Economy of Shireroth

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Economy of the Imperial Republic of Shireroth
100erb5285.png
Currency: Erb (€) (IRE)
GDP: €24.807 trillion (1646 AN)
($4.264 trillion)
GDP per Capita €362,446 (1646 AN)
($6,230)
GDP by Sector:
  • Food (% of GDP): TBC € (TBC%)
  • Energy: TBC € (TBC%)
  • Other: TBC € (TBC%)
Marketplace Chamber of Bounties and Factorage

Industries:
  • Construction
  • Food
    • Citrus Fruits
    • Spices
    • Drink
      • Beer
        • Ale
        • Lager-Beer
      • Cider
        • Perry
      • Spirits
        • Brandy
        • Vodka
        • Whisky
      • Wine
        • Fortified Wine
        • Narcotic Wine
    • Livestock
      • Cattle
      • Goats
      • Horses
      • Pigs
      • Sheep
    • Fish
    • Grain
      • Oatmeal
      • Wheat
      • Cereal
      • Hay
  • Energy
    • Electricity Generation
      • Bathyergon Electrical Generation
      • Hydroelectrical Generation
      • Nuclear
    • Hydrocarbons
  • Military
    • Armaments & Munitions
    • Defence Engineering
    • Defence Logistics
    • Military Contractors
  • Education
  • Mining
    • Silver
    • Gold
    • Natural Gas
    • Coal
    • Oil
    • Salt
    • Chromium
    • Limestone
  • Pharmaceuticals
    • Sedatives
    • Stimulants
      • Amphetamines
  • Textile
    • Cotton
    • Silk
    • Wool
  • Transportation
    • Rail
    • Air
  • Sport
    • Soccer
    • Fighting Pits
  • Other
    • Misc.
      • Lich Bonemeal
Major Industry (% of GDP): Military (TBC %)
Largest Company (Value): ESB Group (TBC €)
Labour Force (% of Total Population): 337,164,658 (TBC %)
Labour Force by Sector:
  • Imperial Forces: 2,820,703
  • Food (% of All Employed): TBC (TBC%)
  • Energy: TBC (TBC %)
  • Other: TBC (TBC %)
Unemployed (% of Total Population): 4,152,600 (TBC %)

Budget: TBC €
Budget Surplus or Deficit: TBC €
Inflation Rate:

Exports: Community Service Workers, Military Equipment
Export Partners: Constancia, Kalgachia, Hoenn, Natopia
Imports: Consumer Electronics, Grain, Guest Workers, Industrial Machinery, Intermediate Manufactured Goods, Opium, Uranium
Import Partners: Caputia, Constancia, Craitland, Florian Republic, Hoenn, Kalgachia, Natopia, Raspur Khanate
Reserves of Foreign Currency:

Shireroth had an upper-middle income autarkic economy with strategic sectors of activity dominated by ancient noble families and by more recent corporations that have become closely intertwined with the Imperial Government, which became in effect a covert form of state ownership of the corporations and corporate ownership of the state.

The following article describes the situation of the Shirerithian economy immediately prior to the White Plague. After the Kalirion Fracture of 1671 the integrated continental economy related below substantially unravelled to create a new multi-polar economic order with the post-collapse Vulture States gravitating towards dependency upon the markets of the Batavian Confederation, the Raspur Pact (particularly Natopia), and even the notoriously isolationist Garden of Kalgachia (to the limited extent it would permit).

Overview

Appropriations and dispossessions over the course of a recent series of civil wars, beginning in the 1630s AN and largely concluded by 1652, saw the redistribution of large swathes of agricultural and forestry land in Goldshire, Elwynn and Western Benacia. In the absence of clear guidance to the contrary, land ownership is primarily divided between the governments of the autonomous Imperial States and the Kaiser for the dominions that constitute the remainder of the Imperial Republic. Outside of this broad bipartite division a process of subinfeudation of fiefs can be observed. Tenures can be hereditary but are not inalienable and can be rescinded by the granting authority. This can make the position of tenant farmers precarious and has harmed agricultural productivity.

