Hello >--- Steven Brust <skzb at dreamcafe.com> wrote: >It's strange and complex. In many ways, the culture is about that of >Renaissance to Reformation Europe (and banking in that period was *very* >complex--check 16th Century Italy or 17th Century England. Sheesh). But >it is not at all consistant. <snip> I have always found there was an interesting corallary between the banking systems in The Empire and the historical moneylending practices of both the jews and the knights templar.........also some of the more dubious consequences that went along with them...... Lisa Grant Coffin