Creating a realistic fantasy currency

[Dozmonic]

Of course, if they kept count when marching of which step number, they'd sound like a marching band of Yorkshiremen. "I, II! I, II! Aye, AyeAye!"

 

[HareBrain]

A Roman pace is two steps.

Well, yes, of course, that's the obvious *cough* explanation, but are you sure it has nothing to do with spring-heeled caligae?

 

[thaddeus6th]

That's a bit more detailed than I'd usually go for personally, but something else you might want to consider regarding debasement of currency is what happened under the 3rd century Roman emperors.

When a new emperor was made it was traditional to give a load of money (called a donative) to the legions (rather predictably, this led the legions, to try and make new emperors very often).

However, this led to inflation and certain emperors, I think, began to reduce the gold/silver content of coins (I believe Henry VIII did likewise).

This would probably have a varying effect upon goods, in wartime at least. Food, metal, leather, horses would all increase in value at a fast rate due to higher demand (both because supplies would be needed to be carried and due to the probable death of farmers/destruction of farmland). Other goods, like artwork, might even fall in value due to being useless for war or coinage.

 

[Jake Reynolds]

Hey Brian, to set the scene, I have an archipelago if islands that are the centre of the world's commerce.

I use coins to some extent, in terms of paying cabbies, fares on passenger vessels and rooms at an inn and so on. However, I have a central exchange in the capital that publishes weekly values for common commodities, values that are based on demand. Realistically this merely provides a basis for haggling in distant places (where the information would be weeks old). For larger purchases, the Exchange also issues paper bonds to the value of X (which, in the future, would no doubt lead to paper money). These bonds are infused with signature 'magic' which ensures authenticity, so they cannot be forged (this does not, however, mean they cannot be stolen).

If people are trading gems, jewellery and so on, they would need to obtain a writ from a registered appraiser and then take that writ (along with the jewellery, of course), to the Exchange, where they would give the bearer 90% of the value appraised, with 10% going to the appraiser. Though this sometimes means that appraisers might up the amount to get a greater cut, the Exchange has its own appraisers to validate the writ. If an appraiser is pulling a fast one, they'll get black balled, stricken off the register and therefore unable to work their trade at all. This is the same for ship builders, and so on.

It is possible for someone, if they were to have a large bond, to live off it for years. When they need money they can lodge the bond with wherever is local and receive coin to the next lowest denomination of bond, thereby being issued the coin and a new bond. Throughout, the Exchange will take its cut, however.

Phew. Having said all that, I tend to shy away from details like that unless it matters (i.e. they're starving and have no money). Though I delight in Kvothe's penny pinching antics, for me it's a can of worms I'd rather remained shut.

 

[chrispenycate]

A Roman pace is two steps.

Funny, I thought 'pace tua' was asking permission; I suppose at a roman ball it's what you'd say when cutting in at a two-step?

(Backs away. Pax, pax. Packs? I suppose that's why legionnaires took small steps (at least the infantrymen). They were referred to as 'mules', and I don't suppose that was due to their sterility.

 

[rosethorn]

You don't have to create a horribly complex banking system to be realistic. Banks are in simplistic terms a place to deposit (for safekeeping)whatever is used as the means of exchange; whether it be paper money, coinage, or electrons. In Renaissance times bankers provided this needed service by having offices in major cities, so that clients didn't need to carry their valuables with them as they traveled about. It was a valuable service because it reduced the risk of bandits robbing them as they traveled.

Having roughly three or four units of money should work; the lowest value to be used for trading in common items, and higher values to facilitate moving wealth around and for high value, more rare transactions.

 

[nubins]

This is an interesting subject to me as I'm sturggling a little with currency in the book im writing. I have a far future setting with fractured human factions then introduced to a well developed alien set of factions. Humans are fractured, aliens are fractured.. lots of different places and governments, lots of different currency's and exchange rates etc.

Subsequently I've shied away so far from talking any specifics on money. Star Trek sort of cheated on this by saying they did away with money, but I don't ever see that happening - who would clean the toilets? I will introduce specifics on things when I go through the re-write as part of the story involves the main characters gathering singificant wealth through trade and business deals.

