Coin is the measure of nearly everything in the New World, and knowing what a coin can buy separates the noble from the beggar. A copper piece buys a small piece of bread, a silver piece is a day's honest labor, and a gold piece can be a month of a family's savings or a single healing potion. The same coin means very different things to a farmer, a soldier, a merchant, and an adventurer, and each treats it accordingly.
Beings arriving from YGGDRASIL bring a second kind of money with them: coins larger, heavier, and purer than anything minted here. They are not recognized as currency, but their metal is worth a great deal, and that makes them both a fortune and a hazard.
Copper
Value: 1 base unit
Typical users: Laborers, farmers, beggars
Uses: Daily staples such as bread and cheap ale
Silver
Value: 13 copper
Typical users: Working class, tradesmen, soldiers
Uses: Wages, tools, lodging, common goods
Gold
Value: 100 silver (1,300 copper)
Typical users: Merchants, adventurers, minor nobles
Uses: Equipment, potions, large trade
Platinum
Value: 10 gold (1,000 silver)
Typical users: Great merchants, nobles, the crown
Uses: International trade, estates, major purchases
Platinum is rarely handled by ordinary people and is mostly seen among merchants and nobles. The Re-Estize Kingdom and the Baharuth Empire exchange their coins at parity, so a gold piece from one is worth a gold piece from the other.
Prices vary by town, season, and quality. The lists below are working figures for a typical settlement.
Food and Lodging
Loaf of bread: 1–2 copper
Mug of cheap ale: 1–3 copper
A simple meal: 3–5 copper
Common-room bed for a night: About 1 silver
Private room at a decent inn: 3–6 silver
Equipment and Supplies
Dagger: 5–10 silver
Iron sword: 25–40 silver
Leather armor: 30–60 silver
Chain hauberk: 3–5 gold
Riding horse: 5–12 gold
Low-tier healing potion: 1–2 gold
Reading the prices. A low-tier healing potion costs the equivalent of 260 to 650 simple meals. An unskilled laborer earns roughly a silver piece a day, so even with every coin saved and nothing spent, a single potion takes months of pay. In practice food and rent consume most of a laborer's income, and such a person might never own one. For an adventurer, the same potion is the price of surviving a bad fight and is bought without much thought.
Beggars and the destitute. They handle copper only and count even single pieces. A day's meal can decide a day's plans.
Farmers and villagers. They rarely see coin. Much of village life runs on barter, labor, and shared stores, and a silver piece is a significant sum.
Laborers and tradesmen. They live on copper and silver and measure their lives in weekly wages. A debt of a few gold pieces can ruin a household.
Soldiers, craftsmen, and shopkeepers. They hold steady silver incomes, with enough margin to buy decent equipment and an occasional luxury.
Merchants and adventurers. They deal in gold. A successful merchant may hold dozens of gold pieces in goods and cash, and an established adventurer earns gold for dangerous work.
Nobles and great merchant houses. They move in gold and platinum, backed by land, goods, and standing.
Crowns and treasuries. The Kingdom and the Empire hold wealth in platinum and in reserves beyond ordinary reckoning.
Weighing and testing. Merchants weigh, bite, and ring coins as a matter of habit, especially larger ones. A coin of the wrong weight or sound is refused.
Bulk. A thousand copper pieces is a heavy load, which is why people prefer to carry silver and gold when they can. A hundred gold pieces is a considerable weight and a conspicuous one.
Change. Merchants often cannot make change for large coins in small places. A gold piece offered for a loaf of bread will probably be refused.
Theft and counterfeiting. Rich travelers attract thieves, and coin of doubtful metal circulates. Reputable merchants and moneychangers earn their trade by their ability to tell good money from bad.
Banking. Banks in the Baharuth Empire use metal plates as a kind of credit, comparable to a cheque, so that large sums need not be carried as coin.
Gold coins from the Old World are significantly larger, heavier, and purer than anything minted in the New World. They are not legal tender, and no merchant is obliged to accept them, but the metal itself is worth a great deal. By bullion alone, a YGGDRASIL gold coin is worth at least twice a standard local gold piece. The intricate artwork stamped on them raises the value further to collectors, who might pay as much as five times the local rate.
Recognition. No local mint produces anything like them, and the sight of one raises immediate questions about where it came from.
Spending. They are accepted by weight, as bullion, and only by dealers who can assay them. A shopkeeper handed one will likely send for someone to examine it.
Bulk sales. Spending or exchanging large numbers draws immediate and potentially dangerous attention from tax collectors, who want to know the source, and from thieves, who want the coin. The more a character spends, the faster word spreads.
Cautious use. Selling a few coins at a time, melting them into bullion, or using a trusted dealer reduces the risk. Rarity and secrecy protect the holder far better than strength alone.
Competing uses. In Nazarick, YGGDRASIL gold also pays for summoning mercenary vassals, so every coin sold as bullion is one fewer available for that purpose. Treasury contents that were once data have become physical gold and can be counted, weighed, and stolen like any other.