Author’s Note (Part 1): Rumors of my demise, may be mildly premature. A quick shout out to BlueCoat for the awesome review. Also SciFiAddict, SpartanLoki and several others for encouragement(and patience).
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Darin didn’t bother to walk on the way to Greed’s lair. It earned him a few dirty looks, but he wasn’t in the mood to care. He was half a day behind the others and eager to be on his way, despite the worry twisting in his gut. His wings made short work of the hallways and soon he landed outside of Greed’s lair. Darin was about to knock when he froze. This didn’t end well last time, he mused.
“Ahem. Greed, are you in there?” He called at the door. Several moments passed with no response, causing him to sigh. He eyed the door handle for a while before deciding to test it. He stood up on his hind legs and found it was just out of his reach. He was about to try and grab it with his beak when he remembered he had a bite attack. Visions of Greed pouncing on him filled his head and caused him to shrink back. Blood Claw would send me here again, wouldn’t she.
“So, how do I do this without being reduced to a chalk outline?” He mused. A glance behind him showed this his old outline had almost faded away. On a whim, he went over and tapped it. He was greeted with a system message as the outline erased itself.
Corpse recovery complete, outline removed.
Items recovered: 0.
Coins recovered: 0.
Darin read the message twice before he cleared it. For several seconds he sat there, stunned into silence as he processed the implications. “They didn’t bother to tell me about that sooner?” He yelled. After the embarrassing deaths he’d suffered, no one had told him how to recover things he dropped or remove the outlines. Looking back at Greed’s door, he realized his only way for him to reach the handle was by flight. He took to wing, and a few moments later he was reaching for the handle…just when the world started to spin. Something blue blocked his vision, but he couldn’t read it until the room stopped spinning.
Sneak Attack: Greed has hit you with a door for 5 damage, status inflicted Dazed.
“I thought I heard- What are you doing down- Oh…” Greed stated, as his thoughts caught up with the chain of events. There was a long pause as Darin righted himself and gave Greed a dirty look. “You know my friend, you have the worst luck with doors.” Darin’s beak hung open in disbelief. He might have said something untoward, but Greed spoke first. “Well, come on in Swift Blaze. And congratulations on earning a name. Now lets get you ready for the wider world, I’m sure you want to get outside already.”
“Well, yes.” Darin agreed as he followed him into the store. The room hadn’t changed much since last he’d seen it. It seemed most dragons weren’t big on trade. “I’ve got a quest to -”
“Get ready to travel. You need to see me, so you can trade with me or run errands to get supplies.” Greed agreed. At Darin’s puzzled look he decided to explain. “It is pretty much a standard quest for any dragon when they earn their name. They all want to go see, or go conquer the world. But typically they have no idea what a coin is or how to use it. For such a mighty race, we sure hatch our fair share of dimwits.”
“Yea. I’ve met a few during my stay here.” Darin agreed. Both dragons took a moment to sigh at that. “So now you explain this world’s coinage to me, so that we can trade?” He asked, sounding hopeful.
“Do you have something to trade?” Greed asked, with a trace of concern in his voice. When the smaller dragon nodded he let out a sigh of relief. “Oh good, you wouldn’t believe how many young dragons think that ‘trade’ means give them what they want for free. Depending on it’s value, I may still need you to run errands. Why don’t we go over the value of coins first?”
“I’ve seen references to them, but I’ve yet to see anything that looks like a coin or credit yet.” Darin agreed, earning him an odd look. “Did I say something wrong?”
“Try not to use the words Core or Credit in an in-game context. All trade is done in barter and coins. Trust me, the local coin system is rich enough and confusing enough as is.” The merchant informed him, before pausing to open a chest behind the counter. “This is the most basic form of currency, the ‘coin’.” As he spoke, he handed the flat square of metal over to Darin for inspection.
A copper coin, a standard of trade. 1” x 1” x 1/16”
“It doesn’t look like much.” Darin commented, turning the coin in his claws. “It doesn’t even have markings or a value stamp.” He added, sounding a bit disappointed.
“Ah, but that’s the beauty of it.” Greed explained. “Every coin is identical, and blank for a reason. The copper coin is the lowest form of currency, but it is a standard of trade.” The more he explained, the more excited the black dragon seemed to be. “The coins are blank, to make sure they are all the exact same size and mass”
“But, why?” Darin asked, wondering what had the merchant so riled up. He glanced again at the blank square of metal in his claws, finding it bland.
