Monetary Systems

Several systems coexist, each suited to different scales, materials, and cultural assumptions. Coinage carries scale, taxation, and long-distance trade. Cultural Tokens, which primitive peoples still use for lack of minting, carry local subsistence exchange. Hacksilver is the material fallback on the frontier. Amber is a niche store of value in parts of Eldland.

Gemstones and small jewelry are dense but opaque stores of value. They resist standard valuation, are hard to count or tax, and sit outside production and levy systems, so they are widely distrusted. Their presence often implies tax avoidance, illicit trade, or outsider status, and they are frequently converted into coin or goods in formal contexts.

The dwarven ingot system anchors material wealth and removes gold from circulation. The Telvari avoid monetary dependence entirely.

Silver is the dwarves' working medium of exchange. Dwarves often melt gold coin and recast it as ingots, so gold leaves circulation in surrounding economies and reliance on silver, tokens, and other systems grows. Dwarven accumulation stabilizes internal wealth while destabilizing external circulation.

See also: Coinage, Cultural Tokens, Hacksilver, First Ingot, The Ratchet, Telvari Exchange