Money and Coinage

The monetary system in use in Arthea was an invention of The Dwarves, who (with their wide range of metal and mineral reserves) established the first Post-Disaster coinage system. The first coins, and the standard by which they are produced, was created in The Kathron Delve, and hence the coin standard is often called Kathron Coins. Because this system was adopted by pretty much everyone, the sizes and weights of coins are the same all over the lands, which makes trading (and taxation) very, very easy.

Value of Money

The breakdown of the value of coins is as follows:

There are additional, more obscure coins issued in some places|

Each race or realm issues its own coinage, and names differ for coins from place to place.

In human and halfling civilisations, the names are as follows:

And in Dwarfish and Gnomish homelands, the names used are|

Minted Coins

Dwarfish and Gnomish Coins

Traditionally, dwarfish coins have been minted independently from delve to delve, and while this is still popular, there are some neighbouring delves that have recently begun sharing this work. The size and weight and metal content has been a standard among them for over a thousand years, and with improvements to mining and smelting techniques, it is believed that the coins produced today are purer than they have ever been. Dwarfish coins raise eyebrows in human society, as the humans seem to place fractionally higher value to dwarfish currency it seems the peasants trust the dwarfs to work the precious metals better than their human counterparts.

As the places where coins are made is so spread out, so the range of coin types and designs varies too. Most carry the symbol of the dwarfish axe or hammer on the 'tail' side somewhere, and any writing is runic, making them hard to read for non-dwarves or gnomes. On the head side of the coin, traditionally the current dwarfish King for that delve has been shown. These Kings are often not recognised outside their own delves, and the images tend to stylised to the extent that frequently the dwarves cannot tell which king it is; so humans and other races have really got no chance.

Human and Halfling Coins

In the past, the separate Kingdoms that made up Arthea had manufactured their own coins. All stuck to the coinage standards set up by the dwarves, however, as this meant that trade with each other and the dwarves was a whole lot easier. The different Kingdoms handled their minting control in different ways. The Empire used to manufacture its coins centrally, while Caldonacia and Ticetia both allowed localised mints under the control of one of their dukes or earls.

When Caldonacia and Ticetia were conquered by the Empire in 1346, King Thomas abolished all coin production in Caldonacia, and transferred it to the Empire’s mint. He had intended to extend this method of coin production eventually to Ticetia, but the south couldn’t cope with the additional workload and so he was forced to backtrack. He never took coin production away from Ticetian nobles, and only managed to opened the Caldonacian mint in 1349 to ease the burden from the southern mint. He was responsible for most of the coin production problems too, as he was keen to re-mint all the coins which came through the royal exchequer in an attempt to erase images of the old rulers from everyone's pockets and replace them with his own. The Ticetian royal mint was not established until King Marcus was on the throne, and taking money production away form the nobles of Ticetia just led to a swifter downfall for him.

Modern coinage issued by the mints of Arthea carry an image of King James on the head side. Coins from before King Siegfried’s time have almost all been re-smelted. James is slowly working his way through old coins too, removing even Siegfried’s face from the people. The 'tail' side of the coins produced by humans is left to the individual mint. As a result, there are quite a number of different designs floating around.

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ArtheaWiki: Currency (last edited 2013-10-23 20:36:34 by Neil)