10-01-2011, 12:11 PM | #1 |
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Kentucky, USA
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[Infinite Worlds] What is the Russian Mafia stealing?
When those Russian mafiosi decide to go play "Czar" and loot temples, what exactly are they stealing? I was discussing the Infinite Worlds setting with a non-gaming friend, and I had assumed they were taking gold and gems and other portable valuables. He pointed out that with access to scores of earths, the price of gold and gems should have cratered to the point a conveyer load of gold may not be worth the effort of carrying it compared to drug running. It would be like looting a parallel earth for copper.
Is the price of random ancient curios really that big? Or is there something else keeping the price of gold and such up enough people don't just dump in the recycle bin when they have extra? |
10-01-2011, 12:43 PM | #2 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: MO, U.S.A.
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Re: [Infinite Worlds] What is the Russian Mafia stealing?
Worked gold and gems also have artistic value that goes beyond the $ value. Do not forget that a lot of religious Icons/Artifacts disappeared into the maelstroms of both the February and October Revolutions and their aftermaths, plus the chaos of WWII. Replacing those artifacts could be very important for various people/institutions. All of them would probably like their own copies too boot.
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10-01-2011, 01:09 PM | #3 |
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: near London, UK
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Re: [Infinite Worlds] What is the Russian Mafia stealing?
My version of this has been:
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10-01-2011, 03:05 PM | #4 |
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Cowtown, Canada
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Re: [Infinite Worlds] What is the Russian Mafia stealing?
Depending on how much of a given material fits into a conveyor, and given that a conveyor is relatively small, you can only bring relatively small loads of whatever back at a time. If you assume conveyor travel is expensive (IW setting says you need LOTS of power to cross Quantum Levels) then offworld mining is relatively impractical unless the material has a very high density value. It would probably be hard to flood a world's economy with, eg. gold if you can only bring a bit at a time and the power you consume to do so is worth a significant fraction of the conveyor trip costs.
The conveyor becomes the production bottleneck that keeps things from being economically imbalanced.
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10-01-2011, 03:29 PM | #5 | |
Join Date: Aug 2004
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Re: [Infinite Worlds] What is the Russian Mafia stealing?
Quote:
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10-01-2011, 03:51 PM | #6 |
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Cowtown, Canada
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Re: [Infinite Worlds] What is the Russian Mafia stealing?
Depends on how much each tourist is paying. Look at the billionaires who have paid $20M or more to visit the International Space Station...
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10-01-2011, 04:32 PM | #7 | |
Join Date: Dec 2007
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Re: [Infinite Worlds] What is the Russian Mafia stealing?
Quote:
That being said, they'd probably have a particular interest in icons. With so many having been destroyed during the Communist years, post-Communist Russia would probably have a great interest in acquiring versions of them from worlds that haven't experienced that...at least not yet. |
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10-01-2011, 04:42 PM | #8 |
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Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Forest Grove, Beaverton, Oregon
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Re: [Infinite Worlds] What is the Russian Mafia stealing?
I don't know about that. Modern society's obsession with gold seems pretty arbitrary to me. It's just a shiny rare metal with virtually no use.
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10-01-2011, 04:49 PM | #9 | |
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Charlotte, North Caroline, United States of America, Earth?
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Re: [Infinite Worlds] What is the Russian Mafia stealing?
Quote:
That makes it valuable, because it doesn't depreciate, it's not easy to fake, and it's useful for making decorative stuff.
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10-01-2011, 06:09 PM | #10 | ||
Dog of Lysdexics
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Melbourne FL, Formerly Wellington NZ
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Re: [Infinite Worlds] What is the Russian Mafia stealing?
Quote:
Quote:
The Space program use a lot of it too. |
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economics, infinite worlds |
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