The territorial range of the Imperial Republic has made it largely self-sufficient and its deep-rooted xenophobia makes it hostile to outside investment and commerce, excepting a few trusted partners such as Natopia and Constancia. Trade with the wider world tends to be tolerated only when it is conducted through the frequently burned port of Musica or else discreetly through deniable third parties. Traders themselves are generally viewed with suspicion by the Imperial Government and regarded as little better than pirates. Traders attempting to conduct commerce across internal state borders in the Imperial Republic are obliged to register with the Chamber of Bounties and Factorage while the gibbets hung from the Gates of the Guttuli attest to the fate of those who do attempt to carry on unlicensed interstate commerce. In spite of this smuggling remains endemic and the Imperial Marshals and Auxiliaries scour the countryside in pursuit of those who would cheat the Treasury of the Sacred Bounty.

The Imperial Republic has a large and sophisticated arms industry, capable of designing and manufacturing high-tech military equipment, including Gravimetric vehicles, third and fourth-generation fighter jets, nuclear powered submarines, ballistic missiles and orbital bombardment platforms. By virtue of the SANE alliance the Imperial Republic shares technologies with its close allies and participates in the advanced Natopian space programme via a network of inter-meshed contractors and supply chains. Strict export controls govern the more advanced weapons systems and the majority of Shirerithian military hardware released for export takes the form of small arms, the ubiquitous Horjin armoured vehicle and the venerable 80mm field gun.

The psychological shock of the loss of Kildare and the subsequent Sxiro-Jingdaoese Confrontation has permanently distorted the economy of the Imperial Republic away from its feudal and agrarian origins towards the construction of a vast Military-Industrial Complex, only seriously rivalled or matched by the Jingdaoese Empire and the Greater Pallisican Trade Association in the present era.

The focus on rearmament, combined with the vast inequalities in wealth between the nobility and the common citizens and subjects of the Imperial Republic has created enduring social tensions and has limited the growth of a consumer society outside the core East-Benacian metropole of Ardashirshahr-Eliria-Musica-Shirekeep. One estimate placed the eight ruling families of the Imperial Republic in possession of 75% of non-state assets in Shireroth, although this figure was refuted by the Imperial Government and the academics responsible for it dispatched to monasteries in the arctic circle in order to undergo a period of contemplation.

In spite of this, pockets of technological advancement can be found throughout the Imperial Republic, with the Citadel in Caverden being an especially esoteric example.

The Imperial Republic has experienced periodic downturns in economic activity, particularly the Great Slump of 1519–1533, and the Imperial Government itself, struggling with the burgeoning costs of rearmament, only narrowly avoided insolvency and default in 1641–1643 by withdrawing from the SCUE (Small Commonwealth Unified Economy) and establishing the Office of Bounties and Factorage to dramatically increase its tax intake.

The Imperial Republic increasingly looks towards bathyergon electrical generation, a technology pioneered on the island of Kezan to lessen its dependency upon fossil fuel and scant strategic reserves of fissile materials and to fuel future economic growth in order to head off the potential for internal dissent against the Imperialistic neo-feudal system which has been established under the Ayreon-Kalirion dynasty.

Office of Bounties and Factorage

The Office of Bounties and Factorage is an Imperial Office, housed in the Chamber of Guilds and Factorage, under the Ministry of the Interior. It is tasked with overseeing the economy of the Imperial Republic, the collection of taxation, the reward of the Imperial Officers and acts as a mercantile fiducary on behalf of the Kaiser. The Office is precided over by the Comes Sacrarum Largitionum (Count of the Sacred Bounties) who also serves as the Chief Factor. The office is currently administered by the Anzarolexion corporation as a part of its remit to administer the workings of the Ministry of the Interior.

History

Prior to the creation of the Office of Bounties and Factorage, the office was known as the Ministry of Trade. Probably the least important and least successful of Shirerithian ministries, the Ministry of Trade appeared to be under some sort of curse preventing it from ever developing a successful economy.

