#lilys

I have been playing with he idea of giving him glasses as well? I'm not sure yet. I like it though. I think he's so beautiful though and I'm really looking forward to drawing him a bit more clearly.

Anyways!!!!! Yay!!!!!! I love these dynamics so much. Raverne being a very doting and caring lover while Maleanor and Lilia are much more stern, but definitely show their sweet spots.....

I love the idea of Fiend getting to the point of boldness with using Maleanor as a shield. Like "my Princess, Lilia is being so mean to me! I'm afraid he's drag me through the courtyard to the training grounds by my ankles!"

"He will do no such thing, you're being dramatic."

"He will!!!!! He's really mad at me, Nor."

"And what have you done to earn his ire?"

"Nothing!!! I swear!!! All I've done is skip a bit of training!!!"

"So you're being disobedient."

"I don't need to train!!!! It makes me feel so sore and leaves me with so many bruises...."

"It would do you good to be able to fend for yourself."

"Why should I? Are you planning on leaving me? Leaving your poor Fiend defenceless! Are you saying you *can't* protect me??"

The Euphoritians live in an entirely music-centered. Their bills are actually short piano rolls, each represented by a different historical composer that is imprinted on the rolls. When counting someone's bill at a store, the roll is pressed through their cash register which plays the complete tune of their bill.

The bills also have different colors and decorative appearance to help them be differentiated in a quick exchange.

Piano roll for example, a thin sheet of paper with cut notches in the paper that is read by a mechanical instrument that reads and plays note based on the paper, think like a music box.

Novelty & Other Uses

Not at all required, but fun either way, is deciding if the currency has any novelty.

Many banknotes around the world have incredibly detailed designs, not just to represent their history or culture, but also to prevent counterfeiting, since as the more complicated the design, the more difficult it is to replicate.

USD have windows, where if you hold it up to the light you may see some shadow images, these act as both a watermark and an easter egg. While the novelty in real life isn't as cool as it could be fantasy, that where we get to have fun.

Money doesn't always have to stay money either. Maybe what is being used as currency didn't used to be currency, and now it is.

One of my favorite examples of this are the pearls in Rain World. In all reality the pearls are meant to be read from by these higher biomechanical beings known as Iterators, but while traveling throughout Rain World, you'll come across the Scavs, a social tribal creature that adores their shiny colors and collects them for both decoration and trade.

In my obsessive favorite video game series, The Metro games, bullets are currency, but they're also still bullets. Which says so much about the Metro post-apocalypse worldbuilding, with having to explain much of anything.

And of course we have the bottle caps from Fallout...

Culture

Nowadays referred to as shell money, historically many coastal and island nations relied on forms of sea shells as their currency, but why?

Well for lot of the same reason many places used to gems, metals, and minerals. Shells were valuable in ornamentation and jewelry. This made them good commodities for trade, and any good commodity for trade would also make a great currency. The most popular shell of shell money ended up being the cowrie.

Image of cowrie shells.

Culture affects our money, and money affects our culture. I honestly don't really have much to say here, but think about the culture you're building for.

Creation & Counterfeit

Another important thing to consider when designing a currency is of course the material it is made out of. Whether it be shell, stone, pearls, paper, gems, mana, or more.

If it's a common found material than there needs to be something about the currency that helps prevent counterfeiting. Whether it be a specialized enchant, an ornate design, or hologram imprinted onto the currency; no matter the age and day of the society you're worldbuilding for, counterfeiting will be a problem.

Storage & Commerce & Conflict

Ahhhh banks, vaults, and wealthy fat cats. Where there is money there is greed. Yeah we don't always have to add some currency-based conflict, in fact for most of my nations I've worldbuilt I haven't leaned too heavily on the woes of classism and wealth hoarding, but sometimes you need a debt collector or two to spice things up.

Aside from deciding where the wealth moves, and what are the major imports and exports of certain regions/cities, I like to come up with any potential banking systems.

There's several main systems of banking, and throughout history we've seen banking take many forms. Since the times of Ancient Sumer, humans have played their hands in banking, but we didn't see much like the modern day forms of banking until the 14th century.

Some things to think about when designing banks

Bookkeeping

Structure, Religious Relationship, Architecture

What money is held in?

How large swathes of money is transported

Religious restrictions

Loans

Debt Collection

Final Thoughts