I'm even struggling to decide what to call the currencies. Modern day terms like stirling, dollar and definitely euro, seem wrong for a far future setting where none of the states we know now exist. Credits seem to be the term commonly used in sc-if and gold in fantasy. I feel like im copping out to resort to terms like "credits". Then again, i eventually decided it really didn't matter.

As others have said above, as long as it all sounds about right, it doesnt matter if things perfectly match up. Unless your story is about trade, finance and fiscal policy of the time, noone will question it, as long as the approach is consistent.

The method you ut of deviding by 100 seems like a sensible way of getting a yardstick for basic things with a set value, but with things like houses, cars etc their value fluctuates far more wildly than something like bread does - unless there is some huge agricultural crisis on bread prices tend to stay rpetty consistent and only move slightly with inflation. Whereas house prices can change a great deal over relatively short saces of time. A house in the UK is worth a great deal more than a house in the USA - because it costs more to build, there is less land and more demand etc. So worry less about wether large sums of money actually are large enough, make it sound large, make the characters in the book react as though it is, and make sure cheap things sound cheap and throaway by comarison and I dont think you will do wrong.

 

[matle]

I wouldn't bother with any in depth conversion I'd just pick some key items, assign a price to them and factor everything else up or down from there, plus maybe 10 bronze = 1 silver = 0.01 gold or something!

I think anything with long formulas is just going to turn into a total brain ache!

 

[thaddeus6th]

Credits is a little bit rubbish.

If there's a lot of variation then technology bartering could work, or you could go elemental and (as well as gold and silver etc) have things like rhodium, aluminium etc used as currency units. After all, elements would be both useful for construction and hi-tech swanky stuff and available in varying quantities in varying worlds.

I wouldn't be too worried about using dollars or pounds though (I'd avoid euro, as it's very political in nature and might not exist in a decade).

 

[Tannara Young]

What use would a poor farmer have for copper pieces when he could have traded things for bread, eggs, milk? For the richer people money is great, but the lower down the scale the more appealing barter is...

I'm glad you mentioned barter because it would be the primary way that people paid for goods and services at the lower end of the social spectrum. Also, traders would probably bypass currency as well - trade a load of fabric for a load of furs rather then dealing with money.

Another question is currency exchange - coins would be based on their worth as metal, rather then on an abstract value determined by stock markets, governments and bankers.

 

[MstrTal]

Let us not forget that even when currency was in place that depending on the need or a given area often bartered items had a higher worth. Supply and Demand at its finest.

Examples would be good arrow heads, depending on the area, could be worth more than the metal they are made of. This is especially true if they are of a decent quality and can be reused by hunters.

Same thing with other small fine goods and commodities. Fine metal sewing needles come to mind.

 

[Brian G Turner]

Was in Rhodes last week and there was an exhibition at the knights castle in old Rhodes that included a couple of neat snippets about currency:

6th century: the buying power of a gold coin (1 solidus = 4.5 grams)

Bread (963 grams daily): a little more than 1 solidus per year

Meat (321 grams daily): less than 2 solidi per year.

Wine (1 pint = 568 grams daily): less than 2 solidi per year.

Oil: 3/4 solidus per year.

Cheapest garment: 2/3 to 1 solidus.

Also some info on Byzantine coins and how gold related to copper:

Byzantine coins in the 6th century:

1 gold coin = 7,200 nummi (bronze subdivisions)

There were also copper coins worth:

5 nummi (pentanummium)
10 nummi (decanummium)
12 nummi (dodecanummium)
20 nummi (icosanummium)
30 nummi (triacontanummium)
40 nummi (tesseracontanummium)

It also mentions facts about budgets and salaries:

6th century: Byzantine empire annual state budget about 10,000,000 gold coins.

150,000 soldiers employed on a permanent basis took about 35% of the state budget.

Second largest expense was the bureaucracy. Other major expenses: public works, funding, donations, etc.

Basic salaries (6th century)

Provincial governor: 7,200 gold coins p/a
Army general: 7,200 coins p/a
Provincial scribe: 4 gold coins p/a
Foot soldier: 5 gold coins p/a
(Basic salaries were supplemented by various gifts)

The big interesting pointer about the above figures is the disparity between produced goods and manufactured goods, ie, food vs clothing, which wouldn't apply so much in modern terms (ie, per the system I suggested in the original post).

Either way, hope the figures prove useful or interesting for those other writers seeking some degree of realism in their fantasy economies.