Editing Acrozatarim/Appendix 1 (section)

==Currencies of the Drakkath==

''GM's Note: Translate your character's starting gp into suns - ie if you start with 25gp that's 25 suns, or 2500 leaves.  That'll buy you about half a horse, let you hire around twenty-five labourers for a month, etc etc.''

Across much of the Drakkath, the old Imperial currency still holds sway.  There is no longer any central ministry overseeing the minting and production of coins, nor Imperial authority backing the currency's value, but since the Dawn War most communities and nations of the region have continued to use the old coinage out of practicality.  Most nations or states have their own rules controlling who can mint coins and addressing issues of devaluation and debasement of worth, but the Drakkath remains rife with coinage that has been milled, adulterated with other metals, is too small or so forth.  The main new source of monetary stability is Huron, as the Lord Commanders have taken to maintaining and supporting the Imperial currency as a sign of their own legitimacy as future Emperors.

The standard base of the Imperial currency is copper (sometimes alloyed into bronze or adulterated with iron).  The three types of copper coinage are:
*The ''leaf'', sometimes called the ''scroll'', is the smallest and fundamental coin underpinning the Imperial system.  Generally, prices and costs are stated in leaves, even when running to the thousands.  Leaves are usually minted with a circular or square hole at their centre, to allow for stringing on twine.
*The ''sun'', sometimes called the ''book'', is a larger, much heavier coin worth one hundred leaves; in some areas, a sun's worth of copper is a decent monthly wage.
*The ''circle'' or ''minister'' is the largest denomination of copper currency, worth three hundred leaves.  It is generally decorated with text and symbols of the four Great Elementals, and is believed to reflect the harmonious flow of wealth in the harmony of the four elements.

There is no standard silver currency; however, silver is still extensively used in trade and commerce for high value or volume goods.  Silver is cast in ''cups'' or ''flowers'', small ingots that are shaped so that they can be easily stacked one upon the other; in many regions, there is a tradition of casting adorned or elaborate patterns and designs (hence flowers, as a common silver ingot is in the shape of a flower-head with open petals).  Cups have no standard value, shape or size; their worth is based on their weight and on the professional opinion of a silver-weigher as to the silver's purity.

Gold is valued for its lustre and as a material for jewellry and fine decoration; however, despite its great worth, it is not generally used as a form of currency.  Where it is used in this way, gold is generally cast into cups and flowers like silver is.

A number of other forms of currency are also used in the Drakkath; some are specific to particular nations or regions, but due to the circulation of coin they tend to be accepted for all or most of their worth even beyond their land of origin.  One particular form that has gained ground is the Ascarian silver stick, taken up by High Kyros and generally accepted as a different way of measuring silver to the standard cup ingot.  Silver sticks are simply silver cast into a length; the resulting tube is generally marked with the original mint or mine and then marked every inch down its length, indicating subdivisions known as teeth.  When silver is needed to pay for the trade of goods, the owner simply cuts one or more teeth off the silver stick.  As these sticks are not standardised in length, breadth or purity, there is still need for weights and measures when making payments with this medium of currency.

Naseria makes use of the standard Imperial currency; however, it also uses dragonmarks, more widely known as red gold and indigo gold.  Dragonmarks are an alloy of copper, silver and gold, creating a distinctive hue and a unique smell; this coinage stems from the tradition of the coins that Naskha himself gave to his followers being marked with a dragons-head and made from this trimetallic mixture.  Dragonmarks come in two types:
*''Crimson marks'', a distinctively gold-red-coloured coin, generally considered to be worth 1,000 leaves.
*''Indigo marks'', with a higher gold content and a distinctively purple hue; these are made with small amounts of rare indigo metals found in the Indigo Marches.  These are generally worth 2,000 leaves apiece.

Carthagia has a more extensive and complex system of currency than elsewhere, mostly based around rings - coinage that can literally be worn on the fingers.  The minting and casting of coins is a right granted by the King of Carthagia, but it is heavily overseen and administered to ensure that the currency does not suffer.  The types of Carthagian coinage are:
*The ''pattern'', the smallest coin of Carthagian make, is a bronze coin with a very small amount of silver in it but also with traces of other metals in it; each mint given the authority to make patterns has a particular secret mixture that they apply, resulting in a distinctive and unique pattern (hence the name) of swirls and marks from the heat of the casting.  Patterns are generally worth two leaves.
*The ''knife'', a strange coin shaped somewhat like a small knife-blade.  Made from bronze, knives are worth ten leaves apiece.
*The ''shield'', a large iron coin worth around two hundred leaves.  Traditionally, shields were the monthly pay that a warrior-caste soldier would receive from their liege when they were called to war.  This is a larger sum than soldiers can generally expect, presumably due to Carthagia's general wealth.
*The ''fire ring'', a ring of bronze with a fairly high level of silver in it, worth some fifty leaves.
*The ''sky ring'', a ring of silver; outside of Carthagia these would be assessed and weighed like cups, but in Carthagia the standardised minting of sky rings means they'll be accepted for 300 patterns (and hence 600 leaves).

The Drakkath coastline south of the Fractured Coast has also seen another currency rise in the centuries after the Dawn War, that of nacre.  Pearls are themselves valued, but a coinage made from carefully cut and carved nacre is practised amongst many of the shore communities, where it is generally called ''sea money'' or ''sea silver''.  Sea silver is generally patterned after the standard leaves, suns and circles of Imperial currency, but a sea silver coin is likely to be worth significantly more than the corresponding metal version.  Sea silver coins are generally etched with prayers to Ishrak, Qinjao or Kevayek, and are considered to be sacred to those gods.

Rarely seen, jade coins are an old form of Imperial currency that was used amongst the highest echelons of society.  Jade coins are never simply lumps of the precious stone; each and every one is hand-carved with adornment and decoration.  They are not a standard part of modern currency, are not produced by any current mints, and are extremely valuable.  Only the Kyrosi ever create new jade coins, and those extremely rarely; still, rumour that the Frost Envoy or other emmissaries of High Kyros might pay with precious jade are lure enough to bring all sorts seeking Kyrosi patronage.

Plentiful other coins and currencies come from further afield than the Drakkath.  Silver sequins from the western lands, gold-iron and silver-iron coins from the north, gem-bits from the east - these are relatively standard and likely to be accepted in most trade-centres in the Drakkath region.  Other forms of transaction are suitably exotic or unknown that they are more difficult to use in commerce - solid golden coins from the west, promissory tattoos from the north-west, ivory talon-nails from the far north-east, moon-quartz tokens from Vekath, and so forth.