Currency
Currency Types
Most trading nations mint their own coins. Typically, they mint coins of copper, silver, and gold. A hundred coppers or ten silvers equal a gold piece. Coins from different countries are worth about the same no matter in which country they are spent. The Empire of Eldoria also mints platinum pieces, widely accepted throughout Tarien. These are worth five gold pieces.
The Kingdom of Galencia and The Underground Kingdom of the Children of Kharl mint small trade bars of gold and mithril plated gold. The are worth 10 gold pieces and mithril bars are worth 100 gold pieces. For a brief period of time, The Citystate of Rathgar produced trade bars made of adamantine plated platinum, worth 500 gold pieces. Blacksteel, an alloy jealously guarded by the Elynthi, is so rare that they never mint it into coins or trade bars. It has a relative value of five thousand gold pieces per pound in its raw form.
Some currencies have names. Eldorians call gold pieces crowns, silver pieces tenths, and copper pieces bits. Platinum pieces, common among the wealthy, are appropriately called five-crown pieces. In Galencia, ounces are gold pieces, as each once weighed one ounce. Silvers are dimes, and coppers are pennies. Other nations simply use the term coins.
Coins weigh about bit more than quarter of an ounce each, so that about 50 coins weighs a pound and five trade bars typically weigh about a pound. In order to make large purchases, characters will have to convert money to trade bars, letters of currency, or wheel it away in a chest. Armed and professional armored cart services are common in Karradone and other major cities.
Banks, like the Bank of Karradone keep their money in secret, safe stashes, using high security. In fact, these banks are little more than safety deposit boxes. Money placed into them does not accrue interest; it is instead levied a storage fee, usually equal to one percent annually. Banks do not lend with these funds. Moneylenders use their own capital to loan out, not other people’s. Clever banks have used accrued fees to make even more money lending. Using “saved” money, however, is against the law, punishable by death for violating a contract of trust in Eldoria. Other countries have less strict restrictions.
| Currency | Value |
|---|---|
| 1 copper piece (cp) | 1/100 gp |
| 1 silver piece (sp) | 1/10 gp |
| 1 gold piece (gp) | 1 gp |
| 1 platinum piece (pp) | 5 gp |
| 1 gold bar (gb) | 10 gp |
| 1 mithril bar (mb) | 100 gp |
| 1 adamantine bar (ab) | 500 gp |
Gold. Silver. Mithril. Some of these metals gain their value from their beauty while others their utility. In all cases, their rarity drives their worth. None, however, is as rare as Elynthi blacksteel, that cursed metal of the far east. Its scarcity and utility are such that no one would consider converting it to coins or bars.