Originally posted 01-19-2007, 02:57 PM

“. . .the guilder is an adventuring trader ... in the name of capitalism – a philosophy the Brecht nations have embraced wholeheartedly.”
Capitalism is a doctrine first espoused in the late 18th century, after the industrial revolution was already underway (steam engines were put to commercial use in 1776 -after a decade of experimental use in mines - the same year that Adam Smith writes the Wealth of Nations) and doesn't get named and solidified as a doctrine until the first decades of the 19th century and David Ricardo.

There are economic doctrines better suited to a post Manorial society, like Mercantilism, which was a trade based theory of markets and the accumulation of precious metals.

Guilds are one of the institutions that had to be destroyed to make way for free markets, and capitalist development. Capitalism is based on free entry to a market and competition to determine who pospers and who is eliminated from the market. Guilds control access by law, so that only guild members may practice a trade, and membership is regulated so that existing members do not face direct competition.

Properly the Brecht are Mercantilists not capitalists. Medieval economic theories, based on principles like "just price theory", duties and obligations (just a political theories were), suspicion of commerce, and outright Manorialism are probabaly accurate descriptions of economic theory in Anuire, while Khinasi lands probabaly have a third theory.