...such as Pillows and transfer those to Planet C ... rinse and repeat your way across the Imperium.

Point is: Pretty much every planet is going to have it's own version of currency. They will have defined trade routes where their currency is traded for a neighbor. Then that neighbor can trade with another planet altogether. When crossing vast distances you'll directly trade goods instead. Hopefully you will have done your research to find out if your destination has what you want... This is a big part of what Rogue Traders do.

Hope that makes sense.

 Lynata wrote:
For a uniform currency you'd need a central authority keeping tabs of stuff like local inflation and exchange rates against goods and services. The Imperium, however, is so vast and interstellar communication so unreliable that they don't even manage to impose a uniform code of law beyond "pay your tithes" and "the Emperor is your god". Hell, the Administratum manages to misplace entire planets because lol bookkeeping.

As far as I can see, currency and trade in the Imperium means "barter". Money is something for individual planets or clusters of worlds. Some sources mention specific local currency such as the "Thrones" of the Calixis sector from FFG's series of roleplaying games. However, I also like the idea of "scrip" I've read in one of James Swallow's novels, where it was basically issued like a sort of Imperium-stamped coupon that the owner could trade in anywhere. Scrip has been used in the real world in cases where uniform currency is a problem, too, such as military occupation zones or isolated company outposts, so it feels sensible for a setting like 40k. I would imagine that Imperial Scrip comes with a "you are obligated to accept this" note for the merchant to ensure acceptance, and the merchant might be able to trade it in for local currency at a local branch of his government - with the government then offsetting these expenses with the next tithe in men and/or raw resources, whenever it is due. But that part 's just a theory of mine.

I think that pretty much sums it up about currency in the Imperium.