Money
From ThornsWiki
Anaxi Currency
Concord In Anaxas, the basic monetary unit is called a concord. It splits thusly:
- 1 concord = 10 shills
- 1 shill = 10 tallies
- 1 tally = 2 hats (half tallies) or 4 forts (fourths of a tally)
- 1 hat = 2 forts
For approximation, here's a comparison price list. This list will change with the game economy.
- 1 concord is a decent amount of money - approximately $300 in modern US money, enough to pay off half the monthly rent.
- 1 shill is about $30 in today's money, enough to pay for a regular dinner out, or a large fancy bar tab.
- 1 tally is about $3 in today's money, enough to buy a loaf of bread or a couple drinks.
- 1 hat is enough to buy a paper, a beer or cheap bread.
- 1 fort is enough to buy a small piece of candy - it's mostly used as kid's pocket change.
These coins are all square in shape. The concord is stamped with the head of the current Headmaster. The shill is stamped with the head of the King, and tallies are stamped with the head of the Queen. These designs change as new leaders are put into power, making it easy to tell when a coin was issued by the face on it. Hats and forts have moon designs - a half moon for a hat, and a quarter moon for a fort. The coins are sized in a hierarchical manner.
Because of their designs, so-called "face" coins can be referred to by their rank: Heads, Kings, and Queens.
Coins are plated with gold, because gold is subject to the least decay; however, gold is technically worthless in the Anaxi economy, because it is so easily reproduced by magic. Coins are minted with a complicated process involving magical imprinting, making them very difficult to forge; they are a combination of nickel and copper on the inside.
Kings Currency There is another type of money in Anaxas called the King's Currency. It is used in the underworld among criminals, and can be used to buy anything from weapons and drugs to slaves and safe passage. The name refers to Silas Hawke, the self-appointed King of the Underworld.
There are two underworld coins: the bird, and the penny. Birds are stamped with the head of a hawk (Hawke's personal crest) and pennies are unmarked. Both coins are made of copper; a bird is worth approximately the same as a concord, and a penny is the equivalent of half a shill. The coins themselves are minted by Silas Hawke. These coins can also be broken up into pieces, and the scraps are still accepted in most places. Many ha'pennies (pennies cut in half by a smith or someone with a strong knife) are in circulation.
The benefit of having an "underworld" currency is that the money cannot be taxed, and one can often buy things with pennies and birds that one could not buy with overworld money. A seller of illegal spells, for instance, would not accept concords for fear of being arrested by an undercover member of the Seventen, but might accept birds, as they all but guarantee the holder is part of the criminal underworld.
Galdori are largely unaware of the rise in popularity of the King's Currency, and do not consider it a threat.