Early Function

The first Shirerithian to serve in a Minister of Trade-like capacity was Tony Au, although it is not certain that he actually held the modern-day title. He worked with a straightforward supply-side economic system in which he paid officials' salaries and expected the money to create an economy. Although there were some attempts by people to create companies and buy stocks, the money did not change hands often enough to create a functioning system, and certain loopholes in the plan's design allowed some individuals to accumulate massive hoards of money with little effort. The crown of Au's economic effort was the Intermicronational Currency Exchange Organization, which allowed Shireroth's currency, the Erb, to be easily exchanged with that of other nations. Unpopularity with local merchants, however, prevented the success of this project.

Minister Erik Mortis was the next person to make a significant contribution to the Ministry when he created the Bank of Shireroth. While this made the economy more efficient, it did not change the lack of a functioning system. Kaiser Los II, introduced a gift economy in which citizens were encouraged to give monetary gifts as rewards to citizens who helped the country. This functioned for about half a century. Afterwards, Shireroth's economy returned to a mercantilist system.

File:Taxcc.jpg
A clerk of the Office of Fixed Taxes at work for the glory of Shireroth

It returned to the old methods of salary, taxation, and calculation, and suffered from the same flaw the old methods had revealed in the old days it was regarded as intrusive by the Shirithian population.

Later Function

After a Revival of the Ministry of Trade, Mors V was succeeded by Hasan I. One of the achievements of Hasan's reign was the restoration of the economy and of the Minitrade. Under the guidance of Minister Andreas the Wise and by joining the Small Commonwealth United Economy (SCUE) the economy became more or less stable. However, in the late 5th millenium, the SCUE became unpopular with the Shirithian nobility and population, feeling that it restricted international trade more than it encouraged.

Under Kaiser Verion I, the Ministry of Trade was abolished and the powers of taxation were returned to the Imperial State. Although the financial powers were once again resumed by the Imperial Government in the decades following, the Ministry of Trade was not re-opened.

comes sacrarum largitionum

In 1641 AN, Shireroth withdrew from the moribund SCUE currency union. At the same time, the cost of undertaking the reconstruction of Shirekeep, combined with the burgeoning rearmament programme undertaken by the Imperial Forces began to place a strain on the public finances, to the point that even Malarbor began to take a morbid delight in making loud oracular prognostications of an impending catastrophe to any unfortunate mortals who came within earshot. By 1643 it was apparent to all that the debt burden could no longer be met through the traditional public revenues and Kaiser Dominus instructed the MinInt to bring in the Lord of Blackstone as Count of the Sacred Bounties and Chief Factor in order to save the Imperial Republic from a humiliating default.

As such, the comes sacrarum largitionum became a figure of tremendous influence. He was responsible for all money taxes, examined banks, mints and mines everywhere, watched over all forms of industry, and paid out the budgets of the many departments of the state, the upkeep of imperial palaces and other buildings, supplied the Courts with clothing and other items. To accomplish these many tasks, he was aided by a large central staff and field force.

During the disorders of 1644 the Sacred Treasury was twice looted by conspirators in the plot to assassinate the Kaiser Dominus; on the first occasion by Ludovic Verion, the Count of the Sacred Bounty, after he turned on his co-conspirators, and in the second instance by Tokaray al-Osman after he after he acknowledged the failure of his attempted coup and fled for Mishalan.

In 1646, in a further desperate attempt to rescue the Imperial finances in the wake of the Wars of the Dark Orchid and the ongoing Sxiro-Jingdaoese Confrontation, the Steward, Daniyal Dravot, decreed that any person found conducting trade across state boundaries without having first been registered with the Office of Bounties and Factorage could be garroted and hung from the Gates of the Guttuli[1].

