Friday DE: FU money

[bjornwilde]

I saw this suggested on the Discord chat, but I don’t remember who actually said it.

So, how financially stable or secure is your character? Are they at a point where money isn’t even a concern? Are they aware of their privilege? Or on the opposite side, is money a struggle and if so what would they do with the sudden windfall? 

Comments

[have_no_mercy]

Tess is ridiculously, comic rich. I'm conservatively estimating her net worth at 5-6 billion. She's totally aware of her privilege and does what she can to give back. She saves the world a lot.

Rose does not have money. She lives basically paycheque to paycheque since she's left the Institute and works hard for her money. She's definitely come to appreciate her job and tries to spend what little she has smartly.

I really don't know how money works in the First Order, but I'm sure Kylo is very, very comfortable.

Creed has money, he works hard for it, so leave him the fuck alone.

[death_gone_mad]

The economy on Gielinor is all sorts of wacky. Metals, including precious metals, are very easily extracted from the planet's surface with what is at best renaissance era equipment. Gold has very little value but because it holds that value well, gold coins are the standard currency. And yet... crowns made of coloured tissue paper are extremely valuable. Even more valuable are the unpulled and unpopped party crackers that the paper crowns came in.

They are artisinal and bespoke???

That said, even without counting that she's a minor goddess, she's been around for millennia and is a shrewd schemer. She can accumulate wealth fairly quickly and has had lots of time to do so and hide away apocalypse proof stashes here and there. She is aware of her privilege and abuses it often, but feels that she was cheated out of a lot more.

I have the feeling that Zanarian society enjoys something like StarTrek's fully automated space communism, except magical instead of scifi, even though Zanaris orbits a planet still stuck on a gold based economy (thanks to interference of gods like Amascut). They still trade for things they might occasionally need. Anyway, Fairy Fixit is adequately and fairly compensated for her labor and expertise and only rarely complains about it.

[bjornwilde]

Viv is a teen and so doesn't have much disposable income. She does benefit from her father though, and I am guessing they are pretty well off. In a short span of time, Vision has bought two houses, both very near Washing DC and both in very nice looking suburban areas; the latest of which is in Georgetown. I can only imagine those are pricey. Given she is an android, she doesn't need to worry about material things or eating, so over head cost is limited to power and internet connections. I don't know that she would be considered privileged...I mean there is some given obvious chances she has for attending a nice school and living in a nice neighborhood, but she is an obvious minority and one many people likely barely consider a person.

Danny is swimming in wealth, or will be once he confirms his identity and claims his inheritance. Money isn't really on his radar though. It will take him some months to acknowledge his privilege and then even longer to realize his money is more powerful than the iron fist. Luke Cage and Colleen help in this realization.

[cottoncandypink]

Wilford is very wealthy, but he doesn't spend like it. I'm not sure about an exact net worth, but it's close to $100 million. He got where he is out of pure spite. But he spent so much time not having money that now that he has it, he doesn't like spending it. He still shops at his world's equivalent of Walmart, and doesn't really have a lot of material possessions. He does throw money at people though. Money is a great motivator, and people will work their asses off if you pay them right.

[holdingacat]

Cecil literally has no idea how he's paid. Or how much. And this doesn't seem to be more than a momentary concern for him. Because clearly he is, and it's enough. For...

Things?

AKA in a 'verse that is often vague this is the vaguest.

[configuration_birdwatcher]

Bastion doesn't really need material possessions and can demonstrably live in the woods for years or decades without supplies, so they don't really need money. Being part of Overwatch means they don't need money to pay for maintenance either. They might want to pay a veterinarian to check up on Ganymede at some point, but that's about all I can think of. (Some of their skins are pretty fancy but those aren't canon.)

Aradia was pretty poor on Alternia, although not to the point of struggling to cover her basic needs. Then the planet was destroyed by Sgrub and now the units of exchange are boondollars and grist, both of which the 12 players of their session have more of than they could ever possibly use, so monetary exchange is kind of pointless at this point.

Thurlow grew up upper middle class, and generally gets paid well or find some valuable loot at the end of the jobs they take now, like any good RPG player character. By the late game they'll have a lot of weird, expensive treasure sitting around in their house. Houses, technically, because Fallen London makes it relatively easy and mechanically desirable to acquire several lodgings at once ranging from shabby to opulent.

Cirava's still on Alternia, and seems to be on the lower end of middle-class as a yellowblood. They live in a hive that's about as nice as a normal suburban house, and they complain about highbloods ripping off their music and style and making more money than they do from it.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

Yamato's a teenager and full time student, small income from getting gigs as a bass player and singer notwithstanding, but his father Hiroaki works for Fuji News Network as an editor, so we know from salary figures that he earns around 3.5million yen, or £23k.

