The Marketplace® Chamber of Commerce officially welcomes you to our world. It's obvious by now if your reading this that your probably from another world. You may have heard many things about our world from our fellow ITA members, some of them are true, some are not, and unlike some worlds we are more than happy to address complaints because our Marketplace® is consumer driven.
There are many different types of Government on our world Here are several major
Republic- This usually follows the standard for this type, although the differences between our republics and yours, maybe that ours are far more restricted in their authority. The United States is an example. The United States has a sales Tax of roughly 2% to fund its activities.
City-state- There are many small republics that are not much larger than a city. Republic of Venice and Singapore are the main leaders in this regard
Corporate states- Haiti is largely owned by United Sugar. At first they tried a company store model but realized it was as inefficient as a state owned store. Sugar growing has largely been automated so many former cane workers now help build and repair harvesters.
Corporate Leagues- The Shisuni group has largely taken over Japan, although their group is more like a loose confederation of corporations than a conglomerate.
Private nations- Governments that exist solely because a group of individuals got together and bought all the land in an area. The Berkeley Cooperative and Jamaica are both examples of private ownership. These are more similar to really big homeowners associations (Jamaica has 800,000 in their association). These groups tend to have the strongest anti-pollution rules in their covenants.
Unlike other worlds we don't have a standard currency but here's a guide for What's good
Really Good
Confed Dollars- Stable bank, nice people
US CB (Commodity Basket) Dollars- Usually Stable but get your basket report)
Swiss franc- It took a beating with the Gold Flood but its back
ITA Pounds- Boring but safe, though it's hard getting change sometimes, (these people don't have ATM cards)
Pretty Good
Estates General Money- It floats a bit but the gold coins are nice
Verified warehouse receipts- They float but they're always good for a commodity or at least the insured value at time of redemption
Occidental Franc- Inflationary but not too bad. Exchange rates are sometimes controlled, check "alternate" market rates
US Dollar(other ITA worlds)- A bit inflationary not as good as commodity basket but still usually sound
Dubious
Corporate Script- fluctuates too much, many are passed as currency when they are actually Zero Coupon Notes
non-certified warehouse receipts - Only good if you know them well
Not Recommended
Bolshevik Ruble- their money is as good as their philosophy
Reichmark- the Chamber of Commerce will not accept these unless they are gold or silver for import only. No marketplace gold will be exported there
Shell money, stone money, Salt Money,etc- These are only good on the world you got them on. However a collector might pay for them.
There are as many types of Accommodations on Marketplace as there are businesses. I'll try to use ITA Hotel ratings and give you comparisons
- The best, rare on marketplace, non-existent on some worlds.
The Equivalent would be the King Edward Hotel on Prime or Du Regent in Paris at the Communaute.
These hotels provide memorable accommodations, with every luxury you could imagine and some that if you're not from Marketplace, some you couldn't.
This is the only example on Marketplace
The Forbidden City (Beijing): This actually was the imperial palace until a resort conglomerate bought it out. Every Luxury of Chinese society is here. For only $1000 a night ($500 a night for a week) You will have Chinese ladies or men (as you prefer) pamper you with every luxury imaginable. They will cook for you, bathe you, relax you, and pleasure you in every way imaginable (and like I said some that are not, if your not from here). You will not have to walk outside your bedroom as people will gladly carry you where you want to go. We get a lot of primers to this one.
Luxury hotels not as good as 5 star but still very nice.
This is the luxury hotel
Marriott Marquis (Chicago): Luxury accommodations, whirlpool spa in the bathroom, Free soda fountain provided by the soda company that holds a stake in the hotel. Super sized bed
Very comfortable
Ross Suites: 2 rooms, comfortable but not luxury, nice swimming pools
Economy comfort
Holly Inn: A basic 1 room hotel room or basic suite
Economy
Basic 1 room accommodations It's a bed to yourself, a TV,and your own bathroom, safe clean and comfortable, with no frills
Motel 7: Soft beds for a 1 star and Free 500 channel TV, no bathtubs
Super Economy - A safe place to sleep
Sleepmart: That's what you do here, sleep. It's a hostel level accommodation. Sterile, clean, and reasonably decent beds.
There have been some complaints about Sleepmart but mostly in separate issues.
Tube-o-tels: Your basic Tube to sleep in, it's actually more comfortable than Sleepmart in some respects but its a bit claustrophobic. It's actually a Communauté Globale Japanese import for people who want safety and very low cost in a place to sleep.
Marketplace is not the wealthiest world per citizen (That would probably be Venetian Earth). We have the poor and crime as any other world would have. It is certainly not a utopia. It is not to say that the dirt poor don't exist, but people do their best to help each other. The Marketplace is exactly what it sounds like a marketplace. A beautiful, and wondrous place but not always the cleanest world or the safest. Parts of marketplace are glittering "cities on a hill" while other parts are the "wretched dens of scum and villainy". The poor are not dying in the streets but their lives are not easy, 48 hour workweeks with 2 weeks vacation a year at a low paying job in a manufactured trailer on some seedy street. It is not the wealth of marketplace that inspires intense loyalty, it is the common hope of the citizens that each of them will be better off than they are now.
Like any other thing there are good corporations and bad corporations on Marketplace. Competition and COC action has eliminated the worst elements but limitations keep scumbags who put on a good face rolling along. The very good, Good corporations who uncommon but not rare, would put the welfare states to shame with some of their programs. Most corporations treat their employees not very well but treat them fairly ( They chose the shaft they are getting) and the employees are mostly happy with their lives subject to the normal complaints employees have about their bosses, their jobs, their wives,etc. If one employee complains, nothing may happen but if a number of them complain something good usually come of it although it may not be quite what they wanted.
The marketplace citizen is proud, and not undeservedly so. Their society has flourished (more or less) without the government intervention of other worlds. He may not like everything about his world, but he would not trade it. The Average marketplace citizens is much more the wheeler dealer than other worlds and most things are for sale. A marketplace citizen will know the value of everything, including the value of honesty, hard work, reputation, and friendship. In a world where everything can be traded , honesty itself gives a man his reputation which is like a credit rating. In a world without government inspectors, a companies reputation is all they have to reassure their customers.
In a nut shell, the Marketplace is like a grand bazaar with both good and bad people, the honest tradesman and the thief. This is a world where you can trust prostitutes more than you can trust bankers. That is not saying bad things about bankers its just saying that on Marketplace morality doesn't depend on your profession. Its a flea market mentality but your average vendor likes their flea market just fine.