“Utility!” Greed exclaimed. The dumbfounded look on his companion’s face caused him to sigh. After a few moments of awkward silence, he tried again. “All the coins have the same mass, making them interchangeable. That grows more important, when you need to melt down coins to make a tool or weapon. If a copper skinning knife weighs as much as 8 coins, you know already that the smithy will need that many to make it plus compensation for time and trouble.”
“But, isn’t copper kind of a crappy metal?” Darin asked, pausing to poke the coin with his claw. From his time as a technician, he knew his people didn’t use raw copper for anything. It corroded far to easily to be trusted and was quick to overheat. It didn’t even hold a shape well when abused.
“Well, yes…” Greed agreed, it was his turn to sigh. “But it’s a system fixed value currency. Which can be used to trade for other metals and materials. Any time you deal with a merchant or player, expect copper coins to be involved. But I haven’t even gotten to the good part yet, did-”
“Please do. Get to the good part that is.” Darin interrupted, afraid of a long winded speech he didn’t care about. The merchant shot him a glare, and he at least tried to look remorseful.
“Fine, fine. I’ll skip the usual lecture and cut to the highlights.” He agreed, only to roll his eyes when the smaller dragon perked up. “Kids these days.” He muttered, only to cringe when Darin raised the ridge over his right eye.
“You were saying?”
“Right, right. Copper is the base currency, and because of that the width of the coin was based on some old earth copper coin called a ‘penny’. That’s why it’s 1/16th of an inch. Now if you put 16 of these coins together, you get the next form of currency, the copper cube.” As Greed explained this, he placed a tall stack of 20 coins on the counter and carefully aligned them. After a dramatic pause, he gave the stack a single tap on the top. A moment later the seams between the bottom 16 coins vanished, leaving a copper cube with 4 coins on top. “Now, isn’t that cool?” He asked, sweeping the coins off the top and picking up the cube.
Darin’s beak hung open for a moment, he remembered to close it only before trying to speak. “Okay, I’ll admit that one is a fun party trick.” As he spoke, Greed tossed the cube into the air with a spin. Not a single coin came free, the cube landed as a solid mass. It was a perfect cube, with 1 inch along each edge. “But how do you-”
“Get the coins back? Like this of course.” Greed answered, as he tapped the cube in his claw causing the coins to slide apart. “That would be a cube. Much easier to count, carry and store.” He added, before pausing to look smug. “But wait, there’s more…”
“More?” Darin asked, groaning inwardly at the showmanship. I bet he could have explained it in under a minute, maybe even with a quest screen…
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“Indeed, there is much more.” Greed confirmed, as he pulled a pile of cubes from a chest. In a few moments, he had 16 copper cubes lined up in a row. Oh, it runs on base 16. That’s not too hard to follow. “And for my next trick I will -Hey!” Much to his displeasure Darin reached over and tapped the end cube on it’s side, causing them the meld together. Greed glared at him a moment, then let out a small huff of air. “Ahem. So 16 cubes, when merged make a bar. Impatient brat.” He grumbled, with traces of humor in his voice. After a moment he put the currency back in his chest.
“Okay that’s not too bad. So it goes coin, cube and then bar. All on a base 16 system. I can remember that.” Darin stated, more to himself.
“But wait, there’s more.” Greed stated, trying not to laugh.
“Ugh. So what do 16 bars make?”
“They make a slab.” Greed informed him in a cheerful tone. As he spoke, he pulled something out and set it on the counter. It would have been impressive, being 16 inches to a side and 1 inch tall, except that it was made out of wood.
“Wood. Really?”
“Hush. I don’t keep that many copper coins around. You realize that’s over four thousand coins right? But don’t worry, because -”
“There’s more?” Darin asked, trying not to cringe. When his companion nodded, he openly sighed. “Okay, so what’s next?”
“The next form of currency is the block.” Greed said happily, pulling out a large cube of wood an even 16 inches to a side. “And if your mind is too numb for the math by now…that’s over 65,000 coins worth”
“That,” he pointed at the block, “is a form of currency?” Darin asked in actual horror. “It almost my size. But If that was pure copper, it would weigh, um…”
“Oh this little thing? Yes blocks are a form of currency, but don’t worry only banks, the rich and large guilds ever deal with them. If it was pure copper it would only weight around 1,325 stones or so.” He said in a cheerful tone. Despite his tone, he seemed to enjoy the whimper that escaped Darin’s beak.
“I can carry, a little over 19 stones…with the pack.” He managed to squeak out. The black dragon roared with laugher for a moment, before taking pity on him.
