What do your cultures trade with? With what can a pint of ale, a new sword or a map to treasure be purchased?

All of the lands In Grolengael having been united after the battle of Dwarenloth use the standard form of currency: The Gaeling. Struck from gold sheets and featuring the head of the current monarch on one side and on the other, the inscription: "May Bright one protect us from the lands across the sea."

Good question. In all of Menbie, so far at least...I need to change it...but anyways, there is one currency printed on a coin called the Raynee. I know, sort of a rip-off on the Rupee, but it's far enough. Each coin is in the shape of a circle if it's worth one Raynee, a Reuleaux Triangle if it is worth three Raynee, a Reuleaux Pentagon if it is worth five Raynees, and a ten Raynee coin is a double sided five sided polygon. One face is red gold, and the other is yellow gold. I haven't decided on the faces and such yet...

I haven't given much thought to currency. I think I've mostly used a form of coins, but there's no one standard throughout the world.

A triangle or circle shaped currency that's equal to $0.02. (Called meria, a similar word to "merit" or "money".)

I use pretty simple coins gold, silver, copper. with the face of the king on one side and his coat of arms on the other. They are called the dwarven names for money.

Interesting question. Most times fantasy writers just go straight to 'gold' and keep it at that

Since Enderion has been partially united, at least, in the fourth age, by the Congress of Enderion, there is a currency similar to the Euro. It has strong value and is all coinage (although paper I.O.U's are sometimes accepted at certain places).

That being said, this is still an entire world; and its far from perfect. There are many, many more currencies than just that one out there. On Flerré, each nation also has many of its own coins (which are base six instead of base ten as the international ones are, thus adding to the confusion) in circulation. The Petathoran nations use whatever coins of whatever nation on Flerré colonized them.

In Al-Diurina, things are similar to Petathora. Each nation uses the currencies of the nations of Tbuga (which invaded Al-Diurina in the first age). In Al-Diurina, however, where the Congress is based, use of the international currency is highest. The dwarves use their own currency and do not use the international standard.

Tbuga is the savagest of the four continents, where the humans are the least 'civilized' (although its the original location of the species), and does not use anything but their own crude coinage and some international stuff.

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On Nadrae, the men on the islands use the currency of Nerandia (since destroyed) and do not know about the Congress. The aquaeria people use a barter system adapted to their undersea environment.

Sorry for rambling...

eruheran

Ramble away Eruheran, I like talkers, being one myself.

I can drag you into a conversation you will never forget, no matter how hard you try!

I'd like to take up that challenge...sometime =)

eruheran

Money is one of those things I never think about... until it suddenly comes up in a scene. For the most part, I usually refer to vague coinage and don't get specific. For Alaidia (Peter's Angel), I'm considering using British pounds, since Alaidia is supposedly on this earth.

However, for one of my novellas, a friend helped me develop a new currency system. We started with the base word "ryker," which is, IIRC, an English surname (from German) meaning "rich." That is the base unit, equivalent to about $5 USD. Other units are made using metric prefixes. For example, a kiloryker would equal about $5,000 USD. Using metric prefixes allowed me to create an entire system of money without having to come up with a lot of created words. Plus the math is simple.

No exact currency in the Red World... but everybody likes gold and gems. Gold and silver will get you anything, so that is essentially the currency, except that it is not currency because it isn't coined, official, or government backed.

My dwarves don't have very many trees so paper is rather rare so sometimes they will use paper as currency.

That is.... a very good question. Kind of like footwear. I never, ever thought of it until someone brought it up... see, if I even mention money I fall back on just saying "Gold" or "gold pieces" which is kind of a cheater's way out, isn't it?

Of course, a lot of my fantasy books are about nobility who have servants to do their shopping so they don't deal directly with money...

Now that is a fascinating thought, Katie. I'd thought on this subject, and dealt with the issue, but I never thought about the fact that nobility would have servants buy/trade for them, so there would be no need to mention it in those situations... very interesting. I mean, it isn't applicable to my books, but I hadn't thought of that.

In my world, Tolondra, the only currency I've mentioned so far, and probably the main international standard, is the silver mark. I don't have a hard exchange rate set for silver marks and dollars, but a ride across the ocean in steerage costs about 50 marks. In 1880, more or less the same ride cost $25. So each mark is about $.50 of 1880 money, which is about $11 in 2011 money.

EDIT: The mark is divided into smaller units of currency called marksthirds. They're worth a third of a mark, or about $.16 1880 money and $3.66 2011 money. They may be triangular, I'm not sure yet. In any case, each country mints its own currency, though all that use the mark mint it to the same standard. The design typically bears the image of the monarch of the printing country on one side, while the other side varies from country to country.

I haven't really thought about it. I'm guessing mostly bartering, furs, or seal-skins in Vorose; horses, bartering, or hides in Rhoronen; and some type of metallic currency in Gellentara. Vorose and Rhoronen also have currency, but it is not frequently used.

In one of my original stories I actually worked out different countries' currency, how much each was worth when compared to each other, what a day's wage was, the whole nine yards. I've cut back since then, with my current world using the taeler, plural taeldren. They were brought to Quartorlen when the shieldsfell invaded, and replaced the trading and silver based system which had been in existence before then. (1" cubes of silver) The only time they are brought up is when my group enters a shieldsfell outpost and buys food and supplies, and notice a poster advertising a reward for one of them (an outlaw). One of the band has never used the taeldren and asks how big the reward is, and is told that the outlaw is worth a little less than his weight in silver (he's a big guy).