Eco-system Explainer

The Eco-system = The Economy.
The Eco-system is the term used for what we call the Economy.

Throughout the story, many characters (mostly Dwarfs) will be heard passionately arguing for the need to protect, preserve, and care for the Eco-system, particularly in the aftermath of the Global Farcue Crisis (GFC). This is either:

You decide.
 * an elegant piece of satire, juxtaposing the language of environmentalists and free-marketeers for humorous effect; or
 * lefty-liberal-communist-tree-hugging propaganda desgined to destroy The American Way Of Life

Can economics be funny?
The Economics of the Kingdoms is an important part of the story, and the satire. It is presented here as 3 levels of transactions: The aim is to show how these 3 types of transactions interact to create a system that is becoming increasingly unstable, unsustainable, and corrupt. A key message here is that the irresponsible use private consumer credit is as much to blame for the GFC as speculative bankers and politicians.
 * Level 1 Transactions = the purchase of consumer goods on credit
 * Level 2 Transaction = speculative share trading and mergers & acquisitions
 * Level 3 Transactions = corporate campaign financing

There is a lot to say here about Campaign Financing, and the open corruption this enables. More of that at The Battles Explainer.

It's not sounding real funny right now, but it definitely has all the elements of a tragic farce.