“Oh poor little Swift Blaze, you should be thanking me right about now.”
“What?” Darin asked.
“Because of that backpack I gave you as a quest reward.” Greed paused to grin. “It makes coins stored in the coin pouch weightless. And the coin pouch doesn’t have a size limit.” Darin’s eyes went wide as he looked between his backpack and the ridiculously large wooden block. “You’d still need to be able to lift them store them, but yes. You are welcome.”
“Wow, ahem. I mean- Uh, thank you Greed.” He stated, earning a nod from the merchant. “So now if I die in poverty, at least it wont be simply because I can’t carry the weight of the coins.” He added, only half in jest.
“So you understand the coin system now?” Greed asked.
“Yea, yea. Coin, cube, bar, slab and then monstrosity…I mean block. Multiples of 16 to move between them and don’t trust any money changers.” He stated, adding the last bit for levity.
“Excellent, I’m glad you got it all on the first try. Not everyone young dragon does…sadly.” Greed stated, with an impish glimmer in his eyes. “But wait, there’s more.”
“Arrgh!” Darin glared at him this time, feeling a slight temptation to set his friend on fire.
“Copper, iron, silver, gold and mithril.” He stated, trying to defuse the sudden aggravation.
“What?”
“There are only five metals that always have the same value. Other metals or even alloys can be made into coins for ease of trade. But only copper, iron, silver, gold and mithril have fixed values.” Greed explained.
“So how do they relate?” Darin asked, traces of caution in his voice.
“It’s simple really. One copper cube is worth and iron coin. An iron cube or a copper bar would be worth a silver coin. A silver cube is worth a gold coin. And of course a gold cube is worth a mithril coin. Coincidentally, that means 1 mithril coin is worth an entire block of copper. But you’ll be hard pressed to find a merchant or bank that will trade them directly”
“But why? Aren’t they both fixed value items?” Darin asked.
“Yes, but not every merchant has that much copper laying around. And a lot of them don’t have mithril coins on hand around with thieves out there. And mostly, because it would be a pain in the ass.” Greed explained.
“Oh, okay. Are we done now?” Darin asked, trying to make sure his head wasn’t swimming in numbers.
“Yes, that sums it up nicely. You should now be ready to trade and do business in the wider world.”
“Okay. Thank you Greed. I think I’ll just leave before a headache sets in.” Darin stated, as he set down the coin and headed towards the door.
“But wait-” Greed began, only to have Swift Blaze turn and give him a stare that could kill. The elder dragon slowly held up his claws in surrender or perhaps as a sign of peace. “If we don’t trade, you can’t complete your quest.”
It’s rather hard to face-palm with a beak and claws. But somehow, he still pulled it off…
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Authors Note’s (part 2): First I want to say sorry for all the people who’ve been waiting on an update for…months. I hate when stories I like fall into the void, so I’m sorry that I did that to others. No, I haven’t given up on this story. Nor on the little side project I started a while back (Why gods, why?). I had a lot of foolish things like self doubt to work through. I had some extra stresses in life. I had a couple weeks of being sick/under the weather, etc. I know the pressure I added to myself with daily updates both helped me get a LOT done and hurt me a few times along the way. Worse, it was kind of like a steam engine…the first time that pressure vented it didn’t stop. It flipped from: “Tonight I want to bring the story up to point X, I want to get this done, I want to finish that battle, etc.” And it turned it into “Yea, I don’t really have to post tonight. I’ve got so many games, anime, friends, good books, other RRL stories, and such to catch up with…” So all my productivity in fiction was like a steam engine that cracked the boiler. I could never build up enough internal motivation to get it going, but I couldn’t really fix it until I let it cool either.
Again, I’d like to thank everyone who gave a well thought out and honest review. I’d also like to thank those who left positive comments for me in the threads or sent encouraging messages when I was dealing with self doubt, etc. I don’t want to admit how many times I opened up scrivener only to stare at the page or the partially finished chapter, sigh deeply and then do something else.
As a small side service, I may do a non-story FAQ post soon. Since a lot of comments had questions about the world and setting in it. But I don’t want to read back through 38 posts for unanswered questions. If you all would like, go ahead and ask the questions you are puzzled about or unsure about in the comments below. If I read them before I do the post, I’ll try to add them in an respond to them. If its past then, sorry maybe next time. Also I reserve the right to say “PLOT” or “Spoiler!” instead of answering things that might ruin the story.
Thank you for reading! I’d make a joke about donating, but I don’t have button and haven’t asked. :P Reviews are accepted though.