#even if you think you can't donate much. bc of the exchange rate it would actually help more than you know

[lovelornnobodyknows]

hi again. if you saw my last post you know my city has been affected by a terrible storm that resulted in most of the city flooding. I know this is a long shot but I also know most people here are from the USA so, if u can, here's a link to donate in US dollars. anything will help. also just by sharing you would be helping a lot. thank you in advance

[haec-est-fides]

I think i sent you an ask a while ago but maybe tumblr ate it? Idk but anyways I wanted to know what you thought about New Rome/CJ in terms of like economics and resources. Do they grow and raise their own crops and livestock? Do they import it or is it magically provided? They use denarii, but is US cash also used? Do they have mints for denarii (and same question for chb and drachma) or does Olympus just have a fund for them? Where did they get all that marble from? Does the outside world acknowledge New Rome University? Do they have hospitals for non-magical surgeries and the like? Elementary schools? Are there trade schools or is it a master/apprentice system? Have they had to expand the city for population growth or has it been fairly steady bc it seems like CJ has a way lower mortality rate than CHB. Like, I just really want to know what their resource management and supply lines look like and I dont think it was really touched on in canon (like most things oops-). Thx for answering!

(Sorry for missing this! I've been in other headspaces lately but thank you so much for the ask!)

All of these are such vital and amazing questions, but the simple fact is that Riordan didn't think any of it through. 😔

Personally, I HIGHLY doubt that the city or camp can sustain itself. It's just not,,,feasible? I think it's probable (even canon? if my memory serves) that the city and camp do supply some of their own resources (I'm thinking especially grapes, maybe olives, etc.)! To handwave it as magic would be easiest, and the food at CJ's mess is magically provided (right?), but that can't be said for the whole city. That'd be ridiculous. This is a whole city, albeit a small one (?), so they have to be importing some -- if not a majority -- of their goods. It would make sense imo if they (to the outside world) ran a winery or other type of farm(s) and made money that way, to buy everything else they need. That said, there's surely some economic activity that's basically contained? Like, there are people who work with the outside world and bring goods in or get goods out, but others buy from those go-betweens and sell just to Romans (like chariots, etc.). Other, non-agricultural exports are probably common too, like idk artisans with Etsy accounts. Historical replica goods are a huge and lucrative market, and I can easily imagine NR capitalizing on that. I also don't think anything is stopping the average New Roman from driving a few miles to like, Target. I think they have groceries and the like in their community that are much more convenient, and I'm sure culturally their consumer habits are different than the American norm, but they probably are just going to the mall to buy stuff pretty often.

As for money,,,oh man. They HAVE to have a mint!!! A bank!!! WHERE else are the denarii coming from or being kept?! Maybe the coins are mainly in circulation within NR / CJ, which means they could be mostly old, but that's just not how economies work. They'd need to get gold and silver and mint new coins at some point. Which raises some fun questions like do they have their own imprints based on,,,what, year? Leadership? (The City Has To Have Its Own Leadership Structure Of Some Kind And You Can't Change My Mind btw.) Or is it standardized at this point? (Yawn.) I'd guess that you could probably use USD most places in New Rome, but not in camp? And people might still look at you funny. There are probably a decent number of places in the city to exchange currency though, if not just the main bank. Because, lest we forget the theme here, New Rome's community goes far beyond its borders! It is not Camp Half-Blood!

The marble! If we're talking about Temple Hill specifically, that's (mostly) as old as the city / camp, right? Maybe some of that was donated by the gods / obtained through mysterious means or brought from the previous Roman settlement somehow, but come on, the majority has to be imported!

NRU is a whole can of worms asdfghjkl. Which reminds me of when I thought about citizenship and like, I.D.s and addresses, etc.! To make this work even a little bit the way it seems to in the books, we're assuming that people born in / who live in NR DO legally exist in the United States. So. To me it would make sense that NR is maybe a mist-edited city? That way these people are U.S. citizens and can vote and pay taxes and all that, but the details of everything are obscured to outsiders? Maybe the U.S. postal service has a drop at the edge of the city and then they have an internal mail service? This whole deal is WILD and it's because, unlike CHB, these people LIVE here and are BORN here and WORK here and?! Driving me insane. If I'm assuming this about basic legal documents, I'm also assuming NRU transcripts and degrees (and any from primary education!!) ARE valid outside of NR, but the details are fuzzy to any outsider reading them lmao? And ofc NRU can't work with any other universities like most universities tend to, like in local / international partnerships? Actually it'd be pretty funny if NRU students can travel to other universities to do research or whatever on the "mist-documents and no one asks questions" principle, but students from outside can't do the same.

Again, I really feel like New Rome is a functioning city to an extent, so,,,yes to at least one hospital that is not the legion's -- though that isn't to say they don't use magic for "normal" illnesses or procedures, because why wouldn't they if they have that available? And yes at least one elementary, middle, and high school. (Aside: how many families / kids are we thinking actually live in NR?) I think it'd make sense for a LOT of the traditional, "Roman" jobs to be master / apprentice style, but there could be more modern trade education built into the high school or university? Catering towards more modern trades or for those who are seeking to live outside of the city.

Fantastic point re. the mortality rate and population btw! I feel like NR has definitely expanded since it was founded, but it has to have a limit on that expansion because it's surrounded by uh normie society. While the mortality rate seems low, we have to consider that not everyone stays in the city itself -- legacies aren't as at-risk for monster attacks, and so many of them probably have lives outside of NR and just send their kids to camp for their service and visit. It also seems like a stable number of kids serve, given the bunks and cohorts? So it's definitely possible that some families, after a certain point down the legacy line maybe, just don't send their kids? Or, alternatively, there are less OUTSIDE demigods / legacies that arrive than there are predictable legacies? Hm.

I guess my stance here (and it's been a while since I've read the books, so correct me if I'm blatantly wrong) is that the gods specifically DON'T help Camp Jupiter / New Rome out very much at all. It's almost a point of pride? Romans serve the gods, but they can handle themselves, thank you! New Rome is a project -- a community -- on a scale entirely unlike Camp Half-Blood, AND one ostensibly founded and maintained by PEOPLE, not the gods. It can't be handwaved as some strawberry farm summer camp, and Riordan didn't know how to handle that, nor was it particularly relevant to the books at any point. :/

To throw in one of my personal big thoughts here, I do think the Triumvirate have sooo much of a hand in all this. Maybe that's just one of my hc's to cope with the massive plot holes, but lmao. They HAVE the money, the connections, etc. Especially if they're Octavian's "family" that kept getting referenced as the most powerful, rich, and influential in NR? They're paying for the place. Through shell corporations and various legacy families, sure, but still.

I guess to wrap this up, as it is after 1AM for me and this is a lot (oof), I think Riordan did intend NR / CJ to be much more off the grid and self-contained. And that's really an unrealistic product of him styling it (in his mind) after CHB. CHB doesn't have to worry about birth certificates and voter registration and driver's licenses. CHB doesn't have to worry about sanitation or food or education. CHB doesn't have what I'd call a "population." CHB is a liminal, transitory space in the palm of the gods' hands. New Rome cannot be that, IS not that.