Trade

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The use of currency is just as fresh as anything else in the civilized parts of the world. Everywhere outside of the city-states, but even in the poorer districts within them, people still resort to bartering useful things for another of equal value, but at the marketplaces, coins bronze, silver and gold are the only acceptable forms of payment. Depending on what raw materials are at the settlement's disposal, they usually sort these according to how rare or precious they are and then attribute them to one of their social classes to use. Bronze, silver and gold are the most popular, but some cultures must rely on using shells, bones, simpler metals and gems, carved pebbles, and the like.

The material, the shape, the provenance, and the imagery, however, are the very least aspects when it comes to determining the value. When anyone is saying a price, he means a specific weight of coins and not the number. The reason for that is quite simple, the weight of the coin tells both the quality and the quantity of the material that was used in its making. Of course, coins have different compositions in different city-states, but by comparing the weight, or purity of two types, it becomes much easier to exchange, or even to pay in foreign currency where it is accepted.

So far, attempts to produce a universal currency have not been successful, as almost all the states have found something unlikeable about the idea, or have outright refused to accept any ideas of outsiders. Recently, the malekhi exchange was the only one that had made any progress in spreading over to other markets of the South.

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The existence of shops is a thing of the far future on Progonos. When people need something, they must pay a visit to the right craftsman -especially in the case of custom items- or wait until market-day when they bring their wares that are ready to be sold.
The bigger difficulty when it comes to buying things is that it is often not enough to have the right amount of money, but some items are much more hard to come by due to their quality. For example, a small fishing hamlet might have a local blacksmith, but it is less likely that he has the experience, and the right resources in forging anything other than horseshoes, or other mundane metalwork. If anyone wishes to buy a new battle axe, they will likely have to look for someone who works in a more advanced settlement and is allowed to forge weapons to anyone else but the military.

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