Chapter 14: Wealth and Currency
In the vast and interconnected realms of the Demayth universe, commerce is the lifeblood that flows between cultures, factions, and worlds. The exchange of goods and services is a constant, from the grandest interstellar trading posts to the humblest village markets. Understanding the diverse forms of wealth and the currencies that drive these economies is essential for any Demigod seeking to navigate society, acquire resources, or build their own fortune.
The Standard: Geni and Ceni
The most common and widely accepted forms of currency across the civilized realms are the Geni and the Ceni. Their creation during the Exalted Generation is largely attributed to the Demigod artificer Haru Montu, who sought to create a stable and secure medium of exchange to unify the burgeoning economies after the chaos of early conflicts.
- Geni (Bills): The Geni is not paper as a mortal from Earth might recognize it, but a durable, paper-like cloth woven with impossibly fine threads of mithril. This gives the bills a faint, silvery sheen and makes them remarkably resistant to tearing, water damage, and the simple passage of time. Each bill is further protected by intricate magical runes woven into the very fibers, inscriptions that shimmer faintly under magical sight and serve as a powerful ward against counterfeiting. While designs vary between the nations and realms that mint them, the value remains consistent. (1000 Geni = 1 Weight Point).
- Ceni (Coins): Representing the smaller denomination, Ceni are coins crafted from a unique and magically treated alloy of gold, palladium, and mithril. This combination makes them difficult to melt down or alter. Each coin is stamped with symbols representing its originâoften the sigil of a ruling house, a symbol of a patron deity, or a national emblemâand imbued with a minor protective enchantment that causes it to feel subtly warm to the touch of a Demigod, a sign of its authenticity. (100 Ceni = 1 Geni).
The production of new Geni and Ceni is a difficult and costly process, requiring not only rare materials but also the power of an Intent God to imbue the currency with its protective magical properties. This ensures their value and limits inflation, making them the gold standard for most interstellar and inter-clan trade.
Futuristic Currencies
In technologically advanced societies, particularly on the Third Gaia (Earth) and various independent space stations, physical currency is often seen as archaic.
- Credits: This is a purely digital currency, tracked on encrypted data slates and servers. Credits are the standard for everyday transactions in these societies, prized for their convenience and security. However, their value can be volatile, subject to market fluctuations, and they are useless without the technological infrastructure to support them. Exchanging Credits for Geni often requires finding a licensed exchange house and can involve transaction fees.
- Certz: A highly specialized digital currency used almost exclusively for the purchase of robotic parts, cybernetic enhancements, and advanced technological schematics. It operates on a separate, heavily encrypted network, making it the currency of choice for mega-corporations, high-end engineers, and black-market cybernetics dealers.
Specialized Currencies
- General Trader/Merchant's Gold Coins: These are non-standardized gold coins of varying sizes, weights, and purities, often bearing the stamps of ancient, defunct kingdoms or powerful merchant guilds. They are a form of hard asset, their value derived directly from the gold they contain. While not accepted by common shopkeepers, they are used for large, often untraceable, transactions between merchant houses, powerful individuals, and criminal organizations. Adventurers who find a hoard of these coins have found true wealth, but converting it to standard currency requires finding the right buyer.
- Religious/Magical Coins: Many cults, temples, and magical orders mint their own unique coins. A coin from a temple of the Three Sisters might be made of polished silver and feel warm and comforting, while a token from a coven devoted to Buta might be crafted from cold iron and feel unnervingly slick. These are used to purchase services (blessings, healing, curses), ritual components, or access to sacred sites within that faith. Their value outside their community is purely symbolic, though some may carry minor magical properties or curses.
Resource-Based Wealth
- Demayth Stones/Shards: Beyond standard currency, Demayth Shards are a cornerstone of the high-level economy. They are a tangible form of raw power, used in bartering between Demigods, powerful mages, and even dragons. Their value is based on their color-coded potency, measured in "Aspects," making them a more stable and universally understood measure of wealth than gold or Geni for those who deal in power.
- Divine Coins: The rarest and most valuable objects in the multiverse, Divine Coins are more historical artifacts than currency. Forged by Duryin himself for trade between the Elder Divine and their Exalted Ones, these indestructible tokens are imbued with a tangible form of Demayth magic. Legends claim they can be used to invoke powerful divine rituals or even grant wishes. Finding a single Divine Coin would be the discovery of a lifetime, its value incalculable and likely to attract the attention of beings both powerful and ancient.
Demayth Stones & Shards
Beyond standard currencies, the most potent form of physical wealth and raw power in the Demayth universe comes in the form of Demayth Stones and their smaller fragments, Shards. These are not mere gemstones; they are the crystallized, physical manifestations of pure Demayth energy. These stones hold immense value, serving as a high-tier currency between powerful beings and as a crucial resource for permanently enhancing abilities and enchanting items.
