Dl20k 600th Post Games [phase 1]

DL20K,
What an cool contest--very creative too.
I'll be back...

Conch and Limpets...great!

Hmmm. As jbuck implied, this land needs some context.

Since it appears to be a representation of only a fairly small portion of a planet, we'll probably exclude the sci-fi scenarios, which only leaves fantasy / alternate history.

So for my two attempts, I'm going to give use two time periods as a guideline: the ancient Near East (the similar shape of the map steers me towards ancient Turkey) and mediaeval Europe.

Scenario 1: Ancient.

The basic monetary unit is the maxar, a small silver coin. (derived from the Greek word for "knife", as it was originally the price of enough iron to make one knife).

It has multiples:
- the dimaxar and tetramaxar, larger silver coins worth 2 and 4 maxars respectively.
- the diaminta, the standard gold coin. The exchange rate can vary depending on the relative availability of gold and silver, but at tax time the official rate is 16 maxars to the diaminta (derived from the Greek for "diamond")
- the margaron, the largest gold coin; worth three diamintes. Very few are produced (derived from the Greek for "pearl").

The maxar also has fractions:
- the calix, a quarter-maxar, a large bronze coin (normally cup-shaped, hence it's name - from the Greek name for a kind of large cup).
- the arton, an eighth-maxar, the price of a loaf of bread, hence it's name (Greek for "bread loaf"). Hemartons (1/2 artons) and occasionally even smaller fractions are also made.

Many ancient monetary systems were binary-based, much like this one. It's difficult to be creative with binary systems.

Scenario 2: Mediaeval.

The smallest coin in regular use is the maggitt, a direct descendant of the splendid ancient gold coin, the margaron, now reduced by a thousand years of inflation to a small copper coin. From thence, we have other coins, named after the primary design feature:

- 6 maggitts to the falk (a small thin silver coin which shows a somewhat crudely rendered falcon)
- 5 falks to the castellon, the primary monetary unit (showing a castle)
- 10 castella to the shield (a large silver coin showing the coat of arms)
- 40 castella (4 shields) to the imperiale, a gold coin struck mainly for international trade purposes; they show the emperor standing, decked up in his finery and regalia. Half-imperiales are also occasionally struck, known colloquially as "torsos" because they only show the top half of the emperor.

As for town names:
Imperia - the capital city, if you intend your nation to go for a monarchial-style government. Or, if your country has moved on to more enlightened times, the ruins of the ancient capital city.
Sapyxica - hey, I'd live there.
Chalkonia - got to have somewhere to mine the copper to make the coins.
Argure River - let's not forget a source of silver.
Hephaestia - in case you want to put a town near a volcano.

60 filn = 1 grole
12 grole = 1 hewl

There will be 1, 5, 10 and 30 copper filn coins, as well as 1, 2 and 4 silver grole coins, as well as an NIFC 1 hewl gold coin
Paper currency will consist of 1/2, 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 and 100 hewl notes.

One grole is worth roughly $2

Wait a minute! Is this federation advanced enough to have polymer bills?

In my federation they are

Touche!

.. but very few ..