Thinking Medieval with a Twist: Scarterra has no anti-usury BUT lenders are not popular
This is part of my "Thinking Medieval" series
On Earth, usury was considered a sin by the Medieval Catholic Church and it was outlawed, but medieval and Renaissance European bankers existed and they used a lot of legal loopholes to carry out their business. This 3 minute video by History Matters is a good for a basic primer. My knowledge of history non-Christian lands is admittedly less concrete but anti-usury laws are hardly limited to Christianity and non-Christians lenders used similar legal loopholes through many eras and lands of real world Earth.
The basics of lending is, "I give you money now, you give me the money back later, with interest" and Scarterra has no laws against this requiring legal loopholes or pushing loans into the realm of under the table transactions.
There is still the issue that the lendee in question can't or won't pay their loans back. This certainly is a risk involved in loans in every era of Earth history. that had loans and it applies to Scarterra, but Scarterran lenders have an option Earth lenders do not.
Lenders can insist that lendees make a vow to Phidas or instead requiring a vow, they can incentivize such a vow by offering lower interest rates to those who do. Vows to any of the Nine have power and meaning and Scarterra, but vows that deal with that deity's expertise or divine portfolio are extra meaningful and Phidas is the literal god of currency and commerce. Therefore vows to Phidas to pay loans have metaphysical weight behind it. Lenders and lendees do not have to be affiliated directly with the Masks in order to invoke a vow to Phidas into a promise to pay someone back, any Scarterran can do this.
In many instances on historical Earth, the king (whether or not they use the title of king) will say some version of "I don't have to repay this loan, I'm the king, my word is law and the soldiers obey me, not you." Scarterran kings who make loans backed by the god Phidas cannot do this.
Phidas can use powerful spirits to smite those who displease or he can weave more subtle curses of bad luck on those who displease him and abuse his name. Not every mortal who breaks an agreement made in Phidas' name suffers in an obvious and dramatic fashion, but Phidas seems especially fond of humbling princes and potentates who dare forsake him.
Debts are usually passed to heirs if the lendee dies. It is rumored but not confirmed that some mortals who die with unpaid debts end up paying their days to Phidas in a purgatoric afterlife.
Scarterra does not have religiously motivated anti-usury laws, at least not many. Scarterrans worship the Nine and it just so happens than one-ninth of the Nine's membership really likes banking, lending, and commerce, and that is the god Phidas. To deny lending is to deny Phidas. Phidas is rumored to the weakest of the Nine, but Phidas is still immeasurably stronger than any mortal or mortal kingdom can ever hope to be.
A majority of lending institutions in Scarterra are either Phidas temples or other institutions supported directly by Phidas Temples so most bankers are members of Phidas' clergy, aka "the Masks". Or if the lending istitutions are not Masks per se, they are often staunch allies to the Masks.
Utility
Scarterra has a standardized precious metal based currency across the entire world, but a lot of day-to-day trade still occurs in the form of barter. Scarterran loans are generally flexible, so goods and services can be used as the subject of a loan as payment for a loan in lieu of coins.
Social Impact
'Lending' is any act of lending money or valuable in exchange for later repayment. 'Usury' is lending that is grossly unfair or fraudulent. One common grouse peasants have against bankers and lenders is that they seem to get rich without actual producing anything tangible. Thus they call all lending 'usury', seeing it as little better than theft or parasitism. But even in their anger, few peasants are bold enough to pick a fight with the Masks, so they lash out at people periperally involved with lending institutions because these individuals have less power to fight back. This often means merchants who are successful or simply anyone with feathers. Just because Scaterrans worship the Nine doesn't mean they have to like the Nine and this certainly applies to Phidas. Scarterra has few if any anti-usury laws but they have lots of anti-usury norms. Monetary loans can be forgiven in part or in full exchange for non-monetary favors. In a lot of cases, Scarterrans would rather owe a favor to almost anyone other than a Mask. There are many apocryphal tales of hapless individuals ruined by debt traps set by the Masks. This has led to the emergence of competing lending options.-Eknok, tengku merchantTengku #5 by Zeta GardnerSome Masks believe non-Mask lenders are afront to Lord Phidas because these lenders are undermining their authority and by extension Phidas' authority. Other Masks take the opposite opinion and believe the existance of non-Mask based lenders is a good thing for their cause since it means Phidas' values are permeating mainstream Scarterran society. The Masks mostly quietly debate this subject behind closed doors. If you exit the realm of academic words and enter the realm of political actions, the Masks as whole are unlikely to interfere with secular individuals giving loans to other secular individuals but they really get seriously offended when secular institutions set up lending networks on a wide scale or when the priesthoods of the rest of Nonagon sticks a toe into the arena of banking lending. As of yet, no temple organization dedicated to a deity other than Phidas has managed to create a meaningful competitor to the Mask's lending racket but a few secular institutions have made some inroads, the most powerful of which was and is the Arcane Registry in the land of Swynfaredia.by Me with MidjourneyPhidas Masks control the largest and most accessible lending institutions in Scarterra, but they don't claim a complete monopoly. Nobles often have lending agreements with other nobles or even commoners. Likewise, guilds, commoner families, and even the occasional well-off commoner can issue loans to others. More or less, these non-Mask loans use the same basic legal language and format of most Mask-based loans. The main difference is that these non-Mask enforced loans average for smaller amounts.
Masks not wearing Masks
by Me using Nightcafe
Access & Availability
Banking services are fairly accessible in Scarterra. The Masks want to score big deals with wealthy Scarterrans but they want to make banking and lending more normal and routine so they will accept small deposits from commoners and grant small loans to commoners that the deem trustworthy.
The Masks will also store valuables in their mystically warded vaults to almost anyone who willing pay them a fee to do so.
Complexity
The Masks have ambitions to create a Scarterra-wide banking system. In their grand dream, a person can make a deposit in West Colassian Phidas temple, get on a ship travel hundreds of miles and withdraw their money from an East Colassian Phidas temple (for a small fee).
But conventional wars, cold wars, and trade wars make this sort of economic cooperation difficult, as well as as general geographic barriers between dsiparate nations. Efforts are also impeded by internal rivalries within the Masks themselves. International banking remains a distant dream for the most idealistic Masks.
Cover image:
Scarterran haggling scene
by
Zeta Gardner
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