Currency

From Almeopedia

The legal currency in all the states of Ereláe is coin; advanced states have more forms of money, such as paper certificates (governmental or private), bank drafts, and ledger credit.

Contents 1 Verdurian coins 2 Coins of Eretald 3 The value of money 4 Units of account

Verdurian coins

There are six coins in common circulation in the Kingdom of Verduria. The following table gives their names, sizes, equivalent in terms of the next smaller unit and in terms of silver falî, and very approximate value in American dollars.

Coin	Type	Defined as	that is	Equivalent value
oř	large gold	= 3 ořulî	= 12 f	$58
ořula	small gold	= 4 falî	= 4 f	$19
fale	large silver	= 3 aržentulî	= 1 f	$4.80
aržentul	small silver	= 4 emurî	= 1/3 f	$1.60
emura	small emur	= 6 stanî	= 1/12 f	$0.40
stan	large tin		= 1/72 f	$0.07

Emur is an alloy of silver and tin. Technically so are the ‘silver’ coins, which are 10% tin. Since at the current rate of exchange silver is 72 times the price of tin, the exact composition of the emura is 21.41% silver, 78.59% tin.

The ‘large’ coins are all the same size, about 10 grams, and roughly .4 mano wide (= 3.3 cm). The ‘small’ coins are all the same size too, 1/3 the weight of the large size (thus, 3.33 grams, 1.9 cm wide). As a result all the large coins share a single reverse; a smaller version is used on the small coins. The Verdurian design is shown at right; it’s known as the amrabul or ‘legalization’.

Coins of Eretald

The following chart shows the principal coins of the Plain. Numbers in italics are values expressed in terms of the country's largest silver coin; non-italic numbers are values expressed in Verdurian falî. Thus, bes 12 under Guaya means that the Guayan bes is 12 times the value of the Guayan eleura; while eleura 1.1 means that the eleura is 1.1 times the value of the Verdurian fale. From this it can be seen that the bes is worth 13.2 falî.

The chief coins of the late Caďinorian Empire are shown; it can be seen that their names and values have persisted across the Plain. The names derive from the objects that were pictured on them: ‘hero, sword, ship, bird’.

Other nations have influenced their neighbors' coinage as well, notably Svetla (the chief nation of the south of the Plain), Kebri (due to its dominant position in the Littoral), and Elkarinor (the land of the elcari— as the great miners of Almea, their coins are numerous and respected).

Kebri, Ismahi, Cerei, Curiya, and Svetla punch holes in the gold piece to change the price ratio of silver to gold coins to 10 to 1. Other countries achieve a smaller gold/silver ratio by making the gold coin smaller.

Small tin and copper coins are omitted, and not a few intermediate or extra-large coins as well.

Nation	gold				silver				tin
Cadhinas	baesos	15	cruva	3	glabro	~ 1	pelantos	1/4	alaťis	1/12
Verduria	oř	12	ořula	4	fale	1	aržentul	1/3	emura	1/12
Célenor	flave	12	ořula	4	fale	1	aržentei	1/3	alati	1/12
Krasnaya	bes	12	ořula	4	aržentei	.9	felát	1/3	emura	1/12
Ctésifon	bes	12	besima	4	glavo	1	pelant	1/4	alati	1/12
Guaya	bes	12	ořula	4	eleura	1.1	aržentei	1/3	alati	1/12
Solhai	daluy	12	ořula	4	glavo	1	felát	1/4	alati	1/12
Vimínia	daluy	12	ořula	4	fale	.5	aržentei	1/3	emura	1/12
Caizura	oř	12	ořula	3	fale	.85	dungo	1/2	emura	1/10
Curiya	oř	10	metoř	5	kop	.9	felát	1/4	stanse	1/16
Svetla	ežonde	10	mesuy	5	ešenë	1.29	eshenalt	1/4	razo	1/16
Pakšohan			caďin	4	ešenë	1.03	ešenalt	1/4	alat	1/16
Cerei	ežonde	10	mesuy	5	ešenë	1.13	metešenë	1/2	stana	1/10
Hežina	eždonde	12	metuy	6	ešcenile	1.08	felánt	1/4	alat	1/16
Mútkün	nashtorî	9	ôkhek	3	ilôdil	.733	pelant	1/3	aladhi	1/12
Hroth	khurind	9	metuî	3	ilôdil	.75	pelant	1/3	aladhi	1/12
Barakhún	khurind	9	ôkhek	3	ilôdil	.8	pelant	1/3	kharshi	1/9
Elkarinor	machîl	18	khurind	6	buduq	2.43	nkhinîluq	1/2	kphath	1/12
Benécia	ořón	12	oříl	4	hínalek	1	harši	1/4	stanón	1/20
Kebri	suiťum	10	kuirnu suiťum	5	alať	1.32	kuirnu	1/2	sylkona	1/12
Érenat	sutam	12	ořula	4	glavo	1	cürnu	1/3	alati	1/12
Ismahi	saçne	8	sasavi	2.67	glure	1	meşu	1/3	alasi	1/12
Denisovič	sutam	6	ořula	2	mecin	2.07	mešu	1/6	emura	1/18
Flora	nolleck	10	obnolleck	5	meckin	2.1	obmeckin	1/2	priddel	1/6
Xurno	ej	12			mikuš	2.54	teišmikuš	1/2	gešik (copper)	1/10

