Coinage

Unlike the real world, coinage on Quartus has been much more stable throughout history, mainly due to magical enforcement. Standards have varied over time and many different devices have graced coins, but four general types of coin have been known.

Ancient Times

Very few examples of pre-3rd-age coinage remain. From records uncovered among the Tuura Adam, it seems that the ancient titan civilizations used rune-marked stones as means of account, where the runes indicated personal power. As such, they were claims on someone else's rune-working powers. As the wyrm rarely congregated and were always few in number, it's doubtful that they used any coinage at all.

The aelvar of the 2nd age used coins, to be sure. A few examples of gold, platinum, and silver have been recovered. In addition, it seems that high-value exchange was done in the form of arcanely-etched crystals and gems infused with aether, probably similar to modern magicite.

Noefran 3rd Age

During the age of Man, each of the two Noefran empires established their own currency.

Quan Pei

Quan Pei standardized on silver as its primary currency, with larger and smaller denominations being denoted by size and shape (4 -> 6 -> circular in increasing order of value). Their lesser mark is bronze or barter. Unlike most other national currencies the silver emperor bears no distinct face or sigil--instead they are patterned in a particular fashion.

Tibor Imperia

The western empire used a pattern very much like the modern Council Mark--platinum, gold, silver, and bronze. The weights and compositions varied, with later-era coins being notoriously poor in quality. The gold coins were called "crowns" and generally bore a crown on one side and the current emperor's face on the other. Silver eagles had the empire's two-headed eagle mark opposite a crown. Copper (really bronze) coins were minted regionally and their marks varied.

Post War of Souls

After the breakup of Tibor Imperia, the follow-on states generally kept to similar patterns, although the markings varied. One notable exception to the varying quality were the coins of the Iron Dominions, minted at Hammerhead. Marked with crossed hammers on the obverse and a set of runic markings for the sequence number (related to the year they were minted), these coins were substantially larger than most others and exceptionally regular in composition. For this reason, "hammerheads" were the "gold standard" for coinage of that era.

Noefran Post-Cataclysm

The nations of the East still tend to use coinage derived from that of Quan Pei, while the west has mostly (in the Federated Nations at least), settled on the Council Mark as the standard of coinage. Each nation mints their own, but weights and purities are standardized. For ease of adventuring, all adventuring pricing and valuation is done in the Council Mark unit. These coins are still minted all over the Successor States and represent the bulk of the FNC coinage in circulation, although

Council Mark System

First derived by the dwarves of Fuar Uulan for the Council Lands, the Council Mark is a decimal metallic monetary system using four metals as references: platinum, gold, silver, and copper (really bronze). All coins are standardized to 50 per pound (actually defining the pound as 50 gold Council Marks) and 1 platinum piece = 10 gold pieces = 100 silver pieces = 1000 copper pieces. In reality, since a platinum mark is so valuable and rare, all valuation uses the gold council mark as a reference. All alloys are standardized to 90%:10%, with the 10% usually being copper (or tin in the case of the copper mark).

Platinum Coins

The platinum mark, often called a "moon mark" in the Successor States is 90% platinum and 10% cobalt. They get their name because they were commonly struck with the twin crescent moons facing each other in the dwarven mints at Kaelthia. The reverse contains, as usual, a glyph for the minting year. In size, they're about the size of a modern US dime--about 2 cm in diameter, 1.3 mm in thickness. The edges are reeded (knurled, cut into lines like the US dime). The Wyrmhold platinum crown is similar, but stamped with the mark of the crown and a stylized dragon on the reverse. Byssia does not mint platinum coins, preferring to use (where necessary) those of other nations. The former Stone Throne minted the blue serpent coins, where the cobalt gave a blue sheen to the stamped coiled serpent.

