Orconomics (The Dark Profit Saga, #1)

by J. Zachary Pike

Johan was the kind of physical specimen that inspires sculptors, clad in the kind of cutting-edge gear that inspires bankruptcy.

The Heroes’ Guild encouraged upfront investment, as it could be used to pay off professional heroes, regardless of the loot a foe had. Investors were keen on spreading the risk over multiple foes’ hoards. Goldson Baggs and its competitors could make a profit selling shares of monstrous hoards before the monsters were slain, and eliminate the risk altogether.

The brothers of the Order of Adchul once famously saved a town from flooding by drafting a cease-and-desist letter to the river.

Love it! Reminds me of that letter the Japanese sent to the Tengu to evacuate the mountain while the Shogun was visiting.

In the threads of magic that weave the world of Arth, there are two directions: the warp and the weft. A mage is a person who, through birthright and scholarship, can see and harness these threads for power or profit, or, as is so often the case, both. The great orders of wizardry are most notably distinguished by the threads of magic their members can see and touch. Solamancers, of the Sun, grasp the weft—the powers of fire and water, light and life. Noctomancers, of the Moon, wield the warp of magic—the forces of air and earth, shadow and death. There are many other differences between solamancers and noctomancers, of varying degree and nature: ceremonial, cultural, philosophical, and, all too often, violent.

Interesting explanation of magic

“A giltin is just a symbol, a tiny unit of power. Currency is a system of control, and coins and bank notes are how it’s measured.”

“I’m somebody as long as I got these thrice-cursed papers,” said the Kobold, pulling a tiny green booklet from his coat. “I’m somebody as long as a washed-up princess wants me in her purse! We ain’t like you Lightlings, waking up every morning and wondering what you want to do, where you think you should go. I wake up every morning and wonder what they’ll let me do, what I can get away with. ’Cause any day I cross them, they’ll take away my papers and then I’m nothing again. Fodder for some hero’s license, a dead dog walking.

Shows the societal divide and bias

He’d even hired a painter to do an emotive rendition of the recent profit reports, but the resulting work was too horrible to display. He’d had the thing burned. He still had nightmares about it.