The History of Money

By Asnalyva, Lord of the Exchequer
40th year of the Reign of Emperor Cledman VI


Before the invention of coins, other things were used for money. Some used animal hides, especially in the North Valley Region. In Ulawan, bits of white quartz were sometimes used. Many tribes along the Gateway Waters used a certain type of rare shell called a Kazin shell. These originated with a tribe at the Northeast end of the Gateway Waters who became known as the Shell People because of this. Kazin shells were used as a medium of exchange not only among the Shell People, but also among the Moss People, the Mushroom People, the Crab People, the Slythians, the Verronese and on the South side of the Gateway Waters, were also used by the Cliff People, the People of the Tides, the Fire People, the Starfish People, the Clam People, the Seagull People, the Frog People, the Raven People and the Green People. Undoubtedly Kazin shells were also in use as money by other groups as well.

The oldest known coins are from the ancient principality of Ravelonia. These coins are of both gold and silver and bear an inscription in the ancient Tuladorian language and bearing an image that is supposed to be Ravelon, (the God of Magic) according to the inscription. On the other side, they bear the image of the ancient castle of Ravelonia. Though invariably very worn, the image and inscriptions on these coins show skill of craftsmanship that is unknown today. These coins are smaller than Zekresh coins, but they weigh about one and a third liff (about 2 oz.) and are made of pure gold. Similar coins have also been found made of pure silver.

Coins of other ancient realms also exist, notably silver coins minted in the Principality of Ilania and the realms of Corinweld, Groglinth and old Frayethay. From a later era are the coins of the Frayeth Empire which ruled the northern portion of the South Peninsula some two thousand years ago. Frayeth Imperial coinage consisted primarily of three types of coin, the gold "Solur" which bore the image of a goat on one side and the reigning Frayeth Emperor on the other. These coins were originally about 2 liff in weight and 100% gold. In the later days of the empire, the size was reduced to 1 liff and the gold content to as little as 25%. The second type of coin was the silver Dayil which was also originally pure and 2 liff in weight and was reduced progressively to half a liff in weight and less than 5% silver. The third type of coin was the Dovik which was originally 2 liff in weight and pure copper. These were reduced to one fifth of a liff and less than 50% copper by the end of the Frayeth Empire. The official exchange rate between these coins was 1 Solur = 6 Dayil and 1 Dayil = 24 Dovik through most of the history of the Frayeth Empire, but it varied at times.

Coins from Toralin's brief Empire also exist. These were 1 liff in weight, but only 5% silver.

There are also silver and copper coins of that era from Ravelonia, Ilania, Corinweld, Groglinth and also primitive copper coins bearing no writing, only symbols. Some bear the symbol of the frog and are believed to come from ancient Grogia whose name actually means "land of the frog". Others bear images of fire and are believed to have been made by ancient Kikali priests whose religion used fire as a symbol.

In the earliest days of Zekran, before the Empire, Zekran minted no coinage and foreign coins circulated, especially those from the old Frayeth Empire.

The earliest coins minted at Zekran were minted by Firthyva and bore the image of a single sword with no inscription. These coins were made of nearly pure silver and weighed about one and a half liff.

Other warlords of this time also minted obscure coinage, often bearing only symbols with no inscription. The most recognizable of these are those bearing the image of Kast Yvar which were minted by the warlord Yormuk. In this era, the Slythians minted their first coinage, both silver and gold, bearing the image of the Viper God. The Verronese minted copper coins in this era.These are emblazoned with the image of a bear's paw print on one side and crossed battle axes on the other. They also minted similar coins in silver with the image of a bear on one side and a ship on the other. Coins were still being minted in this era by Ravelonia, Ilania, Corinweld, Groglinth and Grogia. All of these were more sophisticated than those found on North Peninsula, but the Ravelonian coins no longer demonstrated the level of skill that they had in earlier times.

The last Zekresh coins struck before the declaration of the Empire bore the image of Iyatyva and the inscription "Naltor ya Zekran arend Nass Umrug" ("Prince of Zekran and Nass Umrug")

When Iyatyva's son Yatyva I, declared himself Emperor he had silver coins struck bearing his likeness and inscribed with the words "Yatyva, Vylor Zekresh" (Yatyva, Zekresh Emperor). These were the first coins struck by the Zekresh Empire. This coin came to be known as the "Yat" or in plural form, the "Yato", derived from "Yatyva". The Yat weighed one and a half liff and was of pure silver. It was a large coin, but not as large as the 2 liff silver Dayil of the Frayeth Empire had been.

