By The Numbers

originally posted January 16, 2007

It is a good thing, from time to time, to review the numbers, the mathematics of business. For example, I own nine animals. Of these nine, one is a sleen. Of the remaining eight, two are not income generating entities. Of the remaining six, one is currently being fetched from abroad. That leaves five women that can be considered viable income generating beasts. Of these five, one can be rented for four copper tarsks per ahn. At twenty ahn per day, with an average working day of fifteen ahn, she has the potential to earn sixty copper tarsks per day. However, it is safe to assume that of the fifteen ahn allotted for working in a single day, only ten of those are purely productive, which brings the assumed daily total to forty copper tarsks per day. Once per hand, I allow the women on the coffle a day of respite from earning that they are free to pursue other endeavors that enrich them as women and, by default, as slaves. That leaves four days per hand at forty copper tarsks per day for a total of one hundred and sixty copper tarsks per hand. Four other women are permitted to charge three copper tarsks per ahn. Assuming the same daily schedules, which would mandate ten purely productive ahn per day, four three copper whores would earn one hundred and twenty copper tarsks daily and a total of four hundred and eighty copper tarsks per hand. Adding four hundred eighty to the one hundred and sixty earned by the four copper slave totals a presumed 640 copper tarsks per hand - or six silver forty.
It sounds like a great deal of money and, truthfully, it is. More than a man of my modest tastes needs, really. In fact, I own two domiciles. While the property taxes on the Boarding House are negligible, an advantage to building in a district that most people run from, they are not nil. Samsara, of course, enjoys a subsidy and sponsorship from wealthy Patrons of the Arts, but dwindling numbers living and producing in-residence have led to decreased generosity. I still retain the plot of land North of Venna with the idealized future of building a modest Villa that overlooks a grove of ka-la-na and maybe a stand or two of olives. That seems distant at the moment.
Knowledge is power, but knowledge is also a crutch. It is a weight. A burden. When one earns a round of sa-tarna for a song, the transaction is equitable and, ultimately, concluded when the consumable is traded for the ephemeral. Not so with other businesses. Those that understand suchthings as business, mercantile exchange, the dynamism of currency, will tell you that 'to make money, one must spend money.' I have found this to be true. To own an income generating asset, one must safeguard that income generating asset. For that matter, one must safeguard all assets, whether or not they generate income. This entails, at minimum, a means of securing the asset and, in the case of chattels, feeding, housing and possibly clothing said asset. If one wishes the asset(s) to retain value, one must ensure that they not only survive, but thrive in the environment one provides for them.