Currency of Urnketh - Metal Plates Item in Age of Gray | World Anvil

Currency of Urnketh - Metal Plates

When the Age of War was still young, every country of the world had its own currency. Those currencies were often seen as another symbol of their independence. But for many traders, the existence of so many different coins, and exchange laws related to them made their lives way harder.
And then, according to some records, everything changed when the Witch of Wealth showed up. Even, she, a genius of profit, was fed up with hundreds of different currencies that would show up and disappear from the market as soon as a new nation was born or died. So she started experimenting on her own, and as a result, created three currencies that have been accepted as a standard around the whole Urnketh.  

Three Currencies

Metal Tiles (MT)

Also known as "squares" thanks to their shape, MTs are worth least out of the three currencies. Often considered the currency of the peasants and poor townsmen. They can be identified by simple face showing their value, their reeded edges, and colorful spots covering their whole surface. Those spots show up after prolonged exposure to the Colors, both those from environment and from the people touching them. As such, one can recognize if the square is newly created by the amount of those discolorations on it.
Their dimensions vary between 2x2 cm for those with the value of 1 and 3x3 cm for those worth 10 MTs.  

Gray Plates (GP)

An upgrade to the squares, during their creation the gray plates are covered in Gray paint to prevent them from absorbing any Colors and changing their hue. Their introduction was happily welcomed by the traders who would often be accused of artificial aging up or even counterfeiting of the coins by people staying in one place. Those accusations would be obviously false, as one traveling around the countryside would be exposed to more Colors than the person living in the city.
Like with squares, plates have reeded edges and come in four different values (1, 2, 5, and 10), however, each one of them is worth 10 times of the same value of MTs. Unlike squares, both their reverse and obverse are covered with pictures of both the Yellow Trader (one of the Six Monochromes, the goddess of trading) and the face of the Witch of Wealth. The value of the coin is stamped on the side representing the deity.
They are rectangles, that just like tiles come in varying sizes, between 2x4 cm and 3x6 cm. Their longer side is always twice as long as the shorter one.  

Money flow

Few hundred years later, the Witch's control of the flow of money is as unshakeable as it always was. Wherever a sudden influx of currency could lead to the oversaturation or inflation, she and her agents show up, bringing balance, be it by influencing the politicians, manipulating the market, or affecting the circulation of money in the area.
Because of the way she acts and helps various businesses, most of the people of Urnketh and even some other Witches are direct or indirect employers of the Witch of Wealth.
Other names:
  • MTs - Tiles, squares, spots
  • GPs - Plates, rectangles (their shape), Gs
  • CSs - Sheets, bookmarks (because of elongated shape), singles (from one color they possess)
  Weight:
  • MTs - 5-7g
  • GPs - 8-12g
  • CSs - 4-6g
Item type
Currency & Deeds

Color Sheets (CS)

Money used only by the wealthy, CS gain value the longer they exist. They are made out of the same metal used in MTs, so just like them, their color could change. But as the squares are colorless in the beginning, the sheets are purposefully dyed with a single pigment. After this, various detailed pictures are carved on their surface, and lastly, the date of their creation is stamped on them. They are long (10-15 by 5 cm), thin rectangles.
From now on, the longer they keep their color without any changes, their value rises. As such, only those who can keep them in safes and other places that will protect them from access to the Colors in the environment can truly profit from them. Any discovered discoloration or defect drastically reduces the value of the sheet, sometimes even decreasing it beneath its original value.   The Conservator
There are rumors circulating around the different parts of Urnketh.
Apparently, there is a person who is able to "fix" color sheets to their original state, restoring the value it should have. As of now, they haven't worked for anyone wealthy. Quite the contrary, they seem to help the few poor people who once invested in bookmarks, only to discover that they lost money once they were tainted by Colors.
Conservator, as they call said person, already helped a few communities, raising them from poverty. It is unknown who they are and if they are a group or only a single person.
Whoever they are, the Witch is looking for them, both curious of their secret and furious that someone meddles with her money.

Comments

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Aug 21, 2019 21:44 by R. Dylon Elder

Ooooo rev, something happened and I'm absolutely losing my mind over it causeni never noticed it. Apparently, your background where the text is has a gradient in color, and since I'm on mobile, it follows the column. idk if you have a sidebar or what it looks like on computer but it really looked nice on mobile and blew my mind.   As far as the currency, I really liked the unique quality of each denomination. The plates and squares and sheets are very unique and each is special. I also like that there was a witch who created the concept. It's a nice little touch. I do wonder, how much of this is in circulation? If its universal among so many, how do they account for inflation? Is inflation a major problem, especially with how some get more valuable over time or is that value over time the way you handle inflation?

Aug 22, 2019 23:48 by Jimmy Shrekson

Countries: let's have our own currencies as part of our independance, identity and as a means of economic security against economic crisis in other natio- Witch of Wealth: ![ * ( N O ) * ]!

Aug 23, 2019 00:41

Basically. XD

Aug 23, 2019 06:34

Why would merchants want to artifically age their GP? is it more valuable with more colors?

Aug 23, 2019 08:10

It was more of a "You artificially aged up that counterfeited coin so it looks like it's not new, didn't you?" false suspicions that would show up once in a while, and the traders (Witch included) got fed up with it.