The silver Yat was the Empire's only official coin until the reign of Marivuk I. During his reign, the warlords he appointed began to mint copper "dovek" coins. The earliest of these bear the inscription "Aylorkern ya Timbelan" (Warlord of Timbelan) and the name of the first such warlord. Later, other warlords began minting "dovek" coins of different sizes and purity, but all containing some copper.

In the reign of Yatyva IV, the Emperor began minting copper "dovek" coins intended to replace those issued by the warlords whose power the Emperor was trying to curb. These were about one and a half liff in weight and of nearly pure copper. They bore the image of the old Imperial Palace at Zekran and the inscription "Dovek Vyloresh" ("Imperial Dovek"). These coins were both larger and more pure than those issued by the warlords. Emperor Yatyva IV also minted a replacement for the silver "Yat" which was one and a half liff in weight and of about 90% silver. This coin was modeled on the old Frayeth silver Dayil, but the Zekresh coin was called the "Bayal" (plural form "Bayalo") and was the antecedent to the modern Bayla. The official exchange rate was 40 doveko to one bayal.

Yatyva IV had spoken of wanting to issue a gold coin so that Zekresh Imperial coinage would mimic the trimetallic system of the old Frayeth Empire. Unfortunately, the Zekresh Empire simply did not have enough gold at the time to make this worthwhile. Yatyva IV's son, Yatyva V, captured a significant quantity of gold from the King of the Vipers when he conquered Yishil and used this to realize his father's ambition of adding a gold coin to the Empire's coinage. The new gold coin bore the image of Emperor Yatyva V and was called the "Vylor Soluren" ("Gold Emperor") because of this. The earliest such coins weighed one and a half liff, like the Bayal and the Dovek and were nearly pure gold. Yatyva V noticed that the market rate of exchange between copper and silver varied from the official rate, causing silver coins to disappear from circulation and to be drained from the treasury as merchants hoarded them or melted them down. Yatyva V changed the official exchange rate to 42 dovek to one bayal and established an official exchange rate between gold and silver at ten bayalo to one vylor soluren. The idea came from the high priests of Gilhalnan who said that the gods had decreed that the relationship between the metals was the same as between the cycles of the seasons, the cycles of the moon and the daily rising and setting of the sun. Each of these astronomical phenomenon had an associated unit of time. The cycle of the seasons was the adonsik (year). The cycle of the salga (moon) was the salgan (month) and repeats ten times during each adonsik. The rising and setting of the sun occurs each oron (day) and this occurs forty two times during each Salgan. (Yes, this is different than on Earth.) Therefore, the priests of Gilhalnan said, the metal that is the color of the sun at the Summer Solstice (gold) is equivalent to an adonsik (year) and is worth ten times as much as the metal that is the color of the moon (silver) which in turn is worth forty two times the value of the metal which is the color of the setting sun (copper).

So Emperor Yatyva V decreed an official exchange rate of Imperial coinage of 1 vylor soluren = 10 bayalo and 1 bayal = 42 doveko. This ignored the two festival days of the Zekresh calendar which occur at the solstices and are not part of any month. There are actually 422 orono (days) in an adonsik (year). (On Earth it's 365.24 days per year)

The logic of this and the cosmic and religious connotations of it caused this system to remain in effect for a century. When the Marivuk Dynasty was overthrown by warlords and the Tarno Dynasty began, the Emperor Tarno I had no interest in maintaining cosmic exchange rates. He needed more money, and fast. He debased the coinage and adjusted the exchange rate to 1 vylor soluren = 12 bayalo and 1 bayal = 50 doveko.