Office Holders

  • 1643–1646: Ludovic Verion
  • 1646–1654: Grand Neutered Servitor Pyle Quinn
  • 1654–the present: Anzarolexion as Minister of the Interior (in commission)

Subordinate Offices

Subordinate offices of the Office of the Sacred Bounties:

File:Ccacc.jpg
The Chief clerk of the bureau of accounts at work
Office Office description Office holder
The chief clerk Chief advisor to the comes sacrarum largitionum Philemon Lewis
The chief clerk of the bureau of fixed taxes In charge of setting tax rates on individuals, enterprises and transations Anton Yastreb
The chief clerk of the bureau of records Scribe and recordkeeper of the Office of the Sacred Bounties Nathan Dalion
The chief clerk of the bureau of accounts In charge of private and public accounts and overseeing accountholders Petros Ozymandias
The chief clerk of the bureau of gold bullion In charge of storage of the gold reserve of the Imperial Republic Kurt Walraf
The chief clerk of the bureau of gold for shipment Overseeing and safeguarding the transport of gold Howard Alstair
The chief clerk of the bureau of the sacred wardrobe In charge of storing, sorting and safeguarding the Imperial Wardrobe Nadia Charmaine Magista
The chief clerk of the bureau of silver In charge of storage and transport of the silver reserve of the Imperial Republic Tiberius Stark
The chief clerk of the bureau of coinage In charge of the Imperial Mint Robert Goldslayer

Subordinate offices of the Chief Factorage:

File:Guildmag.jpg
A procurator of the Guilds conducting an inspection
Office Office description Office holder
The counts of the bounties and the counts of the
markets in all the Imperial Dominions
Overseeing the implementation of regulations in the Imperial Dominions Teodric Ilsidur
The counts of metals in Mishalan Overseeing and regulating the trade in metals in Mishalan Fjodor Romanovitsj
The count and accountant of the general tribute in
Dietsland, Puritania and Voltrue
Overseeing the annual payment of tribute in the Confederacy Waldemar Zinkgraven
The accountants of the general tribute Overseeing the annual payment of tribute in the Imperial Republic Frederick Young
The magisters of the linen vesture Overseeing the implementation of regulations in the linen trade Virginia Delacroix
The magisters of the private vesture Overseeing the implementation of regulations in private vesture Arik Tuomassen
The procurators of the factories Overseeing the implementation of regulations in the factories Raynor Brunell
The procurators of the weaving-houses Overseeing the implementation of regulations in the weaving-houses Oliver Sigourney
The procurators of the dye-houses Overseeing the implementation of regulations in the dye-houses Salvador Picasso
The procurators of the mints Assisting the Chief Clerk of the Bureau of Coinage Samwise Polk
The provosts of the goods despatch Overseeing the implementation of regulations in transport of goods Victor Hubertus
The procurators of the Guilds Overseeing the implementation of regulations among the guilds Carolus Einhornsson
The provost of the posts Overseeing the Imperial Postal Service (est. 1651 AN) Titus Alexander Malfredius Splick


War economy

Since the year 1647 AN, the Imperial Republic has found itself embroiled in a near permanent state of war with Jingdao, particularly after a new and escalated phase of the Sxiro-Jingdaoese Confrontation was inaugurated by the War of Lost Brothers which began in 1653. The war has placed further unique strains upon the Shirerithian economy and the Imperial Government responded by further deepening the ongoing process of corporatisation; mobilising denizens, subjects, and slaves alike to maximise production in crucial sectors such as agriculture, mining, metallurgy, munitions and armaments.

The insatiable resource hunger of the Imperial Republic's war machine has seen it begin to develop a predatory attitude towards its near neighbours, particularly the USSO aligned states of Nova England and the Brettish Isles - the Shirerithians, in the midst of their war with Jingdao, consider membership of the USSO to be a declaration of allegiance to the Jing that renders all obligations under international law null and void. This then leaves the territories of USSO members open to plundering expeditions by so-called Sea-Reavers, a maritime militia founded in 1655 AN by Steward Zinkgraven.

Known exchange rates

Here follows a list of exchange rates for the erb (€) compared to various foreign currencies, taken from an average of guild-accredited currency changers in Shirekeep's Babkhi district in 1660 AN.