The Peering Eye

Currency in The Peering Eye

Many different types of coins and negotiable currency are minted around across Radharc. Most of these coins are of the same type and value and are easily exchanged. There are few, if any, financial instruments and the concept of currency conversion is practically non-existent.

Major economic powers mint their own coins and these are freely exchanged between allied areas. Coins from other areas are exchanged less freely if they are not of a similar type or if they are not easily exchangeable. In this case only large merchant houses will deal with the strange coinage and then only if they will be doing ongoing business with the same currency.

Bigany

Bigany coins are gold, silver and copper pieces.

Each Noble family has the right to mint coin but must notify the crown of the amount they mint and they are taxed accordingly.

All Bigany coins bear the image of The King and The Crown on one side and the family’s crest on the other.


Coins bearing the image of Darius Kinnett XIV on one side and the Kinnett Crest on the other are considered unlucky throughout Bigany. Conversely coins bearing the image of King Edgar Kinnett and the Torc Crest are considered lucky.

Anyone who knows Bigany history will tell you that this is because King Darius was taken to the abyss by Demons and that King Edgar was rescued from Ko-Shaar the Aboleth by Adventurers and the Torc family discovered a gold mine on their lands in Branch hill.


Bigany coins are freely traded in Bigany, Freeport, Elledrin, Bloodskull Pass and most ports where Bigany merchant ships trade.

Torland

Torland coins bear the image of the Emperor on one side and are minted across the Empire. The tails side usually bears the symbol of the province in which it was minted. Tor mints copper, silver, electrum, gold and platinum pieces.
Torland coins are accepted almost anywhere.

Elledrin

Elledrin mints copper, silver, electrum, gold and platinum. They are exquisitely crafted and come in two pieces: an outer ring and an inner disk. All coins are the same size so that any ring or disk can be fitted with any other. E.g. A Silver ring with a gold disc is worth 55cp (being half of 100cp gold coin and half a 10cp silver coin). This allows an extremely complicated system of pricing and exchange that Elledrin Elves seem to love but which confuses or irritates most other races. Some have accused the Elledrin Elves of doing this on purpose to gain a negotiating advantage. The elves just smile pleasantly at the accusation. Elledrin coins are also designed with many tiny piercings to allow them to be worn as jewellery or as part of clothing and even as armour.
Only Elledrin and other elven nations accept Elledrin coinage. All elven coins on Radharc use this system. Many fey creatures refuse to accept any other form of currency.

Etreyar

Etreyar mints coral, crystal, jet, platinum, and mithril pieces (1cp, 10cp, 100cp, 1000cp and 2000cp) respectively. Etreyar coinage was the standard for undersea trade for centuries until the city-state was taken over by Ko-Shaar. The extensive mithril mining facilities that underpinned the Etreyar economy have are still in use but the mithril is being hoarded. The value of mithril has soared from equivalence with gold to twenty times its value.
Etreyar currency is the undersea standard and is accepted by all undersea nations and by those who do regular undersea trade.

Ancient Coinage

All of the above and even more fanciful forms of currency are found I monster hoards an in ancient treasuries. These are too numerous to be dealt with here. Needless to say there is always someone who will be willing to accept valuable objects for some negotiated price.

Letters of Credit

Letters of credit are documents that are exchanged between large merchant houses, the government and other entities when trading for massive amounts. Various methods are employed to prevent forgery of these documents, such as use of dragon hide, fine seals, signatures, rare alchemical inks, arcane marks etc. Letters of credit can be of any amount but are not freely available and are rarely negotiable.
Letters of credit are common in Bigany City and the major cities of Torland. They are rarely used elsewhere.