Spheres and Their Economic Use

"Well yeah, gold is nice and all, but I prefer spheres. Prices don't change on me when I have spheres, and they're much nicer to hold in your hand. Though I will admit it makes flipping a coin much harder."
~Thog Thogson
Treasure Hunter

Mechanics & Inner Workings

Spheres have an additional component well known and used by all people in Roshar. The spheres can retain light and even glow. Often, citizens of Roshar will put spheres in a mesh bag/cage and leave them secured in a Highstorm. The blue light from the Highstorm infuses within the sphere, and will keep the sphere glowing for about 2 weeks before needing to be re-infused again.
The best gemstone to use for light is diamond, as it casts a clear white light, while the other cast blue, green, or red light instead, and have less range than diamonds. The light from a single sphere isn't much, however gather about 10 Diamond spheres it will cast enough light to see 10 feet in complete darkness, 10 diamond marks will provide 25 feet of vision in complete darkness and will light up most rooms with enough light to see by. The stromlight will also provide enough light to see about 5 feet around you in magical darkness, but no further.

Manufacturing process

Soulcasters can create "soulcast gems" from pieces of rock and other materials (similar to FMA Alchemy). These gemstones are similar to real gems, however they have almost no value in comparison to real gems, and are very easy to identify as soulcasted. The gems are then cut into tiny pieces (3 mm for chips, 5 mm for marks, and 8 mm for broams) and encased in glass. Very few know who makes the spheres, most Ardents know that some branch of the Ardentia handles the creation of spheres (since Ardents are generally the only ones allowed to soulcast by the church), however only the highest of lords and Ardents know exact details.

The sale of soulcast gems as real is highly illegal with heavy prison sentences for anyone involved in gem fraud.

Significance

Spheres are a new form of currency that certain parts of Allethkar are trying to use to replace the gold standard. According to scribes, the value of gold pieces fluctuates depending on the value of gold internationally, thus the use of an alternative will help regulate markets and keep prices from fluctuating depending on the value of gold. The sphere system was introduced to create a currency that wasn't dependent on the materials it is made from, but it has been slow to adopt. Every once in a while, a high lord or local lord will hold a drive that trades gold, silver, and copper for new spheres, which encourages more commoners to switch to the sphere system. Certain cities require the use of spheres instead of coin, which has lead to a number of money laundering scandals in the nobility.

Lesser Denomination
(Chip, 12mm size of a standard marble )
1 Diamond Chip - 1 cp
Middle Denomination
(Mark, 15mm size of the average index fingernail)
1 Ruby Mark - 1 sp
Greater Denomination
(Broam, 20mm standard size of a shooter marble)
1 Emerald Broam - 1 gp
Greatest Denomination
1 Diamond Broam - 1 pp
Distinctives:
1 Sapphire Chip - 5 cp
1 Sapphire Mark- 5 sp
1 Sapphire Broam - 5 gp

Weight

4, 6, or 10 Grams

Raw materials & Components

Soulcast gems and glass