Names of coins are in the languages of the states involved. Cognate terms are used in Verdurian if they exist: e.g. sutam for the Keb. suiťum, pelánt for the Bar. pelant, alati for Bar. alathi. In other cases the name is adapted as best it can to Verdurian phonology: e.g. sašne for the Ismaîn saçne; mecin for the Flaidish meckin; hurin for the Bar. khurin; ež for the X. ej. For the meaning of coin names, see the Verdurian-English Dictionary.

The value of money

Precious metals are of course a commodity like any other, and their value both changes over time, and in relation to each other. The above figures are those prevailing in 3480. In the Caďinorian period before Ervëa, the price ratio of silver to gold was about 8 to 1; after Ervëa, due an influx of silver following the colonization of Sarnáe and exploitation of mines in the Ctelm mountains, the ratio rose to 15 to 1. It fell to 10 to 1 during the Dark Years, due to such factors as a greater assiduity in mining and panning for gold, restricted access to the silver mines in the mountains, and the preference of the barbarians for silver (they had plenty of gold from Xurno). Presently, with increased access to worldwide sources of silver, the ratio has climbed to 12 to 1.

The price ratio of tin to silver is 72 to 1; that of copper (civru, used by some countries as currency) to silver is 110 to 1. (The value of emur of course depends on the mixture used.)

In medieval times trade was moribund, and most economic transactions were accomplished through barter or the exchange of feudal obligations; coins were used mostly in the cities, and perhaps their largest economic use was by kings to pay for mercenaries and luxuries. The amount of coin in circulation, however, was dwarfed by the amount hoarded (by lords, by rich merchants, by monasteries and seminaries, by monsters, by barbarian hordes, etc.— not by kings, who spent their money).

In modern times the money economy has revived, and money is invested rather than hoarded. The coin-hoards have returned to circulation, and governments and banks are again coining money. Not surprisingly, prices have soared since the medieval period when coins were rare.

The brokerage houses (kunnáî) have recently discovered reserves: they have realized that only a small portion of the money on deposit will be called for at any one time, and the rest— the majority— can be lent out at interest. As a result, an explosion of investment capital has become available, and the amount of money in bank accounts is much larger than the total coinage.

In addition, the larger transactions these days are not made by currency, but by shuffling numbers between ledgers. There is no paper currency in the Plain, but there are bank drafts, functionally equivalent to our checks.

The value of coins is also affected by their purity and of course their size; and treasuries play with both in order to maintain a proper ratio of coin values— or a satisfactory purchasing power. The value of various countries' currency is thus much more volatile than that of the metals themselves.

Units of account

Accounts are usually kept in a unit of account (leta crifei ‘coin of the ledger’), preferably a stable currency not subject to devaluation or the tricks of treasury officials. In the late medieval period the preferred unit of account was the Floran silver meckin (Ver. mecin), since it was constant in size and purity, widely available, and never devalued. The Kebreni gold suithum (Ver. sutam) was also widely used, largely because modern accounting was developed in Kebri, and because Kebreni trade made Kebreni coins widely known.

For the last few centuries the preferred currency has been the Verdurian ořula, which has been similarly stable. (From the time of the Eleďe dynasty on, the Exchequer— soa Kunaša— has been wise enough not to mess with the coinage. One reason is that in Verduria's dynamic economy, there are plenty of other means to satisfy the government's appetite for cash.)

Note that a unit of account need not correspond to a physical coin. That of Ctésifon, for instance, is the Cadhinorian čunima, which has not been coined there for two thousand years; and that of Érenat is the oř crifei, the ‘gold of the ledger’; these are occasionally minted for special occasions, but haven't been the coin of the realm for three centuries.

Prices in the market may or may not be expressed in the unit of account. The ořula is a bit cumbersome for the market; prices are normally expressed in falî (= 1/4 ořula); but very cheap items are quoted in stanî.