Imperial Solar

Variant of chipcard issued in the early days of the Third Imperium for the purposes of interstellar trade.

Description (Specifications)

Solars are thin, but tough, encapsulated computers with non-volatile memory, roughly seven centimetres in diameter and one centimetre thick, minted in denominations Cr10,000 and Cr100,000. They are made with the best security features that TL12 can manage, which makes them extremely hard to counterfeit, and are identified by a unique number. They are redeemable as Imperial Credits only on Sylea, and only one Solar of a specific identification number may be redeemed at a time, as to stop counterfeit attempts.

History & Background (Dossier)

Due to the nature of interstellar travel, the Imperial credit system faces some difficulties. It is possible for a Traveller to, in moving from world to world, outrun their credit. Even if a sophont possess credit at a system multiple parsecs away, verifying that information is a problem. Additionally, as the Imperium expands into new worlds, it can come into contact with cultures that do understand the abstract value of currency as a means of trade, but are not ready for the further abstraction of electronic transfer of funds. On such worlds, the Imperial Solar serves as hard currency for transactions with other worlds of the interstellar community.

The Solar is issued in denominations of KCr10 and KCr100, which are deemed sufficiently convenient for interstellar trade purposes but cumbersome and impractical for daily usage, discouraging their use on worlds of the Imperial core. Solars may only be turned into Imperial Credits on Sylea where they can be conclusively verified, but they may also be used as a means of exchange anywhere within the Imperium.

Each Imperial Exploration Ship carries onboard a Solar Verifier Unit which performs many of the functions of a normal banking computer, though solely with the Solar. It provides tentative verification of any Imperial Solar placed into its dataport, showing serial number, date of creation and denomination.

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References & Contributors (Sources)

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This list of sources was used by the Traveller Wiki Editorial Team and individual contributors to compose this article. Copyrighted material is used under license from Far Future Enterprises or by permission of the author. The page history lists all of the contributions.

• Marc Miller. Marc Miller's Traveller (Imperium Games, 1996), 63.
• Greg Porter. Central Supply Catalog (Imperium Games, 1996), 41.
• Traveller Wiki Editorial Team
• Author & Contributor: Lord (Marquis) and Master of Sophontology Maksim-Smelchak of the Ministry of Science