The coinage was further debased throughout the Tarno Dynasty until the coins contained only about 75% of the metals they were supposed to be made of. Then, during the 1st Zekran - Ilania War, Emperor Ardimuk I became desperate for money to finance the war. He maintained the size and metal content of the gold vylor soluren, but steadily reduced the bayal to about 50% silver and the dovek to about 50% copper. He didn't change the official exchange rate, but he ordered the treasury to stop giving out gold coins for silver ones. The vylor soluren then went out of general circulation. During the 2nd Zekran - Ilania War, Emperor Ardimuk I again debased the coinage radically, this time reducing the silver bayal to only 33% silver content while the dovek remained unchanged. This move worked because the silver content of the bayal (3/4 of a liff) had been worth far more than 42 doveko. This situation persisted with additional reductions in metal content of the bayal and the dovek for fifty years until the conquest of Ravelonia under Emperor Tarno IV. Now, for the first time, the Empire had gained possession of significant gold and silver mines. The state of the coinage at that time was disastrous. The gold vylor soluren was still 75% gold and still weighed one and half liff, but the Imperial treasury had long since spent them all and had no gold to use to mint new coins. The days when the Imperial treasury would give out gold coins at a rate of 10 or even 12 bayalo to one vylor soluren were almost forgotten, but the official exchange rate remained the same at 12 bayalo to one vylor soluren. The silver bayal was no longer silver and now contained less than 10% silver and was almost entirely base metals. The dovek remained about 50% copper.

The 50 to 1 exchange rate between the dovek and the bayal translated into a 562.5 to 1 exchange rate between silver and copper when the actual value was about 100 to 1. This caused the bayal to be called a "hollow coin" because it did not contain the value or the silver that it was supposed to. This occurred because the Imperial treasury was collecting a multitude of small taxes that could only be paid with doveko, but paid its largest expenses with increasingly debased bayalo. This was immensely beneficial to the Imperial treasury in the short run. The longer term result was that doveko were hoarded and the bayalo were increasingly seen as nearly worthless.

With gold and silver mines now under his control, Emperor Tarno IV proceeded to reform the coinage first by increasing the copper content of the dovek from 50% to 75% of its weight, but its weight was reduced from one and a half liff to one liff so that it contained exactly as much copper as the old dovek. This increased the purity of the coins, but made them of equal value and they circulated at parity.

The bayal could not be so easily fixed and was instead replaced with the new "bayla". The bayla was the silver equivalent of the new dovek. It was the same weight (1 liff) and purity (75%) as the new dovek except that it was silver like a bayal was supposed to be. Now that merchants had been shocked into paying closer attention to metal content of coins by the debasement of the bayalo, the Imperial treasury sought to restore confidence in the coinage by issuing coins with a higher metal content. A new gold vylor soluren was issued that also contained 75% precious metal (gold), with a weight of 1 liff. It was significant that for the gold coins, this actually represented a reduction in value since the old vylor soluren had also been 75% gold, but weighed one and a half liff while the new coin weighed only one liff.

The new exchange rate was 1 vylor soluren = 16 baylo and 1 bayla = 60 doveko. This system of money remained essentially unchanged for nearly two and a half centuries. Then came the Bear Wars. Emperor Vergriman II paid off war debts denominated in baylo by changing the exchange rate from 1 vylor soluren = 16 baylo to 1 vylor soluren = 30 baylo and then paying the debt in gold.

Upon the accession of Larinyva I to the throne, this rate was returned to the previous rate of 1 vylor soluren = 16 baylo and 1 bayla = 60 doveko. However, under Emperor Yatyva XVII debasement of the coinage began again and the precious metal content of the coins began to drop below 75%. In the reign of Yatyva XX, exchange rates were expanded again to 1 vylor soluren = 18 baylo and 1 bayla = 64 doveko. Similar changes to exchange rates and reductions in the precious metal content of the coins continued in small increments until the reign of Larinyva IX, last of the Larinyva Dynasty, when the metal content was just below two thirds (66.5%) and the exchange rates stood at 1 vylor soluren = 26 baylo and 1 bayla = 124 doveko.

Then Emperor Cledman I came to the throne, starting a new dynasty and, as had become traditional at the start of a new dynasty, he reformed the coinage, bringing exchange rates back to near market rates at 1vylor soluren = 18 baylo and 1 bayla = 70 doveko. It has been the policy of the Cledman Dynasty Emperors to adjust exchange rates periodically to reflect alterations in market value. This has not stopped the Cledman Emperors from further debasing the coinage. The 66.5% precious metal content was slowly eroded by successive Emperors until Emperor Cledman V who reduced the coinage to 50% precious metal content and set exchange rates at 1vylor soluren = 20 baylo and 1 bayla = 72 doveko. The only change to the coinage made since then was in the 10th year of the reign of Emperor Cledman VI who changed the exchange rate to 1vylor soluren = 20 baylo and 1 bayla = 75 doveko.