Fantastic Coinage I – Aventine Drakes, Bordarian Tradesilver, and Morollian Spellcoins

Can't you just value it in gold pieces?

Well, since the topic was money, here are a few exotic coinages…

Aventine Drakes

Even the darkest evils are sometimes mourned by the pure and innocent. Their tears descend into the infernal realms as sparks of purest light, and are there encysted in layers of infernal force until neutrality is achieved.

With the luster of pearls surrounding the inner fire of an opal, these Helldrops are considered precious gems – and hold a deep fascination for mortals. Any mortal who can be bribed will evoke a helldrops inner fires (revealing this weakness) if they touch one, can be bribed for half of their usual fee using them, and suffers a -10 penalty on willpower saves to resist any bribe containing them.

Tiny Helldrops are often set into rings or seals on documents, revealing bribable individuals with a handshake or when those documents are checked. Larger ones are sometimes traded directly, but are more often found set into Drakes, the sizable golden coins of the Aventine Empire. Minted at 20 to the pound, one Drake is worth 50 GP. They’re usually only used in large transactions or to pay for special favors.

Bordarian Tradesilver

Minted of silver from the Elidian lode, these 1, 5, and 25 SP bar-coins appear to be contaminated with traces of some more exotic metal. They emit a form of mental “static”. Any sentient creature carrying more then 50 SP worth of Tradesilver is effectively slightly intoxicated. Anyone carrying more then 250 SP worth tends to become very intoxicated, freespending and quite genial, which at least serves to keep the money in circulation and the economy moving. Bankers need to use special magical protections if they want to make a profit.

Truly large concentrations of Tradesilver create enough mental static to inhibit psionics. Every 10,000 GP worth of refined Tradesilver in a given horde increases the cost of using psionic abilities in a cumulative 20 Ft radius by 1 power point. Thus a treasury containing 10 tons of Tradesilver affects a 200 Ft radius and raises the cost of using psionic abilities by 10 points within that area.

Morollian Spellcoins

These exotic coins are produced by Morolli Compaction Engines – enchanted presses which turn potions and oils into clearly-labeled “coins”. While these can still be used as potions by simply being swallowed (or by being crushed between the palms and sprinkled in the case of oils), they are otherwise nearly indestructible – and make excellent coinage. The “face value” is usually 20% more then the base value of the potion used. Unfortunately, the cost of the press – which uses an identification effect and a high-level transmutation effect – is considerable. While their large-scale operation is very profitable for the Morolli government, individuals and smaller groups simply don’t deal in enough volume to pay for a Compaction Engine in any reasonable time. Smaller denominations are achieved by subdividing the initial potion – although you’ll need a full set to use one.