Shard Colors and Potency (Aspects):
The color of a shard is a direct indication of its rarity and the potency of the Demayth energy it contains. This potency is measured in Aspects. An Aspect is a quantifiable point of raw, magical potential that can be expended to permanently improve a character, an ability, or a piece of equipment.
| Color | Rarity | Aspect Value | Special Properties |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clear/Blue | Common | +1 | |
| Green | Uncommon | +2 | |
| Yellow | Rare | +3 | |
| Orange | Very Rare | +4 | |
| Red/Purple | Legendary | +5 | |
| Golden | Divine | +5 | Grants an additional +1 Divine Aspect |
Using Aspects:
When you acquire a Demayth Shard, you can absorb its power and expend its Aspects to achieve one of the following permanent enhancements. The shard is consumed in this process. Each point of Aspect Value from a shard can be used for one enhancement:
- Enhance an Ability: Increase a numerical value of one of your spells or abilities (such as its damage, healing, number of targets, duration, or defensive value) by 1.
- Enhance a Perk: Improve a numerical value of one of your perks (such as its bonus, number of uses, or damage) by 1.
- Enhance Maximum HP: Increase your maximum HP by 10 points.
- Enchant an Item: Improve an existing magical item's effect, or grant a new magical property to a non-magical item. An item can hold a maximum of 4 standard Aspects.
Divine Aspects (from Golden Shards):
The Divine Aspects found only in Golden Shards are exceptionally powerful and can be used for unique, potent effects beyond standard enhancements:
- Superior Enhancement: A single Divine Aspect can be used to grant a more significant bonus to an ability, perk, or item (e.g., +2 or +3 instead of +1, at the Battle Master's discretion).
- Break Enchantment Limit: A Divine Aspect can be used as a fifth and final enchantment slot on an item, exceeding the normal limit of four.
- Grant Divine Properties: Imbue an item or ability with a Divine property, allowing it to inflict Divine Damage or provide Divine Protection.
- Divine Transformation: (Narrative Use) A Golden Shard contains enough power to be a critical component in a ritual that could transform a mortal into a Demigod. This process is incredibly dangerous and its specifics are a closely guarded secret.
The Rule of Ascending Power:
The energies of Demayth build upon themselves and resist lesser augmentation once improved. This means that once you have used a shard of a certain tier (color) to enhance a specific ability, perk, or item, that same ability, perk, or item can only be enhanced further by shards of a higher tier. For example, if you use a Green (+2) shard to increase a spell's damage, you cannot later use another Green shard on that same spell. Your next enhancement to that specific spell must come from a Blue (+1)/Yellow (+3) shard Lesser/greater. Choose carefully when you apply your Aspects!
Acquisition:
Demayth Stones are found in areas with high concentrations of magical energy (like a Demayth Nexus), inside powerful magical creatures, or as the crystallized remnants of mighty beings who have fallen. They can sometimes be acquired through trade with powerful merchants or Demigod clans, but their immense value makes them a primary motivation for epic quests and dangerous adventures.
Banking and Wealth Storage
As adventurers and Demigods accumulate wealth, carrying vast sums of coin becomes impractical and dangerous. Various methods for securing and managing wealth have arisen across the more civilized realms.
- Formal Banks & Vaults: In major cities and trade hubs, especially on Tovak and True Gaia, formal banking institutions often exist. These are typically run by neutral organizations like a powerful Merchant's Guild or by clans known for their security and integrity, such as the Dwarves. These banks offer services like:
- Secure Vaults: Heavily fortified and magically warded chambers where individuals can store valuables for a fee.
- Currency Exchange: Converting between different currency types, such as Geni, Trader's Gold, and even futuristic Credits (often with a transaction fee).
- Letters of Credit: For truly massive sums, a bank can issue a magically authenticated letter of credit, allowing the holder to withdraw an equivalent amount from a partner institution in another city or realm, eliminating the need to transport physical wealth.
- Magical Storage: Many Demigods prefer a more personal approach. Abilities like the Alteration perk Space of Holding create private, extradimensional vaults accessible only to the owner. While incredibly secure and convenient, these personal vaults carry the risk of being lost forever if the owner meets their true death.
Trade, Barter, and Services
Outside the major economic centers, currency often takes a backseat to more direct forms of exchange. On frontier worlds like Kordan, in the shadowy underbellies of cities, or in realms where Geni and Ceni hold little meaning, the barter system thrives.
- The Barter System: This is the direct trade of goods and services without the use of coin. The value of an item is determined solely by what someone else is willing to trade for it.
