Economics in Warhammer

[ottenni]

The Wizards probably don'y do anything like that for simple gains like that. After all if things go wrong they could die in nasty nasty ways. It probably is still much easier to just dig the stuff up.

Anyway im sure the economy is based around something else anyway, like warpstone or stuff that isn't covered in warpstone. Even with the Lore of Metel possibly screwing things up you also have the dwarves hoarding the stuff.

 

[Billion Backs]

wen i hear wizards of the lore of metal i think a mage witha big eltric guitar shooting lightning and fire balls......am i the only one that thinks like this?

ot: id think that the wizards have some sort of law agensent it like if your found makeing gold your exacuted for egsample

That's one way to handwave it. But consider this: If transmuted gold is absolutely the same as regular mined gold, and casting magic probably is a pretty quiet activity (not to mention how hard it would be to track anyone without advanced communication technologies which magic could to some extent replace and generally does in a lot of fiction, with scrying and what not) I'm pretty sure people can easily get away with it.

And risk of punishment isn't necessarily going to stop them, there is a reason crime exists.

 

[Kenko]

My guess is that it takes alot of materials to make a little bit of gold, and it probably takes alot of skill and power from the wizard.

Just a guess.

 

[Billion Backs]

The Wizards probably don'y do anything like that for simple gains like that. After all if things go wrong they could die in nasty nasty ways. It probably is still much easier to just dig the stuff up.

Anyway im sure the economy is based around something else anyway, like warpstone or stuff that isn't covered in warpstone. Even with the Lore of Metel possibly screwing things up you also have the dwarves hoarding the stuff.

Warpstone economy sounds like fun... It's like having an economy based on trading heavily irradiated graphite pieces.

 

[Keava]

That's one way to handwave it. But consider this: If transmuted gold is absolutely the same as regular mined gold, and casting magic probably is a pretty quiet activity (not to mention how hard it would be to track anyone without advanced communication technologies which magic could to some extent replace and generally does in a lot of fiction, with scrying and what not) I'm pretty sure people can easily get away with it.

And risk of punishment isn't necessarily going to stop them, there is a reason crime exists.

Apart form the fact that Warhammer world, or at least the Empire part of it, kind of hates all kinds of casters. To practice magic you need a special permit. If you cast spells without permit inquisition gets to you, if you cast spells that Empire doesn't like - inquisition gets to you. Magic always bears the tain of Chaos, and Inquisition always seeks heretics, so mages are among their focus groups, and believe me they can intercept magic communication if they want to.
There is no getting away with unsanctioned magic in Empire.

Not to mention magic is not just waving your wand like harry potter and muttering out quasi-latin word or two. You need reagents, amulets, and all the flashy junk

 

[ottenni]

The Wizards probably don'y do anything like that for simple gains like that. After all if things go wrong they could die in nasty nasty ways. It probably is still much easier to just dig the stuff up.

Anyway im sure the economy is based around something else anyway, like warpstone or stuff that isn't covered in warpstone. Even with the Lore of Metel possibly screwing things up you also have the dwarves hoarding the stuff.

Warpstone economy sounds like fun... It's like having an economy based on trading heavily irradiated graphite pieces.

Exactly! Whats more fun than currency that might make you go bat shit insane and then explode.

 

[zatzie zombie num666]

wen i hear wizards of the lore of metal i think a mage witha big eltric guitar shooting lightning and fire balls......am i the only one that thinks like this?

ot: id think that the wizards have some sort of law agensent it like if your found makeing gold your exacuted for egsample

That's one way to handwave it. But consider this: If transmuted gold is absolutely the same as regular mined gold, and casting magic probably is a pretty quiet activity (not to mention how hard it would be to track anyone without advanced communication technologies which magic could to some extent replace and generally does in a lot of fiction, with scrying and what not) I'm pretty sure people can easily get away with it.

And risk of punishment isn't necessarily going to stop them, there is a reason crime exists.

true but we have printing presses theay have magic gold same thing realy

 

[Danzaivar]

Maybe gold is some piffly cheap metal, and their national currency is lead? Thus rendering the whole transmuting lead into gold business as a drunken wager and utterly baffling.

 

[Alandoril]

Money (and the consequent class system) is the greatest divisive force in history. Since WH is all about conflict it seems illogical to remove on of the most prominent causes of it.

 

[Quid Plura]

If all the mages who can make gold are united in one order, they can control the gold flow. They could get rich by not flooding the market.

 

[AVATAR_RAGE]

Cause the Metal Wizards keep the gold for themselves?

"Hey Bob can you turn some iron in gold for me?"

"Yeah sure I can but you ain't getting it back"

 

[JEBWrench]

Tzeentch

You. Do. Not. Fuck. With. Tzeentch.

That's why.

 

[carpathic]

It shouldn't really be any different so long as the creation of the metal is controlled - much as gold production has limits today. Also, there would have to be limits on the amount of gold created.

Take diamonds for instance, diamonds are incredibly valuable because they have a PERCEIVED value. Yet, they should not be valuable as diamonds are FAR more common then a metal like Molybdenum (used in the strengthening of steel). But the perceived vale of Molybdenum is much lower, even though it is both more rare and fantastically useful.

Even having some wizards transmuting metal 18 hours/day might not be enough to swamp the system. Eventually the system would reach some kind of carrying capacity, where nearly all the gold produced could be absorbed by the system.

 

[Canadian Briton]

The other issue is what happens if the mage draws the attention of a warp creature...

Shit Happens, when they attract a warp creature.
Anyway guys Im starting to see this thread becoming a thread about real world economics lets try to keep in Warhammer.

 

[Canadian Briton]

Hello escapist, I am here to be a complete nerd and talk about somthing that just bugs me (no I'am not linking to tv tropes, but I bet you want to go on it now hah!) In the New Warhammer Fantasy edition and most recent Warhammer Fantasy Empire army book it explicatly tells us wizards of the lore of metal can transmute cheap metals into gold. Of course this should just render the economic system completely f**ked up but it still tells us that the Empire has a good economy and many of the rulers are extremely rich.
So I ask you, do you know how their economic system still works if it is easy for wizards to transmute metal into gold?

Because it's probably risky, time-consuming, and expensive in terms of reagents and equipment etc. I doubt it's as simple as 'wave a magic wand'.

Also, as others have mentioned, there is always a risk when you dabble in the warp.

Good point, I guess the question has been answered but the facepalm inducing comment by Jervis Johnson in the white dwarf still makes me cringe.

 

[GrinningManiac]

I could spend all day making sandwiches

...not gonna do it, though.

Wizards, by and large, have life easy anyway (off t'battlefield). I don't think they really need the gold (ever heard of a poor wizard?) and I'll be damned if Warhammer has invented a class of eldery male spellcasters who willingly give money to strangers. It's FANTASY, not COMPLETLEY made up

 

[Lord RPGs]

Here's one suggestion - Every time one mage makes so much, something goes horribly wrong inevitably and that giant clawed hand pulls him/her into the warp. Hence, no-one's willing to make much.

Don't you hate Double 1's?

 

[Nouw]

Tzeentch

You. Do. Not. Fuck. With. Tzeentch.

That's why.

The God of Change after all...

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

Well they also need to turn the other metals into useful metals like Steel for battle. As Gold is quite useless in this regard. Also the only people who are rich are the upper caste as they would only do it for the people in the upper caste as they would give them a slice of the gold. Also it is probably more than simple. You should also know from Warhammer that everytime you use a spell even a simple one it has the chance to back fire catastrophically and kill you.