The secrets of the Sacred Code, which Sister Solana revealed to Adam, weren't something he could easily dismiss, and they occupied his mind for the coming days. However, the first thing Adam faced in the morning was the grumpy mug of Senator Carter, who came to Adam with complaints.
"We're having power outages, and the soldiers fought with the civilians over salvaging an old power generator to power up the heaters."
With that, Adam had to go around, investigate, and punish the people who started the disagreement on both sides. He took the chance to introduce Sheriff Brya Vigil and Officer Reeves—now Deputy Reeves—to each other and to the base downhill, in order to oversee disputes themselves before he stepped in personally.
The Men-at-Arms were forbidden from enforcing any laws, given the existence of Lawmen, while Adam started charting not just public order laws but an economic system for the bases by creating a citizen register that stored biometric data and tied it to a profile that stored their wages in Credit Points.
Adam had to later look for the people who had economic backgrounds and invite them to the military base for a meeting. He needed to figure out a way to establish a sensible pricing structure and economic standards.
"As we agreed, the Military Base had priority in supplies under the rules of the Tithe." Adam spoke to the civilian advisors gathered in the Command Center building, taking seats around the Halo Table, "The Military Essentials and Core Reserve take precedence over Civilian Essentials, which take precedence over Military Secondary Reserve, which takes precedence over Civilian Market. The Tithes wouldn't be taxation per se, but a form of reserving and preparing the military for its operations."
Following Adam's statement, Kave spoke up as the one designing and tightening up the rules for the system:
"The Credit system would only control Civilian Market goods. The Bases' Main Terminals would automate the flow of Credits, with the ability to keep blockchain ledgers for all exchanges, thereby keeping the system dynamic and monitored at the same time. And to keep it secure, we'll allocate most of the economic data into independent data cores that track and store these ledgers, with backups spread around in different locations to avoid system failures due to damage or corruption."
"Those with Privateer status would face harsher trade penalties but would have free access to the market, easier methods of importing goods, and large profits from fighting monsters and bounty hunting." Megan followed up, looking at Professor Hendrick, who faced her.
"So let me get this straight." Senator Carter shifted his weight in his seat, "You'll make people choose between Protection and Freedom. With Protection come cheaper goods and less reward, but with Freedom come pricier goods and high rewards."
"High risk, high reward." Adam pointed as he leaned forward, "But there's also the military option; you get Civilian Market goods and Privateer payment rewards."
"That's hardly fair." One of the civilians protested under his breath.
"And hardly unfair." Megan joined in as she took her seat beside Adam's, "Don't forget that Military life means you'll have little freedom to act, let alone time to spend your Credits. Still, it's a great option if you have a family to support in the Civilian Base."
"Which makes either a Privateer or a Military life more lucrative than a civilian one." Professor Hendrick contemplated before asking, "I can't imagine the old folks and the children picking either. Shouldn't they be given some perks?"
"There's one." Adam nodded and turned to his clipboard, "The Work Guild will be an entity that establishes communications between the Military, Civilians, and Privateers."
"I've seen the plans and the layout." Senator Carter nodded and followed up, "Run me through it."
"The administration of any base would require resources such as salvage, fuel, and products; it would also issue bounties and Privateer work. These work orders would be offered to those who have the capacity to complete them, whether in terms of combat or production, and rewards would be provided. Most of the missions given will involve manufacturing and resource acquisition. Both the bases and the military could issue them, and there would be plenty of work to keep everyone busy. We could also publish job offers on them, which would help on all fronts." Adam explained the idea of his Guild.
He drew inspiration from the Mission Board in the open-world survival game Wartopia, which typically presented a big screen displaying galaxy-wide jobs. Players would select from the missions issued, which ranged from repeatable radiant jobs to exclusive ones like hunting criminals, destroying Malcode-infested bases, burning Hive colonies, slaying Infernium demons, etc.
While this wasn't the Wartopia universe, preventing Sacred-Code deviations, purging Gobzkin, burning Dark Hosts, and destroying Krant hordes would be a good start for the Privateers, while production jobs, CPU acquisition, and other tech parts salvage would make up the bulk of Adam's Guild jobs.
"There are a few things to take note of then." An elderly man, introduced as an economist by the Senator, said, "Credits should follow some rules we must set if we are to build a new safe economy from scratch, one that isn't tainted by our world's previous economic structures."
"We're listening." Adam turned to the man with interest.
"First, we can't create money faster than we can create goods and services. There should be a delicate balance between what's on the Market and how much credit circulates. Our productive capacity dictates our wealth, not the authority of the Military. We must avoid inflation and black market scenarios by keeping track of what was legally manufactured or acquired, and remaining watchful for goods that come from outside our economy. Keeping this delicate system will guarantee Market stability, voluntary labor, and people investing in the system."
"Noted." Adam nodded and made sure he had all that recorded.
"Second, everyone here must understand that Credits aren't wealth; they are tools and proof of labor. Food, clothing, weapons, and tools: that's the real wealth. Third, the Tithe system already puts military economy first, and honestly, the clause about Military Core Reserve is already problematic enough, so Credit Tax should exist to prevent inflation and remove excess Credit from circulation." The Economist said.