That makes Yamato among the poorest in the Chosen -- Sora, Jyou, and Mimi are all from wealthy families (Sora enormously so, given that her mother's an iemoto); the Yagamis seem to get somewhere around the roughly median Japanese salaryman pay of around 8million yen, or £50k; and Koushiro's family seems comfortably middle class, bolstered by the fact that Koushiro himself is canonically wealthier than his parents; and the Takaishi household, with Yamato's brother and mother, would earn about the same amount as the Ishidas -- but he's not, in the wider scope of society, super poor.

The Ishida household is just barely below the median household income for Japan as a whole, in a comfortable enough wealth bracket where they have enough money to pay rent (at Odaiba levels, at least, although other parts of Tokyo not so much), pay bills, buy food and clothes and everything else they need, etc, without having to worry too much about it, even if they probably don't have a lot of money left over afterwards.


Eden has limited use for money, but he gets paid per Heartless he kills anyway. Since there's not much he can spend it on, he can and does accrue money fairly quickly.

[for_everyone]

The Ghost crew in general operates job-to-job, which is made all the more precarious by them often carrying out missions with no expectation of pay. I think this diminishes as they become more involved with Phoenix Squadron and then the wider rebellion, gaining access to rebel resources, but they still can't afford to be at all wasteful, or really to have much more than what they absolutely need.

Growing up for both of them is kind of complicated. In my mind, the Syndulla clan built this home in a remote, desolate place generations ago, and largely operated it through a combination of ancient hunter-scavenger practices, traveling to settlements/cities or elsewhere to work in more industrialized jobs, and goods trading. I also imagine Ryloth as having something of a combination of an often collectivist culture with a corrupt upper tier government - so a lot of things like education are widely accessible, but resources that should be going to them are redirected to enriching those in power. This was all, regardless, shattered by the Clone Wars and then the Imperial occupation. These were largely why Hera experienced things that would typically be associated with financial instability - periods where she went hungry or even nearly starved, sometimes lacked consistent shelter, didn't have access to a standard education, etc. She generally associated her family home with a sense of stability, though this didn't always mean resource security.

Kanan grew up in the Jedi Order, and while the Order's beliefs meant avoiding excess and indulgence, his immediate needs were almost always well-provided for. After Order 66 he was left with nothing, and before he reached a point when he could consistently find work, he at times had to scrounge for food or other resources, and went without shelter.

[sticktothemission]

Gabe is financially secure, I'd say to the point where he can live fairly comfortably. I'd say he can cover all his monthly expenses and still have enough money to goof off. You know, if the world wasn't trying to end on him

Reaper is likely loaded. Money means very little to him, however, except as a means to an end.

Khadgar is baaaasically filthy rich. Mages tend to never worry about their finances. I don't think he's really aware of how fortunate he is on that front simply because that was part and parcel of being an apprentice of the Kirin Tor as a child. They took care of things, and I suspect he still gets the vast majority of his reagents from them in return for his research and discoveries. He doesn't really understand the worth of money because he's never been without it, if that makes sense? He's never been in want or need of it, he's never been poor. It's just always been there for him. If you were to ask him, though, I don't think he'd agree that he's rich. That's the purview of kings and nobles and he doesn't see himself as one of those.

[i_am_your_host]

Emcee was born dirt poor and lived hand-to-mouth for a very long time. Germany's economy was terrible during the first world war and became worse than terrible after it, but Emcee and his kind got by. Windfalls were rare and quickly spent. It was best to find a wealthy admirer and milk them for food and rent money. But as of now? Emcee is actually pretty well-off, thanks to Jay. He earns an income in modern day Berlin from being a co-owner of a nightclub. And now that he has the means, he's going to make a better life for himself and his friends once they get to America. It's taken some time for him to get used to the notion that he doesn't have to live so frugally anymore (like, he can buy new things now if he really wants to!), and that more opportunities are open to him when he's not limited by poverty. I've seen a meme going around that says something like, whoever said money can't buy happiness has never been poor. This is where Emcee comes from.

I have no fucking idea where Cassidy gets money. A windfall goes straight toward liquor, drugs, and strippers. TV canon says he was rich once. He doesn't seem the type to manage a fortune very well, which goes against the stereotype of vampires being hoarders of wealth.

Pam is very financially stable, thank you. As co-owner of a popular vampire bar, she is sitting pretty, and also has her Daddy's credit card to play with. She's definitely aware of her privilege and doesn't really give a shit.

Floki lives a comfortable and modest life in his cabin down by the shore. I believe that's the way his family has always been, with skilled tradesmen being the providers. I envision that in the beginning he would underprice his work because of his humbleness. But as he gains more attention from earls and kings, they would pay him handsomely, yet he chooses to live as he has always done. Windfalls only mean more food and ale and warm clothing for the winter. As time goes on, however, and Ragnar becomes more powerful, Floki's status rises as well, and money becomes more of a temptation as the seed of greed is planted in him.