At 11:04 PM 9/18/03 -0400, ErolB1@aol.com wrote:
> The 2%/week interest seems reasonable to me, for an unsecured loan. > Even secured loans should be high, because "nations" are small and a > person's valuables (mostly himself and his skills) so portable. It's > too easy to skip out on a loan, so rates should reflect that. 2%/week for an unsecured loan for a really bad credit risk, maybe. How often do you imagine borrowers skipping out? 2%/week with an 0.2%/week real interest rate assumes something like *60%* of all borrowers skipping out after one year.
Seems like many adventurers wouldn't mind avoiding a wizard's guild somewhere if they can get a cheap magic item out of it. I don't expect any of my savvy guild chapters would've let adventurers take magic items on credit. The risk is obvious and there is nearly always a strong cash market for magic items. I guess it depends on the perceived risk and the amounts. High-status locals might be allowed to buy on a payment plan if there were no cash buyers available for something. The same logic might apply to trustable farmers wanting light items... maybe.
However the rare wizard math offers some other obstacles. If 1 in 300 are wizards, how many of those are IQ 18+ with Lesser Magic Item Creation? Of those IQ 18 wizards, how many are liable to spend their time enchanting Light items so they can sell them for $500 a piece to farmers so they can save money on long-term lantern oil expenses? Seems like they'd have many more important, interesting, and/or profitable things to do with their time.
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