"We had that same idea, but your input greatly refines it." Adam nodded to the third point.
"Fourth, prices must fluctuate and never be forcibly fixed. It would prevent over-taxation since people would still hate it even if they understand its purpose. For that, we must set certain Market reserve rates. When reserves dip, Credits lose purchasing power automatically, so people feel the scarcity before the collapse. It's a warning system, since the population would riot if one day they found the resources they used to get the other day were suddenly out of stock. Supply and Demand, in other words."
As Adam listened attentively, Senator Carter butted in with a different agenda:
"We need to talk about the ownership of production methods."
"You mean you fear turning this into communism?" Megan asked.
"Right you are, Miss Dorsett." The Senator nodded, "So far, all production methods are in this base; basically, the Authority is manufacturing things and people are working for wages they can't even control. We're just pretending we're not communists at this point. People must have some say in the matter."
"Hmph!" Sergeant Elena snorted from the side before retorting, "Such nerve! This 'Authority' has the final say in everything because it knows better. The Armamenta Bellarium has always been the ultimate authority in manufacturing. Trying to mess with that is a sin against the core tenets of the Solarium."
"That's true." Kave agreed with Elena, "This is a military survival system. We must prioritize Military industries."
"Son, these are dangerous designs you're playing with. Our history has proven that free industry is the key to a free economy, which in turn is the key to personal freedom. The moment you let the Authority control any of that, the scales start to fall out of balance… badly." Senator Carter said with a calm yet fierce tone.
"I agree with the Senator." Professor Hendrick joined forces with his political rival.
"And from the very first impression we got of Mr. Clay, he's a man who is rebuilding civilization. Quite honestly, I have high hopes for the success of this economy. It has no banks, no capitalist traps, and no eternal debts. It has equity between production and reward, and even though the system is highly digitized and monitored, it can replicate the transparency of cryptocurrency."
"That's very progressive of you, Senator." Adam smiled, giving the Senator a strange look.
"I used to be a very rich man, Justiciar, and I built my own wealth not by being a rigid brick, as some think of me." The Senator replied with complete agreement, "So, what would we do about production?"
"As you heard, production is vital for the military, and since we are following the structure of our Wartopian friends, we had the same ideas they did." Adam shrugged his shoulders before continuing, "But you raised good points, and I think the Privateer example can still save us here."
"Go on!" The Senator leaned forward, resting on his elbows.
"Privateers can have their own means of production that they can purchase from the Authority. Also, I, on behalf of the Commander, would allow Civilians to purchase them, but there would be more rules and regulations, and they cannot become full manufacturing entities without Privateer privileges." Adam decided.
"So a Privateer can be both a military entity and a manufacturing entity, is that it?" The Senator asked.
"A Privateer can be whatever the fuck they want to be." Megan stated with a shrug.
"Language, honey." Adam turned to her.
"Sorry." Megan apologized to the people in the room with a sweet smile, "The Dorsetts swear like sailors and love like saints."
"You're your father's daughter indeed." Senator Carter laughed it off, apparently familiar with the family.
"So, regarding the production methods, will they be available for purchase and ownership?" The Economist asked, returning the meeting back to the main subject.
"They will be sold as STDs for the most part!"
The reply came from Kave, causing everyone in the room to suddenly freeze. Adam was facepalming, Megan was giggling, the Wartopians didn't react whatsoever, while the Professor, the Senator, the Economist, and the other guests were looking dangerously at Kave.
"STDs stand for Solarium Trusted Diagrams." Adam explained with a painful expression, "They are programs that can walk anyone through making anything with different manufacturing upgrades and variations."
"Well… that certainly needs clarification." Professor Hendrick stated as he received nods from everyone.
"Back to the main topic." Adam cleared his throat and faced the economist, "You raised four important matters: Keep a delicate balance between money and goods, understand that real wealth is the resources we have, not the money, kill inflation with taxation, and use price fluctuation as a warning system before scarcity, and never fix prices."
"That sums it up." The Economist said with a nod, "As long as production is backing the Credits, it's a safe system for the most part. Civilians, however, must understand what they are buying into, and you should give perks to the people. We've had a week of peace, and some are itching to work, so the method this economy is presented to them will make a big difference."
"This is politics." Adam said and turned to the Senator, "As long as you like our economy module, I assume we can rely on you to popularize it. After all, we wracked our brains to prevent it from becoming the authoritarian communism you hate."
"I wouldn't try to buy my support with that, if I were you, Justiciar. But I'll play fair and help you out. I know you have to run politics with the other side as well."
The Senator's reply came with a glance at the frowning Sergeant Elena and the eerie Sister Solana.
"I understand. Thank you." Adam concluded the meeting and shook hands with the Senator, "I'll try to make the Tax system more lenient than we discussed. Give the people some choice and control over their payments, and design extra security around the system."
"And I'll take you up on your word."
With this agreement established, an economic module was put in place as the first official foundation of the Solarium on Earth as a new world power. It was recorded in the annals of history as the First Tithe Act.
However, Adam's agenda for the day was busier than usual. He had to solve a power outage, a cultural animosity between two races, and witness the first group of Earthlings entering the Iron Maiden Trial, evolving from mere recruits into full-fledged Auxiliary Men-at-Arms.
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