Gilded Hoard

The Morning Realm    People    Factions      Gilded Hoard

The Gilded Hoard is the largest bank in the Morning Realm. The bank is based in the hoard of the ancient dragon Esereum, whose lair is well protected deep in the mountains of Storest.
The gold pieces issued by the Gilded Hoard; the gold drake, the silver sun, and the copper cent, is by far the most prolific currency in the Realm. By nature of the pieces belonging to a dragons hoard the coins are infused with magic that is further enchanted to prevent debasement and make them almost impossible to counterfeit.

Organization

The Gilded Hoard is a realm-wide bank with permanent branches in the Argosian Empire, Courdonne and the Castellan Kingdoms. They used to operate in the Empire of Trinais but the branch was forcibly closed by the courts.

A few itinerant bankers operate open air banks in nations that do not have their own official branch.
The Gilded Hoard is highly decentralized compared to other Great Banks.
Outside of Storest and major capitals, the Hoard often contracts a local bank affiliated with the Guild of Accountants to work for them and provides certification for at least one of their accountants.

Open Air Banking is the practice of rudimentary banking services in public.
Individual Wizards of Accounting certified by the Gilded Hoard will typically set up with their ledger in a market stall and offer deposits, withdrawals, transfers and minor loans (minor loans come with a small usury tax in the Theocracy of Krorus).
This is typically done with Summon or Banish Currency.

Each subsidiary branch of the Gilded Hoard mint their own coins in collaboration with the government. The design of the obverse or head is typically decided by the local government, usually the profile or mark of the reigning monarch, and the reverse or tail depicts a dragon.

History

Make Haste Slowly

— The Medivetti family slogan

The Gilded Hoard began as the treasury of the Medivetti family. At the time the Medivetti were a minor family branch of the Aurumus dynasty. The family was part of the textile trade, and used the wealth to invest and transition to banking, and slowly became a notable name in Storest. It was founded by Costis Medivetti, first lending money to friends and then expanding further to working with the Storan Guilds and companies.
Early in the 7th Century WE the Medivetti Bank was able to purchase a precious metal mine for a steal from a minor company who went bankrupt after his workers went on strike for poor working conditions. This mine would provide crucial soon, but was ignored by Costis Medivetti.

The First Mint

My dear cousin showed me his hand. A once noble and delicate hand marred with scrapes and beaded blood! He had gone to the market, he told me, and had a purse full of cut pieces. No wonder he was so bruised!
I say money should serve us! Would you keep a maid who scratched you? Let me make this terrible coin into a pliant, pleasing one for you, my dear madame.

— Guilette Medivetti

When ownership of the bank transferred to up and coming Guilliette Medivetti, she invested a significant amount of their money into buying up bullions and restarting the mine to begin a mint of low-denominational currency.
The first to be minted was the Silver Sun, which had the same value as a piece, and copper dimes, which were worth a tenth of the suns. It was quickly adopted. The rounded coins were far nicer to use than the sharply-edged pieces.

A Handful of Pieces by USFWSmidwest, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Despite, or perhaps because of, it's great success and massive profits, after only six years the Medivetti bank stopped minting. The Medivetti Bank stopped producing coins from 654 WE until 664 WE, focusing on their standard financial services.

Rumours

Yes, there were whispers of a dragon even back then. What else lurks deep in a mine? Why else would good dwarven folk strike? At the time, those rumours were easily dismissed, but they would later prove prescient.

The flourishing Medivetti bank had made them a notable family in their own right, and many Medivetti's had found high profile jobs in the great companies and guilds of Storest. When they decided to abandon a very successful mint rumours were abundant.
Many said they had found something new and terrible in the mines, though few agreed on what exactly. The less prone to superstition assumed it was a sign that the Medivetti knew something others didn't. People were eager to get rid of their Gilded Hoard coinage, and the price dropped fast. As soon as the value dropped, some family members and speculators began to buy up significant amounts of the coin for cheap. The value of the coinage was volatile, sometimes far below the face and weighted value, other times far more, and many lost trust with the Medivettis.

Denouncement

In 664 WE the Medivetti Bank announced that they would start minting again. Not only that, the Medivetti claimed they'd developed enchantments that protect their coins from debasement. They were lambasted by the guilds and ridiculed.
Economists of the time denounced the bank, claiming such enchantments, while possible, were far too expensive to be preformed on coinage. It was impossible that the coins that would enter circulation would have the same enchantments as the coins the Medivetti used in their demonstrations. The volatility of their coin just a few years ago also firm in peoples mind. The Medivettis became, for a time, synomous with charlatans.
They persisted with the mint. The coinage saw little use until an economist with a personal grudge against the Medivetti family saw fit to prove what everyone knew, and show that the family were undeniably charlatans. The economist collected as many of the new coins as he could, and gathered the Guilds of Metallurgy to view as he shaved the standard coins.
His dagger chipped on the first one. The only Medivetti Silver Sun he could easily debase was a coin from their earlier mint, marked 649 WE. The Medivettis couldn't have paid for better marketing.
It still took a while before the coinage saw widespread adoption.

The Reveal

You believe the Medivetti family tamed a dragon? Bah! Don't be ridiculous. The dragon tamed them. No one tames a dragon, especially not a family of snakes.

As soon as the Medivettis claims that the coins were resistant to debasement was proven true, the other banks launched into investigations on how exactly the Medivetti family was able to enchant their coins. It was a sorcerer of the draconic tradition who first clued in to the nature of the coins, and who courteously sent a letter to the Medivetti family about their discovery.
In 698 WE the Medivetti announced that they were rebranding to the Gilded Hoard. They revealed their collaboration with the dragon Esereum and introduced a new coin to their collection in their honor, the Gold Drake. The drake was made their new standard, and the Copper Dime bacame the Copper Cent.

See Also

Factions

---

Country	Factions
Castellite	Chamber of Peers • Grand Councilate • The Castellite Millitary • Guild of Accountants
Argosian	Imperial Magisterium • Bookwardens
Storest	Gilded Hoard

The Gilded Hoard

by Annie Stein

Industry	Financial Services
Founded	622 WE
Currency	Drakes
Owner	Esereum
Key People	Costis Medivetti (Founder) Guilliette Medivetti
Subsidiaries	GH Argos GH Castellan Kingdoms GH Courdonne

---

Associated Professions

---

Conjurer of Coin

The Conjurer of Coin is a Wizard of Accounting dedicated to the casting of Summon or Banish Currency. All official Branch offices have at least one Conjurer of Coin.

---

Listener

The Listeners are the lynchpins of communications in the Gilded Hoard. They are tasked with attuning to the sending stones and logging what they hear.

---

Auditor

The Auditors are typically Wizards of Divination who work directly for the main branch. When a Greater Withdrawal is preformed under their jurisdiction the Auditors are notified and recieve a copy of the filled out forms used to cast the spell. They can use the forms to remotely scry on the caster of the Withdrawal and the client.

---

Collectors

Should an audit reveal anything unsavoury, the Collectors are the in-house team of adventurers sent out to retrieve the coin and dispense whatever justice necessary. As section §2-2-1(311-301-2010-2011-301) makes clear, filling out the forms for a Greater Withdrawal waivers your right to keep living if you should steal from a Gilded Hoard account.

---