History

HISTORY || DEMOGRAPHICS || TRADE
::World::
::Trade:: 		There is no standard currency or standard value for any items. All buying and selling is done through bargaining for something (barter). The mandala is usually used to speed up the process: 1) it connects people who are not physically in the same location, 2) information can be accessed on the relative values of the objects and information can be displayed in elucidating presentation, 3) if Party A wants Item 1, and Party B does not have Item 1, Party B can acces the mandala and find Party C who does have Item 1, make a trade, and then trade Item 1 to Party A. Guilds do high-volume bulk trading over the mandala, and more often than not items do not physically move, even though ownership is transferred rapidly, perhaps many times in the same day!

The most common items of trade are skills and services. There are also some goods that normal folks use to exchange amongst themselves:

Mana (technically an extract of plastic since shashi, like all Anafricans, are plasmed organisms)
Plasm (see History)
Engines (see Khanate of Sarai)
Dung pellets (for making fire)
Loaves (a fungus, or non-perishable fruit, or non-breathing plastic)
Burners (creates heat, not through combustion, but rather through an exothermic chemical reaction, such as that generated by lye)
Prophylactics (for men, women, and vagranese)
Medicine (antiplasmics targetting the common cold, flu, STDs, and phages particular to a locale)
Douche (for any and all orifices)
Rope (intertwined, thin, and living)
Paintspread (coats a surface with its pigmented colonial body)
Panelgraft (for expanding on a biopueblo)
Clothing (for societies that are located in cold regions, or where nudity is taboo for religious reasons)
Pets (sub-sapient or hyper-sapient organisms that live with their masters and amuse them)

Any city or community will have individuals that specialize in particular plastics, foodstuffs, or skills.