Omban economics

Subsistence

Both the Omban Empire and its successor states have economies based on large-scale agriculture, primarily cereal grains (oat and barley), livestock (cattle and goats), fruits and vegetables, and beer and wine. There is a substantial maritime economy including large-scale fishing and whaling. Upwards of 80% of the populace is directly involved in food production as farmers, fishers, herders, gardeners, etc. Hunting and foraging still occupy a small percentage of rural residents' subsistence, especially in times of poor crops, but there are few if any folks who rely principally on hunting and foraging economically.

Wealth Inequality

The Omban Empire was characterized by massive wealth inequality, and in particular between the nobility (which is less than 5% of the population) and everyone else. Post-Omban societies are somewhat less class-stratified, especially in the western parts of the former Empire (Daligash, Malfan, Choradan), but wealth inequalities are just as high - they merely include more commoners among the ultra-wealthy. Deep, crippling poverty among the common and country lineages is mitigated somewhat by the ability of magic to provide basic sustenance with low or moderate labour, and the presence of bubun and corpseborn to do jobs that others wouldn't want. There is a very broad expectation that some of the wealth generated by state taxes and by temple incomes will be distributed to the poor, but nothing like an expectation of general equality.

Land Tenure

Economic rights over pastures and fields are mainly held, not by individuals, but by lineages, who distribute rights to their lands to lineage members, or collect rents from tenant farmers whose lineages lack their own (or sufficient) lands. Noble lineages hold huge agricultural and other landholdings, some of which have been retained for centuries, and which provide a steady income even to relatively useless lineage members. Of course, there are small and relatively impoverished noble lineages, often because their lands have been mismanaged or become unproductive, forcing them to sell their rights over the years. Common lineages vary enormously in landholdings, from none whatsoever, to basically indistinguishable in size from those of the nobility. Some country lineages are moderately well-off, but far more hold few or no land rights in their own regard, or hold rights to lands that no one else wants. Mining rights, like agricultural rights, are similarly held by lineages, but most mine workers are not lineage members, but rather members of poorer country lineages, Corpseborn, or bubun hired for the purpose. Lineages in coastal regions will often purchase their own fleets of ships, with lesser sons and daughters employed to captain them.

Secondary to lineage landholdings are temple or religious landholdings, which vary in importance from exceptionally important (in Hasmala, e.g.) to minor (Choradan, Malfan). In general, the older and more central Omban states have temple lands of greater substance and quality. The Hand of the Dead, in particular, holds large landholdings worked by bubun, which provides them substantial income, and they have purchased many lands from lineages who could no longer afford to maintain their own holdings. In Hasmala, the Hand owns much of the productive land of the eastern half of the country. The Voice of the Dead hold much smaller landholdings and rely much more heavily on donations than on direct production off the land.

Countries or governments "the state" hold very few productive landholdings of their own, but rather extract taxation (around 5%, rising to 10% or more in times of war or economic need) from lineages and temples.

There is a small but growing practice of independent farmers (and other professions) separate from the lineage system, especially in Daligash, where the old lineage system is not as strong as it used to be. There, as long as one is a member of one of the two great factions, Bronze and Ruby, and pays tithes to the faction, it is perfectly possible to make a substantial living as an independent landholding farmer.

Corpseborn, and members of some of the poorer country lineages, often do not hold lands on their own or collectively, and they engage in small-scale farming, gardening, fishing and herding basically outside the interference of the state. The lack of a large standing permanent military or policing infrastructure allows such individuals to escape much of the state apparatus if they so choose.

Currency

During the Omban Empire, currency was minted principally in the capital city of Omba, with the gold horn, silver tusk, and copper fang being the three coins accepted generally throughout the Empire. The coins take their name from a former commodity currency based on ivory in the Omban monarchy. The rough accepted ratio for these coins is 1 horn = 10 tusks = 100 fangs.

The gold horn weighs around 4.5 grams, and the gold horns of other realms are generally accepted anywhere as long as their weight and fineness are appropriate. Gold coinage is used for almost all long-distance trade and for purchases made across large lineages. Silver tusks and copper fangs are much more variable in size, weight, and quality across the Omban countries, and may or may not be accepted as legal tender outside the country of their minting.

Most of the Omban successor states now mints its own coinage to basically the Omban standard, with their own aesthetic preferences and emblems. Exceptions include Sharai, whose minting is just beginning, and Nulu, which continues to rely on Omban or other countries' mints. Currency systems outside the Omban standard have emerged in the centuries since the Empire's end, and are becoming more important with time. In Choradan, a coin called the buckle is the equivalent of a sentinel's daily wage, and is roughly equivalent to four tusks (2.5 buckles = 1 horn); a smaller coin called a pin is one-tenth of a buckle (25 pins = 1 horn). In Basai, the 'bronze' is a coin worth five fangs, and replaces both the fang and the tusk for many purposes in that country.