Althea: Resources, Technology, etc.

Resources

Currency (Tou)

Also known as the “bó” (think “buck”) Tou is the standard currency of Ashimachi, shared by Kansujian, Xinyuan, and Althea. For storytelling purposes the buying power of a Tou is roughly equivalent to 1 USD. They come in several shapes, sizes, and denominations:

Gong	A large triangular glass and gold piece, worth 100 Tou. Can also be referred to as "gold" in most settings.
Kang	A medium triangular glass piece with a silver inlay, worth 50 Tou. Can also be referred to as "silver."
Jin	An ornate, two-toned square glass piece worth 20 Tou. While they lack specific stampings, their year of minting can easily be determined by looking at the secondary color of the piece.
Kejin	Worth 1/4 Jin, the Kejin is worth 5 Tou. Originally made by breaking a Jin into pieces, they're now minted to prevent fraud. While half of a Jin used to be valued at 10 Tou, modern transactions simply use two Kejin instead.
Tou	The eponymous tender of Ashimachi, the Tou is the plainest of all Ashimachi currency. It appears as a simple round steel coin with one side stamped with the face of the current Shogun and the other side denoting its value, year of mint,
Chan	Unlike the Kejin, the Chan did not originate from breaking the Tou in half. Nonetheless, it appears as a semicircular piece made of steel, worth 1/2 Tou. The Zhengfu Pagoda is stamped on one side, with similar information to the Tou on the other.

For amounts exceeding sensible amounts of physical currency, the Central Strategic Reserve Bank issues paper notes the size of a sheet of modern A4 paper which in Althea must be stamped by a representative of the CSRB. These promissory notes are laced with spellglass ink to prevent forgery and are called Lin.
Artifacts

A degree in Artifice from Atlas University is one of the most difficult and sought-after distinctions one can hold in the Coast. While the first Artifact Forge was created in Drachnekrone 400 years prior to Althea's founding, the University has accomplished more in the last three hundred years than any other city-state in advancing practical knowledge of the process. This is chiefly due to its advocacy of the scientific method, as opposed to other city-states' reliance on "ancestral teachings," "star signs," and other, more primitive means of ascertaining knowledge.

Althea receives regular imports of refined deicite from other city-states, to supplement the small amount generated locally by a detachment of the Maqqian Sojourn on loan from their home state. As such, budding artificers are rarely ever wanting for materials or workshops; their main obstacles are skill and personal magic reserves. Artifacts created by students are regulated in terms of their intended application; manufacture of artifact weapons for example is banned except for official University purposes.
Anomalous Materials

Dry Pines' concentration of miniature deep zones yields a significant harvest of anomalous material for use in artifice and magical practice - deicite ore in particular occurs in extremely high frequency there. Most of these materials are directly consumed by the University; any that make it out of Althea are carried out illegally.

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Technology

Skysteel
A unique metal made by exposing alloyed steel to the protoplasm of the Well. When essence is channeled through Skysteel, it negates gravity - to the point of propelling an object of relative mass upward. This material is utilized in many of Althea's proprietary technologies such as its lifts and public transit system, in conjunction with the ongoing development of sophisticated essence batteries which power them.
Essence Batteries

For those with access to the wonders of artifice, the creation of functional essence storage systems is a fairly simple task. Even those who can only create simple talismans are able to enchant them with the ability to hold a few motes of essence. Engineering an apparatus large enough to sustain power to systems on a city's scale, however, is something that remains unique to Althea. There is research being done to find the most efficient way to manufacture both man-portable systems and charging units which can be freely linked to and unlinked from a citywide essence grid.
Constructs

Scientific and magical marvels common in Althea but nearly nonexistent elsewhere, Constructs are at their core a mechanized frame which a Hearthstone or Soulstone can be slotted into. Though it takes time, the spirit or god in the stone adapts to its new environment and, through the use of a fine-tuned deicite control network, learns to manipulate the frame.

Constructs are the means by which Althea automates sanitation and other mundane pursuits. For instance, swarms of miniature Cleaning, Repair, And Building (CRAB) constructs are regularly dispatched to perform their namesake; official communications ranging from public service announcements to individual tax collection reminders are delivered by the aptly named CATS (Citywide Autonomous Telecommunications Service) ; and underground construction projects employ RAT (Remote Access Tunneling) constructs for precise excavation work.

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Cuisine and Substances

Apotropaic Powder

Althea is located very close to the Threshold, which makes its environment extraordinarily inhospitable (if not downright lethal) to the majority of Qarna's human population. This is counteracted somewhat by the regular issuance of a special medicine which thins the flow of magic through one's spirit vessels; vaguely similar in action to a modern blood thinner. This apotropaic powder, taken as an inhalant primarily made from two plants which grow near the Well Eternal, helps to prevent magic from pooling within the body and thus averts many of the more severe symptoms of magic sickness.

Attempts to grow these plants outside of the Dry Pines region have been unsuccessful, and indeed - even bringing the finished powder too far from the Well inexplicably neutralizes its effects.

Nutrient Paste

While the majority of meals offered to Althean citizens free of charge are freshly prepared, many residents of other city-states aren't quite as fortunate. Even though every region has its jerky, pickles, and other preserved goods, research into methods of mass-producing shelf-stable nutrition has gained traction over the last century as the population of the Coast grows. The latest leading prototype from Althea is a thick paste generated by feeding any organic material into magical machinery which automatically separates nutritive components from inedible material and presses it into bars which are then dried.

While their taste, texture, and appearance can vary widely, earning them a variety of unpleasant nicknames, initial trials in Maqqia (which has little arable land for its size) have been well-received as a means of getting vital nutrition to populations in less bountiful regions.

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Miscellaneous

Books If one is interested in literature of any variety, the "Library City" is truly the place to be.

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Additional Info

Althea: The City of Quills
Althea: Map and Physical Layout
Althea: Notable Factions
Althea: People of Note
Althea: Places of Interest
Althea: Flora and Fauna