I will freely admit I have never really sat down and figured out the monetary worth of Unified Currency credits in the RUNNERS universe, so I just kinda make up numbers when I need to. I just looked up some past mentions and in Volume 1, Ril and Cember bet 1000 UCs on their gunfight with Hamron in one of the earliest scenes in the series. Later in that story, Roka buys a used life pod for 1000 UCs. And here, Jayd’s sculpture is valued at 2000 UCs.
I’m not sure if those prices are all over the map, or if the sculpture is truly worth a decent amount, or if the life pod was a real bargain. I should maybe hash that out at some point.
Nice subtle bonding moment.
The seller was almost going to cause a major defect in the sculpt with his head. 😀
I think you’ve got a lot of latitude to play with when considering the value of your in-universe money. Everyone in Runners seems to barter and a thing’s worth fluctuates with the need of the buyer. Also because we, the reader, have no context and would be real dicks to challenge you on your own lore*.
Anyway I guess you can explain away a lot of inconsistencies by making up context later if you find the story demands it. Perhaps that suspiciously cheap life pod was a crime scene or the seller really needed cash to skip town or it’s a bad chop-shop job or it’s haunted by a g-g-ghost!
*In hindsight this concern doesn’t stop a lot of Star Wars fans, Star Trek fans, Doctor Who fans or (insert pretty much any fiction here) fans so perhaps it’s not so comforting a sentiment as I intended.
Another possibility is that the powers that be have put price caps on safety equipment to make sure all vessels are in adequate compliance. Maybe escape pods are just priced on the cheap end because they are forced to be.
Knowing Roka, the pod was probably used, cheap, and/or on clearance. Or it’s the black market and you sell it for what you can.
All excellent explanations. They are all now officially canon for the life pod! Every single one of them.
A simple trick would be to not have a unified currency at all. With local currencies everywhere, you could then never twice use the same unit and nobody could ever make a spreadsheet and figure out the values are nonsensical! 😀
That’s one thing I liked in the Valerian & Laureline comics, all the weird alien currencies. At some point the protagonists get a “grumpy transmuter”, a weird pet that can replicate things it eats, and then keep having to get it to duplicate various sorts of moneys or small precious items, making the transmuter increasingly grumpy (and tired).
If you haven’t read them, I heartily recommend getting the V&L graphic novels.
That series has been on my radar to check out. Need to remember to do that!
I think you can right the Cember/Ril bet off as idle. Back when I was still an athlete my teammates and I would make stupid bets all the time (Hundred bucks says I hit the blades on the wind turbine!), but money never actually changed hands.
Alternatively, you could hand wave it as Cember screwing with Ril because he knows he’ll take the bet seriously, even though Cember doesn’t.
Great point! Even funnier is when one person THINKS it’s an idle bet and the other one is serious.
Another thing to note about currencies, is that even with a unified currency, its value is not the same everywhere. For example, one euro in Slovakia is worth more (in that it has more purchasing power) than one euro in Luxembourg, due to differences in local costs of living.
Also a good point. Ok, I guess I won’t sweat the Unified Currency thing too much. Huzzah!