Money

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.

The King's 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.

1 bird = 20 pennies
1 penny = 2 ha'pennies
1 ha'penny = 2 quart'pennies
1 quart'penny = 2 scraps

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 penny is about $15 in today's money, enough to pay for a regular dinner out, or a large fancy bar tab.
1 ha'penny is about $7 in today's money, enough to buy a loaf of bread or a couple drinks.
1 quart'penny is enough to buy a paper, a beer or cheap bread.
1 scrap is enough to buy a small piece of candy - it's mostly used as kid's pocket change.

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.

Anaxi Property and Taxes

Inheritance

Galdori can inherit property directly from their family by means of a will. The oldest child of either gender usually inherits the lion's share of property, so the younger children remain under the thumb of the eldest child when their parents pass away. Property usually includes an estate, all belongings, all savings - and all the family debt. It can be a mixed blessing.

Humans and wicks have no real system of inheritance. Some humans write wills by which to pass on their earthly belongings to their children, but many are simply too poor and are afraid that tying their children down to a will would merely saddle them with their debt and problems. Matters of inheritance are usually solved casually and unofficially.

Property and Ownership

The government owns all property in the country. Land can be leased from the government by galdori, who pay no taxes on it once the original purchase is made. Land is generally passed down through family lines, and it's "the family's land" in that no one is likely to take it away from them, but it's still technically the government's.

Families can sell their property back to the government, and the government will usually pay them what they estimate the property is worth. The families can "sell" the property to someone else by selling it back to the government and recommending a new owner in the transaction; in exchange the new buyer usually pays the previous owner a little extra on the side. In this way, the process works a little bit like capitalism, but not exactly.

Galdori families own a good percent of business property, and the government owns the rest. When a galdori family owns the land, they usually contract out the operation of the factory/store to a human tenant, who takes a fraction of the total gain as wages and pays his employees directly. When the government owns the land, it works in much the same way. Humans generally say they are the "owner" of such places, but they never are. In many cases, large factories are operated by galdori; in smaller stores, the galdori owners merely oversee and occasionally inspect their tenants' businesses. This is why it's relatively unusual to find a galdor working in retail.

Taxes

Taxes are levied in three places: property taxes, income taxes and general taxes. Property taxes are paid by the tenant of the property to the owner of the property; income taxes are taken from employee salaries. General taxes are paid yearly by all citizens of Anaxas (except galdori citizens, who pay no taxes at all).