Sicarius lifted a finger, directing her attention upward.
Some twenty feet above them, a clear convex ceiling served as a window into the lake. Enough light filtered down from the surface to reveal schools of fish drifting past.
“How is that possible?” Amaranthe whispered. Other than the crater walls themselves, the hundreds-of-feet-wide “window” lacked visible support. It couldn’t possibly be made from glass.
Sicarius shook his head once.
“Thank you for allowing me to speak, my colleagues,” the woman in the center of the circle said, the acoustics of the chamber making her voice easy to hear. Amaranthe made a note to limit her own words. “And thank you, Thovic, for explaining our plans to move the ranmya from a gold-backed currency into a fiat money system.”
Sespian had settled in on the other side of Books, and his head jerked up. Books’s eyes, too, sharpened.
“I agree with my colleague that we may need to outlaw the ownership of gold in order to force acceptance by the people. While paper money has become commonplace in the major cities, it’s still viewed with suspicion in smaller areas, and the warrior caste are notoriously hard to sway to new ideas.”
“New ideas?” Books scoffed. “The Minyar Empire tried a fiat currency centuries ago, and it played a role in their collapse.”
“Our proposition will solve the empire’s current money shortage problems,” the speaker said, waving toward the binders, “without requiring draconian tax increases that might bestir citizens to revolt. The common man will be unaware of how inflation works, so it’ll act as a hidden tax that benefits the government, allowing Turgonia to maintain its expansive military and infrastructure.”
Amaranthe hadn’t realized the empire might be in trouble financially. She supposed the slowdown in colonization and outright usurpation in the last fifty years had meant fewer fresh resources to plunder. Certainly industry was still running strong, but much of that belonged in private hands, and Turgonia did have a lot of resources to maintain. She peered past Books to Sespian. He must know all about Turgonia’s current state of affairs. Like Books, Sespian was focused on the speaker. No, he didn’t appear surprised by the talk of financial difficulties, though a wrinkle of concentration drew his eyebrows together, as if he might not have considered manipulating the money supply as a solution. Not surprising. Historically, Turgonian emperors had solved financial problems by conquering someone new.
“Of course,” the speaker said, “the government is only a concern of ours insofar as we can profit from it. Our plan is to control the money-creation system, ensuring that we benefit handsomely.”
Sicarius looked at Amaranthe. She wasn’t sure if it was a questioning look or not-he often surprised her with his versatility and knowledge, so she wouldn’t put it past him to have a handle on economics. The history of currency was fairly esoteric information, however, and she couldn’t imagine that Hollowcrest had felt the need to include it in his studies. She had only a basic understanding herself and suspected she’d be asking Books for clarification.
“Right now,” Amaranthe whispered, “ranmya notes say they’re redeemable for gold or silver, depending on the denomination. If that backing is taken away, the only reason paper money would continue to have value would be because the government said so. Because there’d be no finite resource limiting the amount of money in circulation, the government could, and likely would, print more as it needed more, and that would lead to inflation. Prices would appear to go up year after year, though it’d actually be a case of the value of the existing currency being diluted so that it’d be worth less and less. The average person would suffer because his or her buying power would be eroded.” Amaranthe glanced at Books, hoping he’d nod to indicate she was getting her information right-it’d been ten years since her classes with Ms. Worgavic, after all-but his eyes were focused on the speaker below. Figuring she had better wrap up and listen as well, Amaranthe finished her explanation with, “Those who gain from the process are those at the source, those who have their hands on the currency first, spending it as it’s printed, before the expansion of the money supply dilutes the value of each note.”
During Amaranthe’s speech, Sicarius’s expression never changed. At the end, he looked to Books and asked, “They’re not talking about establishing a central bank, correct? They seek to create a private banking cartel that counts the throne as its biggest customer?”
“Yes.” Books lifted a finger to his lips and pointed toward the floor.
Amaranthe blushed, realizing Sicarius hadn’t needed her explanation. His look had probably meant he’d been wondering if she knew what was going on. She hunched down and focused on the woman below.
“As many of you in banking know,” the speaker was saying, “our industry hasn’t been exceedingly profitable in the past. Business mavens are seeing a time of fantastic profits, however, by getting rid of competition and working together to fix prices at levels acceptable to profit margins.”
“At levels more expensive to consumers,” Books muttered.
“I propose we do something similar with banking,” the speaker said. “By creating a banking system that handles the creation of money in the empire, we can then handle all the loans that are made, including the loaning of money to the government. Currently, businesses are doing well, too well, and the trend is toward private capitalization. They haven’t needed our loans, but if we can lower interest rates to make loans more appealing… Well, in the current system, that’s not possible, but if money is no longer backed by anything, and we can simply create more when we need it, then we can make interest rates as low as we wish and still earn a handsome profit.”
A man in the back lifted a hand. “What makes you think the empire will go for this? The idea of a central bank is nothing new, but what government would give up control to private parties?”
Ms. Worgavic, who had a front row seat near the door, stood and straightened her jacket. Smiling, she said, “That’s already been arranged. We’re handing Ravido Marblecrest the throne, and, in exchange, he’s agreed to this. I doubt he has any idea what the ramifications are, as he seemed quite relieved to be asked for nothing more, but this, my colleagues, is how we ensure our prosperity and the future prosperity of our children.”
Amaranthe wondered if there was some Forge mandate about addressing everyone as “my colleague.” She’d have to remember that nuance if she ever tried to infiltrate the group.
“Everyone in this room,” Ms. Worgavic went on, “who wants to be a part of this is invited. You’ll have a position on the board of directors, a hereditary position that guarantees that your descendants will be a part of this organization for decades and centuries to come. Your offspring will not only be very wealthy in this new world, but they will shape how it evolves.”
The first speaker was nodding. “It starts with Turgonia, but it doesn’t end there. With the ranmya as the world’s reserve currency, it will only be a matter of time before we have a foothold in every nation on the globe.”
“Few if any of them appear to be armed,” Sicarius whispered. “They left their servants and bodyguards outside.”
It took Amaranthe a moment to realize where he was going with the comment. She scowled at him, though he didn’t seem to notice. He had crawled closer to the edge and was eyeing the drop-off beneath them. It had to be more than forty feet to the polished floor, but, due to the concave curve, one might be able to slide down it without breaking one’s leg. Still…
“You’re not going to jump down there and murder fifty people,” Amaranthe whispered.
“Forty-one,” Sicarius said.
Of course, he would have counted every person. No doubt he’d judged the fitness and athleticism of all those people and also taken note of bulges beneath jackets that might represent concealed weapons.