Currency

Currency in the Manifold Sky setting exists to facilitate trade between individuals and groups where a mutual coincidence of needs does not exist.
While most major nations issue some form of currency, not all do. For example, the Ovinex Island Tribes have only a weakly centralized government and, therefore, have difficulty establishing a stable currency. A lack of a currency system typically goes hand-in-hand with a barter or traditional economy. Others, such as Craterhold, the Hermitage Island Fellowship, or the New Cobalt Protectorate, use currencies issued by other nations for convenience. The Manifold Conservation Society is unique in that it issues no currency not for a lack of economic sophistication, but rather because the extremely collectivist nation directly supplies the fundamentals of life to its citizens in exchange for labor hours.
Most (but not all) currencies in the Manifold are pegged to some sort of natural resource, as in the case of the League Shilling and League Electrum or the Voxelian Jester's Shilling and Biodiesel. Others, such as the Rostran Sea Ducat of the Rostran Archipelago Confederacy and the Commonwealth Credit of the Commonwealth of C, are actually fiat currencies. In other words, these last currencies are backed not by a resource, but by the public confidence in the stability of the governing power that issues it.
The Navigator's Guild Credit, in addition to serving as an easy way for the Guild to maintain a commanding presence in the international economies of the various great powers in the Manifold, is a popular unit of exchange wherever the Guild has a presence.

This table lists the approximate conversion rates between various currencies found throughout the Manifold and the Navigator's Guild Credit (NGC). Note that other company scrips, as well as barter/trade rates, are not included.
As the Guild's influence has spread alongside the volume of international trade, the magnitude of the variation of the value of certain necessities (such as food and fuel) between nations has been progressively flattened. Local shortages and wartime interdiction efforts can lead to spikes in prices, but these seldom last long before enterprising traders find some other way to source the required resources. This is partially a function of the fact that the geometries of the Manifold Sky make blockades incredibly difficult, as supply trains can reach any one cube from a multiple of unusual directions, including below and above.

This table covers some common daily monetary expenditures and their equivalent values in NGC. Note that these prices are averages for a middle-class lifestyle and are variable based on region and availability.

Guild Compass Rose by BCGR_Wurth

Additional Reading

• Navigator's Guild - The organization that, among other things, issues NGC as an exchange currency.

Navigator's Guild Standard by BCGR_Wurth