Gold Coins

Gold marks are the largest coin in common use. Classic Successor States gold marks are nicknamed "god marks" or "holies", as they are conventionally marked with one of the symbols of the Seasonal Four depending on the season of coinage on the obverse. In size, they're about the same as a modern US penny--1.5 mm thick and about 2 cm in diameter, with reeded edges. Wyrmhold gold dragons have a crowned dragon on the obverse with a laurel wreath on the reverse. Asai'ka ororobai have a serpent eating its tail on the obverse and a phrase in Iath Neidr on the obverse (written counter-clockwise around the edge); neither the Serpent Dominion nor the Sha'slar Autonomous Zone commonly mint their own gold coins. Byssian palms are thinner and larger and often irregular, with plain reverses and a palm leaf on the obverse. They're fairly rare.

Silver Coins

Silver coins make up the bulk of the actively-used coinage and are commonly called a "tenpenny" throughout the FNC. Those minted in the Successor States have a stylized mountain on the obverse and an inscription praising Kela Loran on the reverse. Wyrmhold silver pieces have a tree on the obverse and a celtic-style cross on the reverse. Asai'ka silver coins are stamped with whatever the current ruler's profile is, with an inscription praising the Queen Ascendant on the reverse. Serpent Dominion silvers have a serpent fang on the obverse, but similar reverses. Byssian silvers have a stylized flame on the obverse and waves on the reverse.

Copper Coins

Technically, all the coppers are really bronze. But who's checking. Usually just called a "penny". Since their metal value isn't really bound to their face value, there is much more variation, with each larger populated area (possibly even down to the town) minting their own. As long as they basically keep to the standards, no one cares.

Time of Troubles

The coinage hasn't changed materially going into the Time of Troubles. It's only enforced at the local/national level, but is enforced tightly. One significant change is that the oroborai of the Jungle of Fangs are now minted in Kel'al'ar primarily.

Verification

The Adventurer’s Guild was responsible for enforcing the coinage standards within the FNC until its dissolution at the start of the Time of Troubles. This they did by handing out ritual tools and knowledge to all their associated merchants. This takes the form of a small basin with arcane inscriptions. A simple ritual chant activates the bowl, into which the suspect coins have been placed. The ritual assays the coins and glyphs around the outside glow in particular patterns indicating the composition (at least as far as the precious metals go) and the mass. This allows ancient coins recovered by adventurers to be fairly and accurately assayed and valued. Attempting to manipulate this ritual is a serious crime in all of the FNC. Strangely, counterfeiting coinage isn't policed at the upper levels--individual merchant associations may care, but since all coins are assayed and reminted at the national level, no one in power cares.

Soefran Coins

Each of the nations of Soefra handles its own coins, and trade generally happens in marked, weighed bullion rather than coinage.

Ikela

Ikela uses the gold dragon (named for the dragon mark on its face) as its basic currency. Other coins are the triangular silver trident and the bronze orb. The crown maintains a monopoly on minting coins.

Kel'tan

Officially, the Phoenix Empire does not use normal coins. Instead, there is a complicated set of account legers, kept current by magically-aided scribes. Of course, this really only applies to the noble pure-born. Regular people use tokens made of wood, inscribed with a magical sigil by a noble's scribe. These tokens are difficult to counterfeit without significant magic, but only really valid within that noble's domain. This serves many purposes, not the least of which is keeping people fixed to a single noble, dependent on them.

Two Moons, Dusk, and Dawn

These three nations have very similar coinage structures. They use silver obols, pierced through the center to easier be strung on cords. Gold is known, but not used very much. Lesser transactions tend to happen without coinage.

Ithemba

Ithemba uses very "northern" coinage in the temple mark, similar to the council mark. The gold marks bear a sigil of Kela Loran on the face and a mint mark on the back; the silver marks bear a sigil of Roel Kor and a mint mark. One oddity is that these coins are minted and controlled by the temples, not by the government per se.

Currencies of other Planes

The standard unit of account in the Astral is the "unit", also called a "soul coin" by the more old-fashioned. It represents the average daily excess aether production of a standard humanoid mortal. Coins are not used--instead, each resident has an identification card that also serves as a bank book; deposits and payments are made remotely and virtually. Generally, mortal coins trade 10:1 for units; gemstones and other aether-rich items trade at closer to parity.

Elemental planes use the standard coinage of the Plane of Coal.