Economy

The economy is the praxis-meme view of the living world: what can be made, from what, by whom — and what people therefore want. Its defining principle:

Demand is not generated; it emerges from consumption

Every holder keeps a store with a min/max per commodity, at four scales: Individual · Household · Faction · Settlement. Tasks consume from the store; a commodity below its minimum puts the holder in a purchase state — and that purchase state is the demand. Demand aggregates, moves prices, and (if local supply can’t meet it) pulls trade.

The loop

tasks consume → commodity below minimum → purchase state (= demand) → prices move → trade is pulled

Commodities & recipes

The commodity tree is one graph in three tiers (raw → intermediate → finished); edges are “made-from”, and each edge names the praxis meme(s) that perform it. This is the join to the meme system.

• Quality = inputs × skill × traits × memes × workstation. Bulk goods use quality buckets; distinctive items are serialised.
• Substitution is allowed within a tier class slot; tier slots are inviolable.
• Wear: items carry a 0–1 condition; repair lowers max condition; material sets wear rate.
• Currency is a normal commodity. Disposable income appears when the economic-security tier exceeds the others, and is spent up a reinvestment ladder (inputs → quality equipment → capability equipment → projects).
• Price momentum: current price trends toward a target price in proportion to weekly turnover — a shock doesn’t move price until people actually try to trade through it.

How players exploit it

Players read this surface and act faster than NPCs: spotting shortages a region away, opening trade routes, cornering markets, and being first to make something a region can’t yet produce. See Produce & Trade.

Critical-path gaps

The economy can’t fully function until two “deferred” items land, because the loop depends on them: recipe quantities (no consumption rates → no demand) and trade agents (who actually moves goods when demand pulls). The target price function and long-run monetary stability are also open. See Design Status.