Zirrost, Town of festivities

Come on, the night is still young! Deposit some, if not all of your gold in exchange for tokens, and enjoy the pleasures of the Heartfield Casino! Now, what do you say? You are but a wanderer looking for an inn? Well aren't you in luck, my friend, we're not lacking in this domain! Alas, I'm afraid our communal innkeepers won't accept your gold, you see everything here is paid for in tokens, coins are pretty much worthless. But don't think that lady luck has abandoned you, for I am in possession of a few myself that I am willing to trade.

Zirrost was, long ago, a backwater town riddled with disease and hard-working villagers. That is, until Mister Karlseni came and built the Heartfield Casino. Since then, the village has been thriving, and will soon reach the size of a small city, with heart-shaped tokens as the blood pumped through the veins that all lead to the beating heart, the casino.

Parallel economy

Early on, the casino began distributing tokens at a loss: for each new member subscription, the equivalent of a gold coin in tokens was given. Soon enough, the paint wooden pieces flooded the city, as it wasn't necessary to convert them back into money upon leaving, "to facilitate the next visit".

As time went on and townsfolk converted more and more of their money into gambling tokens, an alternative economy developed as businesses began to accept tokens in exchange for their goods. The real turning point was when new shops only took tokens as payment, straight up refusing real money. One after the others, the competition followed this trend until gold held less value than brightly-coloured wood. Now, even workers are paid in tokens so that they can waste no time before indulging in the casino fun.

Sprawling entertainment complex

With more and more newcomers settling in Zirrost, the initial casino has expanded quite a bit. It now spans 17 buildings, the biggest of the town. Around them, a perpetual funfair offers amusements for all the family and keep the kids busy while their parents gamble their economies in hope of going out twice as rich.

If the house always wins, the fairness guaranteed in the public advertisements allow everyone to leave with at least the same number of tokens that they entered with, albeit of slightly lower value. Furthermore, nothing is truly lost. If your funds happen to run dry, the bank will offer you twice the value in tokens for any mortgage. Just what is needed to risk it all, gain back your belongings and coming out on top.

Mister Karlseni

A successful entrepreneur, the real name of the casino owner is a mystery for the inhabitants of Zirrost. Even his last name tends to be forgotten, as it is rarely used. He is instead called "the Mister" or "Boss" in town and by his employees. The exact extent of his wealth is difficult to fathom, but the investments he made for the town are undeniable.

He likes to put himself as a champion of the people, giving them what they really need for a fulfilling life. He barely goes out of the first casino he built, since then enlarged to be the size of a small fortress, with many facilities inside beside the game tables, such as several restaurants and a public bathhouse.

Forgery

Naturally, some tried to abuse the system and began to craft and paint their own tokens. The scammers first traded low-value tokens and escaped scrutiny, but their hubris caused their downfall. As they produced tokens of the highest values, one of those crossed the boundary of the casino, where magical apparatus unveiled the fraud.

The perpetrators were almost beaten to a death by a violent mob, angered at the idea of having their hard-earned money counterfeit with such ease and contempt. In the following months, the various stores surrendered their remaining wealth to acquire the fraud detection devices, magical artefacts to identify the casino signature imprinted on each token.

One thing that hasn't changed in years is the back-breaking labour. For someone born in Zirrost, the two choices are either Strenfil's mine or the fields. Well, now you can also become an employee of the casino, but the minimum requirement is knowing how to count and read, they mostly employ guys from the next big city.
What has changed is what we do beside work. Before, it was not so great. Little to do in terms of leisure around here. Sleep, look at the clouds, run away from the occasional goblin incursion, nothing thrilling, or even remotely interesting. Now, we have the casino! I always keep my stash on me so I can play whenever I'm on a break.
My favourite is the roulette. You put your token on a case, and if Lady Luck put her gaze on you, you win big! I got so many lucky charms and I win more often than not! Then there's card games, or shooting contests. I may not be a hunter, but I hold quite well with a bow! And don't get me started on the booze, they got so many different brands I can't remember them all! That's something else than old Rowan's booze, let me tell you!
The party's all night long, but I usually leave around midnight. I got to get up early, unfortunately. My dream is to one day roll high enough to quit working and enjoy the casino as much as I want, all day and night! It happened in the past, young Thorstin got the luck of his life and earned really big, so that's bound to happen again, I just know it!