Moneymaker

The moneymaker does exactly what you would expect - they make money. Specifically they produce to coinage of the Moran Duchy though in recent years they have branched out into other financial tools and trading based on the stocks of silver bulion that they sould otherwise be striking into coin.
Although, like all trades the moneymakers have a chequered history and their fair share of bad eggs, they have for some time been among the most respected of Morton's traders and artisans on account of the scrutiny they are subjected to and the penalties applied if they are found wanting in their profession.

Career

Career Progression

Some moneymakers start out as whitesmiths (workers of gold and silver for jewellry, plate etc) but most spend their entire career in the money trade. This is a tight community with a great deal of trust and loyalty required for a successful career. A young person will start in the trade as a striker learning the arts of silver refining, the production of blanks, the striking of coins and the engraving of dies. Gaining these skils takes several years but the limiting factor on grduating to a moneymaker is building trust and gaining the working capital to set up as an independent moneymaker.
Having prepared their dies and obtained a licence from the Tithar the newky minted moneymaker will set up their workshop paying a great deal of attention to matters of security. They will then begin their work, typically working solo for several years before starting to take on strikers of their own.
Because even Morton only support three moneymakers they will often move between towns at some point in their career, most typically when first starting out on their own account - as few will be able to set up in the town they trained in unless their trainer chooses that point to retire.
Most moneymakers will serve at least one term as Alderman , or the local equivalent, and when they choose to stand for this role they have a high rate of succes even when standing for a ward they do not live in - such is the respect that thir trade brings them.

Payment & Reimbursement

Money makers draw their income from three sources:-

• The difference between the bullion value of pre silver and that of the coins: a porro of silver weighs as much as 256 Dukes, but when mixed with up to 10 copper as the law of the land allows this much silver will mint around 275 Dukes.

• Trading and refining scrap silver: worn or foreign coinage, old jewellry or any other silver items. Their need for silver of known purity has made the moneymakers skillful in the purification of silver, to the extent that most silver is recycled through them and many of the whitesmiths buy their silver from the moneymakers.

• Other financial methods: in the last few decades the moneymakers have started holding deposits of bullion with no intent to mint it, but issuing credit notes which now pass as paper currency. These can be bought from and sold to the moneymaker who issued them at a discount of one sixteenth and otherwise pass at face value./li]

Taking these points together a moneymaker is usually a rich man, though less so than the great traders, nobles or lawmen.

Other Benefits

The greates non-monetary benefit accruing to the moneymakers is the trust that they are held in.Their trade is heavily regulated and although the temptations to malpractice are ever present the penalties for it are great. The demonstrated integrity of a moneymaker sees them highly respected across society (unlike the unregulated usurers and tallymen).

Perception

History

Moneymakers have been plying their trade in the Duchy since the first coinage was struck in 37MD. For some centuries they operated as specialist whitesmiths but as the trade has come under tighter regulation they have increasingly separated from the guild system (no town has enough to warrant a guild for the trade).
Debasement of the currency has been a significant problem at various times in the Duchy's history, resulting in the situation that we see today (see below) though this has more often been due to national political factors than the malfeasence of the moneymakers. Nevertheless the penalties threatened and the determination of the money makers to avoid them has prevented attempts to formally debase the currency (most notably in during the Covrin Wars, when the money makers refused to strike and debased currency was issued by the Tithars in response to the Duke's insistence.)

Operations

Tools

A money makers workshop will contain a furnace for melting and refining silver, strong rooms and strong boex for the storage both of buklion and struck coin, one set of dies for striking the coins (few moneymakers will have a second set even where they employ two strikers), hammers for striking and tools for engraving the dies.

Type

Financial / Trade

Demand

Morton, as the largest town in the Duchy, supports three moneymakers currently. Nominally all tithings have at least one, but in the smaller and less prosperous tithings a moneymaker may be shared between two or even three.

Cutting of Dies

Dies are cut from small blocks of steel using hardened steel tools, or occasionally tols tipped with gemstones. The creating of these ties is the most artisticly challenging part of the moneymaker's trade and to produce the dies for a single coin typically takes a week's work. Although steel is much harder than silver these dies wera and in the past would often need to be changed every year or two but in recent decades the hardening techniques used by the artificer blacksmiths have been used to produce dies of a longer life. These can last a decade in use, but skill is needed in the hardening for too much will result in a brittle die that fails in a matter of a few day's use.

The Handstone

All moneymakers workshops will possess several handstones. These are a dark igneous rock from the The Great Range in Marivar which when a metal sample is drawn across it leaves a chracteristic coloured streak. Many stones show similar behaviour but the handstone is notable for the gradation of colours it gives with impure silver - ideal as a rough and ready check on quality though most workshops will use other techniques to assess an ingot before it is struck into coin.

Occupational Illnesses

A moneymaker is not at risk of many occupational illnesses. Injuries from splashing with moulton metal or for a mis-struck hammer are not uncommon, but for illnesses "strikers hand" is trhe main one. This is a gradual failing of strength in the hand used to hold the die while striking. It is not the impact of a single mis-hit, but the cumulative effects of many years' striking. Although it can be mitigated by changing how the die s secured, this slows production rates considerably and "Strikers hand" is one of the main limitations on the working life of a moneymaker.

Regulation and Enforcement

The temptations to moneymakers to dilute the coinage or to strike light coins have long been known and over the years the Duchy's systems have developed to reduce the chances of this. Many systems have been sed in other places involving collecting and testing coins at the point of manufacture but these are lways prone to problems with careful sample selection. The system used in the Moran Duchy includes samples gathered through taxation and the use of unique dies to identify each monyer's work.

The workshop samples and taxation samples taken from each tithing are assessed for weight and purity. Both allow for some leeway and all moneymakers add less copper than they could and strike heavier coins than they need for added security. At the tithing level, each money maker is assessed on a minimum of 256 Duke's worth of coin - a nominal perro, each year. If this falls short of the standard for weight or quality thena number of sanctions may be applied. Clear proof of substandard coinage will result in the right hands of the moneymaker and any strikers of their workshop loosing their right hands. Where the proof is less clear, or if counterfeiting is suspected then the money makers dies will be melted down and they will have to manufacture and have licenced a new set before business can resume.