Central Mill
| Headquarters | K'alak Muul |
|---|---|
| Central bank of |  Mutul |
| Currency | B'ul |
The Central Chocolate Mill, often nicknamed after its Mutli name as The Olman, is the Central bank of the Mutul.
History
Printing and the Public Debt
Borrowing is sometimes inevitable when a spike in expenditures would necessitate an unsupportable spike in taxation otherwise. The early Ilok'tab would face many of such spikes, in the form of warfare. The development of printing under Tecuman II "The Wise" gave the Divine Throne the ability to emit bonds and other financial products to increase their borrowing capacity.
At first, voluntary loans were only available for people related to the Ilok'tab or for certain religious institutions such as the White Mountain Society. The instruments used were simple Bearer bond (unregistered, they could be sold or redeemed once with interests), redeemable bonds (which were registered by the Divine Throne until the loan was paid off), and life annuities in the form of "Pensionary" titles where the lender simply "bought" court positions tied to rents. Depending on their age, people could buy different titles with higher return rates for the elderly than for younger buyers. An early form of Actuarial science application.
Tecuman II successors would expand the system by creating paper traders, agents who operated from market places, selling for the states various bonds and rents, with copies of their registries sent regularly to K'alak Muul alongside the cacao beans collected as payments. Quickly, the functions of paper traders and tax collectors merged and it became possible to buy state bonds even for craftmen, market merchants... giving birth to a form of "popular capitalism" that had been absent from the Mutul since the days of the Chaan Dynasty which had inspired the K'iche Dynasts.
The B'ul System
The Siriwang Eruption of 1353 had dire consequences over the world. In the Mutul, it led to crop failure and a diminution in the production of cocoa. No longer back by a steady growth in production, the Divine Throne found itself having difficulties repaying its debts and loans and the value of its paper money diminished greatly. The financial crisis that resulted almost led to the collapse of the Divine Throne and its banqueroute. Reforms were needed to avoid another similar crisis. Another issue was the many different types of cocoa beans in circulation. Their breed and post-harvesting treatment affected heavily their values and counterfeits were common.
The K'uhul Ajaw and his government then presented to the Estate Generals of the Mutul a new currency: the B'ul. The Central Press would no longer produce bonds and debt marks, only this new currency which was supposed to represent one cocoa bean. The paper B'ul would've its value guaranteed by a reserve of pure chocolate which would be handled by the newly created Central Chocolate Mill, the Olman.
Only accredited Chocolate Mills were allowed to sell cocoa to or buy from the Olman. Similarly, the Olman could only sell and buy Raw chocolate using B'ul. And finally, Chocolate Mills could only buy cocoa using B'ul as well. Bonds and pensions could still be emitted but once more could only be bought by noble houses, religious institutions, and other selected few. Bonds were now to be backed by both the chocolate reserve of the Olman and tax revenues, the latter of which were now to be paid in B'ul.
Chocolate Mills now had a role as deposit and giro transfer system but also as the Fiscal agent for their cities. The limitation of transactions in cocoa beans and its forced replacement by paper B'ul led to outcries and revolts. In regions remote from royal and financial power, local cocoa beans continued to be used meanwhile, in poor yet still affected by the reforms regions, uprisings began to target markets, chocolate producers, and royal agents. The popular violence was answered by the Divine Throne' own bloody suppression efforts but conflicts would continue over more than two decades until enough B'ulob had been printed, emitted, and spread as to limit the effects of the transition on daily exchanges and the economy as a whole.