Got any advice on making a currency system. Especially a system that isn't just based on rare metals or algorithms?
LilyS's playlist has a bunch of nice inspirations and is the vibe I'm going for. But I want to hear from you as well.
Wow! I've never seen this channel before, but having now watched her videos she is very well spoken and super creative. Personally if I were to give advice now I would probably suggest someone watch her currency series lol. She does a very good job explaining her decisions and creative process, as well as what a worldbuilder should typically consider when desinging currency
I'd say I learned more about worldbuilding from this ask than what I can provide, but I can still try to give some input
My Currency Worldbuilding Thoughts
Convenience & Utility
Obviously the most important part of making a currency is its job as currency; which means it needs to be convenient.
One thing I really liked in LilyS' videos were how she sometimes incorporated the containers for the currency she designed, it really made me think of the rosaries in Silksong, since they're stringed together, and serve a religious purpose outside their job as a currency. And I think that's an underrated piece of designing something as simple as currency, especially when to make it most convenient it needs to be easy to carry.
The money not only needs to be convenient to carry, but also to count, and of course make.
This can also go for accessibility, often to why coins have specific engravings, and dollar notes in many other nations have braille or different sized bills (except the United States because screw blind people I guess)
Design
There is of course nothing wrong going with the simple coin or bill. They're popular in both reality and worldbuilding for a reason. They're simple, efficient, and easy to travel with. They're timeless too, being easy to make from ancient times to modern days.
Even considering coins and bills, there needs to be ways to differentiate the different amounts, and the numbers need to be easy to count and utilize for trade and commerce.
I really liked some of LilyS' examples of this, using different flowers for some of her plant-inspired currencies.
Some examples I can think of in my own worldbuilding that I should totally post would be the new Charagonian slips are marked with hexagons to give them the appearance of honeycomb, the more comb, the larger amount. Their brailen (coins) are marked with flowers on the tails side, and bugs on the heads side.
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
Uhhhh people should worldbuild more currencies, this is fun
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I think it's so funny that PK is spiraling because he thinks that the vessels are somehow reproducing, but what did the others think about this, those in his court?
PK didn't know the void could reproduce by budding, now he's questioning all his calculations. And eyeing the Kingsmoulds suspiciously.
The court doesn't see the vessels for a long while, but I assume they would just be like "ah yes, our wise King has created many... many... many backups."
Happy WBW! 🌍 What piece of your world would you say you've done the most work on, and what piece would you like to work on a little more?
Happy WBW! In the world of my distant-future post-apoc science fantasy story Athenaeum, I've done the most worldbuilding on the events that led up to the cataclysm that nearly destroyed humanity. I've got a whole folder in my story wiki about the discovery of Source power, the eras of how it was used/controlled by people, the different factions that vied for power, and how/why that ultimately led to disaster.
I'd like to work a little bit more on the titular Athenaeum itself, which is a dormant global network of Source-powered nodes that has been hidden for a thousand years underground. I know a lot about it but I want to figure out the best way for my characters to discover/interact with it!
I'd also like to work on the geography a bit more, and figure out better travel methods than just walking because the society in my story has reached a fairly advanced state again after rebuilding everything.
Would you be able to do 4A for the worldbuilding asks?
Ooo arts and entertainment! Of course, dearest fanpage :)
Entertainment varies by region! Let me show you around:
Chimata:
Chimatas love weekly magazine stories. It's the most popular form of media and the ones published in their region seem to be less air headed and actually insightful/funny than the others. A common opinion on magazine stories is "Trash, but whatever the Chimatas have going on for them is working"
Card games are introduced from a young age, and if you ride near a Chimata school during a recess period you'll probably find groups of kids playing card games oustide
Chimatas have folk tales aplenty. It's the second most folklore-filled region (after the Kreats) but a lot of them have morbid endings
They're big on cutting costs (treasury facet, who would've thought lol) so having lots of private toys or books is considered wasteful. So public playrooms are big between them and public fiction libraries are usually small but filled to the brim with multiple copies of the same book
Agris:
Agris work a lot, but to make up for it, there's some kind of festival twice a month
Every Agris kid knows how to dance because of that
Plays are common here, and the average Agris citizen goes to four shows a year
Most Agris just want peace and quiet though. Their life is split evenly between work, social life and finding a sun filled meadow to lie in for a while
They have good food and good family relations, so anything else isn't put on the spotlight too much
Kreats:
live breathe and eat art. I wish I was joking
The average Kreat goes to four shows a month if they live in a city with a theater
The Chimatas don't have private libraries? The Kreats have enough to spare. Most common house warming present is a set of books
Kreats love the game where you make up ridiculous stories
They're also big into strategy card games, too. The game of Thorns is the most common and everyone should know how to play
The question is not "Do you play an instrument" it's "What instrument do you play?"
Also "What style do you paint in?"
Sketching is the most common hobby!
Stemma:
Thorns is also very popular here
So many social columns. So many.
You'd think they'd really like gossip but they mostly keep to themselves. Not very artsy, but romance novels (particularly long ones) are regarded as the standard source of entertainment when one is bored
That and board games. They're really big on throwing darts, too
Fencing is huge. Any good Stemma elf knows how to fence
Folk songs. Lots of them. There are some that tie into the other seemlessly
Dance is not that big of a thing among lower classes. Their parties are centered around conversation
Synesis:
Least artistic facet. The Kreats hate them (kidding, but not really)
Appreciate a nice looking painting. That's it.
They entertain themselves going to each other's houses and then gossiping about it later
Yeah Gossip is the main source of amusement. They cannot keep their mouths shut.
I... think that's it? Other countries are usually a mix between two of those facets, so these will give you the general idea
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Gonna take the chance to talk about Elaina’s Garden because it makes me very soft.
In the re-built town center of Byroden there is a park, flowers and edible plants free for the taking growing around a central area. In that area, village elders tell stories and teach classes on skills of all sorts, the most popular of which being sewing and needle arts. In the center there is a fountain with a plaque directly referencing Elaina, a living memorial to furnish her community.
It’s a popular place for less formal gatherings too, such as dates and picnics, and it’s revered as a place to escape. A place where the only thing that matters is community.
Holiday celebrations are also commonly held here, such as fairs for Highsummer, and during the Night of Ascension, the plaque is visited with reverence, and it’s not uncommon to encounter a slightly too-smart raven in the area.
Send me a location, group or other thing in Exandria and I’ll let you in on a little of my personal worldbuilding!
Does your world have unique stars or constellations? Are there legends or myths relating to the stars? Do people navigate using the stars, or do they have some other way of telling direction?
Thank you very much for the ask!
All of the constellations above Hessdalen are unique from Earth's, but the stars in the night sky are much less prominent. This is because of the two moons, Capsten and Aurosen, and the ring system causing a sort of light pollution that outshines most of the duller stars.
I've been wanting to make some of Hessdalen's constellations, but I haven't gotten around to that yet unfortunately.
The one story that I have come up with though is the star of Rosnen. In 34 PCC, a Yevsburgish ship was blown off course by a strong gale and became lost in the open ocean. But when night fell, a bright star that they had never seen before appeared in the sky. They decided to follow it, and by doing so they were led to the previously undiscovered continent of Rosnen. That star was never seen again.
