HI All Ok, so I'm still fleshing out the Stars scum swarm setting for my group, and I was wondering how the scum handle the interface between their reputation economy and the transitional/old economies of the inner system. The module says "The scum do not use money within the swarm, but when dealing with outsiders they often buy and sell with credits. How exchanges of goods and services is handled with external sources is entirely up to individual scum and their collectives..." This seemed inefficient to me and trading inefficiencies are opportunities for someone to make a living. In my campaign, this is the Dead Presidents Collective(DPC), the closest thing the Stars swarm has to a bank. The DPC's main function is to serve as an exchange for credit to rep transactions. The way they do this is to allow new arrivals on the swarm to deposit their spare and now useless credits with the DPC, like a bank deposit. This deposit can be drawn on whenever the owner needs credits, but while on the swarm, the deposit gives the owner a certain baseline rep, based on the size of the deposit, and length of holding. So for example, a deposit of 500-1500, average 1000, credits counts as a moderate favour to the collective, and earns it's holder an immediate @-rep gain of 5 points, with another 5 a week as interest. 10-29k, average 20k creds is a Partnership level service and earns 20 rep immediately and another 20 every 3 months. (using the standard rep to credit borrowing rates on the Acquire Services table, EP pg 290, and the favour refresh rates for interest periods). When the owner leaves the swarm, and withdraws their money, their reputation drops accordingly (the amount of the initial gain, the interest rep is theirs to keep). Note: to prevent rep gaming, each person gets a single account, so you can't use your 20k to open 20x 1000cr accounts and earn 100 rep immediately. They also won't accept an account value of more than 29,999 credits, at that point you're advised to find a real bank. Accounts are linked to a nanocoded physical token or nanotat and the person's swarm mesh id, usually with their pseudonymous 'nom de swarm' chosen when first joining the swarm fleet. (The new arrival's Naming party is traditionally where these names are picked.) The second function of the DPC is to loan credits to scum who need it, which they do at the usual Acquire services rep rate. Being late on a loan repayment costs you negative rep points. These two functions make credits available when needed, and prevent them being hoarded and a temptation for anti-social theft. The final function is a bit more shady, they convert credits or rep favours into anonymous cybercreds or physical cash for darknet or red market transactions. Their preferred cash format are copies of old earth dollars, printed to order, and designed to disintegrate after 72 hours. The dollars change color as they age, and encourage return business. The members of the DPC maintain market stalls in all major swarm markets and near boarding points. They have fairly decent physical and mesh security provided by other collectives, with retribution services requested from the Bahala Na gang if robbed. ------- Thoughts? I'm a security geek not a banker, so any one want to explain why this may be wrong or prone to being gamed? DX