- Common Trade Goods: In these societies, valuable goods often include durable food, well-crafted tools, raw materials (metal ores, rare woods), potent alchemical ingredients, and of course, Demayth Shards, which are considered a high-value commodity almost anywhere.
- Services as Currency: A Demigod's skills are often their most valuable asset. A warrior might clear out a monster den in exchange for a month's lodging and supplies. An Artificer could repair a village's defenses in exchange for rare materials. A Healer's services might be "paid for" with food for their party or crucial information for a quest. In many parts of Demayth, what you can do is worth far more than what you can carry.
Cost of Living and Daily Expenses
To provide a sense of scale, the following table lists the average cost for common goods and services in a stable, civilized realm like Tovak. Prices can fluctuate dramatically based on location, availability, and local conflicts. (1 Geni = 100 Ceni) The following list of examples:
| Item/Service | Average Cost |
|---|---|
| Lodging | |
| A night at a common inn | 50 Ceni |
| A night at a fine inn | 2 Geni |
| Food & Drink | |
| A tankard of ale or mead | 5 Ceni |
| A glass of common wine | 10 Ceni |
| A simple meal (stew, bread) | 20 Ceni |
| A feast at a fine tavern | 1-2 Geni |
| Services | |
| A day's unskilled labor | 1 Geni |
| A day's skilled labor (guide) | 5-10 Geni |
| Passage on a caravan | 1-3 Geni per day |
| Basic Gear | |
| A simple dagger | 2 Geni |
| A sturdy shortsword | 10 Geni |
| A basic suit of leather armor | 25 Geni |
| A standard bow and 20 arrows | 30 Geni |
Taxes, Tithes, and Tributes
Wealth rarely comes without obligation. Throughout the realms, various powers lay claim to a portion of the populace's earnings.
- Taxes: In organized nations and city-states, governments levy taxes to fund public works, maintain armies, and support the ruling class. These are typically collected by royal tax collectors or city guards and can take the form of property taxes, trade tariffs, or a percentage of income. Evading taxes is often a serious crime.
- Tithes: Religious institutions, such as temples dedicated to the Three Sisters, are supported by tithes â donations from their faithful followers. While often voluntary, tithing is a strong social and religious expectation in many cultures, given in exchange for spiritual guidance, community services (healing, protection), and divine favor.
- Tributes: In less lawful or more feudal regions, a powerful Demigod clan, a local warlord, or even a dragon might demand tribute from those living within their territory. This is essentially protection money, paid in goods, services, or coin, to ensure the ruling power does not bring its wrath down upon the populace. This is a common practice among Mal Kye clans.
Passive Income: Kingdoms, Businesses, and Faiths
While many Demigods earn their fortune through questing and discovery, some leverage their power, influence, and skills to establish ventures that generate income over time. This passive income can provide a steady flow of wealth, but it also comes with significant responsibilities and risks. These ventures are typically managed during downtime between adventures.
Ruling a Kingdom or Domain:
- Source of Income: A Demigod who rules a territoryâbe it a small barony or a vast kingdomâprimarily earns wealth through taxes levied on their citizens and tariffs on trade passing through their lands. They may also control and profit from valuable natural resources like mines or lumber forests.
- Responsibilities & Risks: Ruling is a full-time commitment. The ruler must fund infrastructure, pay for guards and soldiers, engage in diplomacy, and protect their populace from threats. This income is offset by significant expenses, and the ruler faces constant risks from political rivals, potential invasions, and internal unrest. The Battle Master will determine the net income generated based on the domain's prosperity and the player's management.
Running a Business:
- Source of Income: Many Demigods establish businesses that align with their skills. A skilled Artificer might run a renowned forge, a Dragonwrath could start a technology firm, or a charismatic Lionheart might own a popular chain of taverns. Income comes from the profits of selling these goods or services.
- Responsibilities & Risks: A business owner must manage employees, source materials, pay for upkeep and protection, and deal with competitors from rival guilds or organizations. A successful Professional or Craft skill check during downtime might increase profits, while a failure could represent a bad business period or unexpected event.
Leading a Church or Cult:
- Source of Income: A Demigod who becomes a Prophet or high priest of a faith can generate income through tithes and donations from followers. The wealth of a temple depends on the size and devotion of its congregation.
- Responsibilities & Risks: This income must be used to maintain temples, support the clergy, perform community services (like healing or charity), and further the goals of the deity. The leader risks theological schisms within the church, rival cults trying to poach followers, or drawing the wrath of opposed divine beings. The success of the faith might be determined by periodic Religion or Diplomat skill checks.
Passive income provides a fantastic avenue for long-term character goals and roleplaying, but the Battle Master should always remember that with great wealth comes great responsibilityâand often, great trouble in the form of new adventure hooks.