Florenth
Komon lucre
There's notten that old hag Luciella loves aff as much as a florenth. From wot I eer, she sleeps on'em. Bathes in'em. She'd sprinkle'em on her muffins if she could figger how to pass'em.
Ozmar Pedroyso Maia, Sceraisian thief, 3668 AoG
F
lorenth is the name given to all of the currencies used amongst the Lumidari nations. They are always represented by coins - although the design, and the materials used to mint them, can vary from one country to another. Although Lumidari nations may uniformly refer to their currencies as florenths, this does not imply that they use a shared currency - or that all florenths are of identical value. Every nation issues their own florenths, and just as the fortunes of a given kingdom can rise or fall, so too can the relative value of their florenths when conducting international trade. For example: A Thignian florenth is not necessarily of an identical value to a Charian florenth, or a Goddite florenth.
Exchange
However, the general value of florenths - on a global scale - is often seen to be somewhat uniform. The Lumidari economies are tied closely-enough together that a rise in the value of one country's florenth will usually mirror a similar rise in the value of all other florenths from all other countries. This means that, as a practical matter, foreign traders who accept payment in florenths will often allow the debt to be paid, at-or-near the same numerical level, with any florenths from any country. For example: If a Poglian merchant is owed 5,000 florenths from a Faleian trader, the Poglian will typically accept 5,000 Faleian florenths, or 5,000 Ochebian florenths, or 5,000 florenths of any nationality. There have, of course, been periods when this convenient exchange has not held true. When a particular country is involved in dramatic upheaval, it's not unusual for foreign merchants to stop accepting florenths from that specific country.
Design
While all Lumidari nations mint their own florenths, they typically share common design elements. Most of them are strikingly large - with greater diameters than the coins prevalent amongst other cultures. They are always coins in the "traditional" sense (i.e., no ingots or shells or other abnormal shapes or materials). They are always poured from some low-grade metal ore - or carved from ebny. They are known for their three-dimensional etchings, making them feel far more like miniature sculptures than run-of-the-mill coins. This is also what tends to give them inherent value. In theory, anyone could mint their own florenths. But metals (even "low-grade" metals) are rare on Excilior and ebny is quite expensive. Between the cost of the raw materials, and the technology needed to craft such coins, most would-be counterfeiters find that it costs them more to manufacture a florenth than the value of the resulting coin.
They always feature the Komon word for florenth:
florenth
Loot
Partly owing to general stereotypes of the Lumidari, florenths are sometimes associated with illicit or ill-gotten gains. These views are really more of a statement on the global prejudices of the Lumidari than they are about the money itself. Given that florenths are the primary currency in nearly all Lumidari regions, it stands to reason that they are simply units of exchange - with no inherent denotations of virtue or evil. Nevertheless, folktales that center on immoral wealth (e.g., deals with the devil or the buried loot of privateers) frequently specify that the funds are stored and transferred in florenths.
I enjoyed it! I really like your rather unique css as well. It was refreshing. i like the idea of everyone having a universal standard for currency, but i cant help but wonder about inflation. Whats to stop a nation from minting massive amounts of coin unnoticed and using it to purchase things from other nations? for example. what if they send MASSIVE amounts of coin to pay for large amounts of food, weapons, whatever? What would happen if they somehow managed to copy a rival nation's coin and mint it into oblivion? i'm curious how this effects the balance of power as well. it may not be done, or i may not fully understand your world enough, but so far I am certainly interested.
I appreciate the feedback (and the thoughtful questions)! It made me realize that my article was perhaps a bit ambiguous on some of the finer details. So I reworked a few of the sentences in the opening paragraph to hopefully make it clearer. I'll also answer a few of the questions here because I think that some of the answers come from the "overall world" of Excilior, and don't necessarily fit in the scope of this article. >>i like the idea of everyone having a universal standard for currency I changed the opening couple of lines to (hopefully) make it clearer that "florenth" is a name for currencies - but every different type of florenth is still an individual currency. A real-world analogy would be the dollar. There are Canadian dollars (i.e. loonies) and Australian dollars (i.e., aussies) and plain ol' US dollars (i.e., greenbacks). They're all called "dollars" - but they're actually distinct currencies. Also, this isn't "universal" in Excilior. "Florenth" refers to all of the different currencies amongst the Lumidari nations. Lumidari is an ethnic group. There are 20 different nations that consist primarily (or entirely) of Lumidari people. But there are 80 nations in the entire world. There are also (at least) 7 other ethnic groups, and at least 5 of those ethnic groups control countries/regions that feature their own unique currencies. (I haven't gotten around to defining the other currencies yet - but I have written detailed articles about 5 of the other ethnic groups.) The Lumidari are resident across the northeastern half of the continent of Isleprimoton (which is one of 3 continents in the world). >>Whats to stop a nation from minting massive amounts of coin unnoticed and using it to purchase things from other nations? That's always a possibility. In fact, it even happens IRL, to this day, with some desperate countries. (After all, massively printing your own money to pay off your country's debts is, essentially, the way that a country declares bankruptcy.) This is why I have the line in the second paragraph that states: "When a particular country is involved in dramatic upheaval, it's not unusual for foreign merchants to stop accepting florenths from that specific country." To put it in modern terms, the Canadian dollars usually trades at a rate that is close to the US dollar. For many smaller transactions, it might be acceptable to treat the two currencies interchangeably. But of course, if the Canadians started massively printing new dollars, the value of the Canadian dollar would plummet, probably so much so that many foreigns would refuse to accept it at all. >>What would happen if they somehow managed to copy a rival nation's coin and mint it into oblivion? Your questions made me realize that I had perhaps made the base "material" of the florenth sound like it's rather trivial/worthless - and thus incredibly cheap/easy for anyone (especially, rival countries) to counterfeit. So I added a few lines to the 3rd paragraph to hopefully clear this up. Florenths are not made of gold or silver or other "precious" metals. But metals, in general, are rare on Excilior. So there's an inherent challenge to counterfeiting anything that's made from metal. Some of the florenths are also made of ebny (linked in the article above). Ebny is absolutely a valuable substance that is fairly pricey. And finally, the design of the coins also makes them more difficult to copy, thus adding at least some degree of inherent value.
Well I mean if one nations coin can be used by another nation, is it not universal among then? I can't trade Canadian dollars in the US without exchanging. AHA there's that scarcity I was looking for. lol. all in all I'm enjoying. the edits make things more clear and I'm glad you gave me some thorough answers. good job man.
Yes, good points again. Basically, any currency is "global" (IRL, or in any other setting), if the people on the other side of the transaction (world) will accept it as payment. From that perspective, the Lumidari are a large culture, and those who wish to do business with their merchants may decide that they don't mind accepting florenths as payment. Similarly, I may decide to accept euros from someone as payment, even though I live in the US. This would be especially true if I did heavy business in-and-amongst Europe. But florenths are not truly, officially global. You couldn't walk into a town square in Golia (which is on the other side of the world and has little contact with the Lumidari) and expect to pay a local merchant with florenths. They'd look at you like you're bonkers. But if you were from Thigny (a Lumidari nation) and you walked across the border to a city in Ochebia (another Lumidari nation, in the same region, that shares a border with Thigny), there's a good chance that the local merchants would accept your Thignian florenths as payment for goods/services, in lieu of Ochebian florenths. Cheers!
Ahhh I seee. Context means everything. lol that's what I meant by universal. Not necessarily global, you specify that in the article. My bad I should have been more soecific, universal for Lumidari.