Belariath

Thats interesting!
The reason I'd assumed what I did about mehrial is that back in the day I read something about it and counterfeiting, which basically stated counterfeiting a Mehrial was impossible, because its made of a unique blend of metals and materials that give it a particular shine thats impossible to duplicate, and is a trade secret known only to those who mint it. I read this off the site back in the day I'm quite certain, but what I describe may well not even be in effect anymore.
If that is still the case, and minting the coins IS a treasury secret, it wouldn't make much sense for mehrial to be a world currency. One of the only ways I could imagine mehrial as a world currency is if mehrial itself IS a unique metal/material, one of some practical use or beauty. One worldwide currency all minted by the same folks doesn't make much sense, unless they're ancient left-overs from some uber-powerful, previously world-spanning, and now long gone empire, like bottlecaps in Fallout... and the whole world spontaneously minting the same kind of coin as their dominant currency without having any outside influence or alternate application for that coin's material perhaps makes less. Universally recognized in the -known- world I get, worldwide recognition not so much... but it is what it is, and thats what it is, regardless of if it makes sense to me.

Really, I just look at it that's something necessary for simplistic of game-play. It can't be counterfeited because that'd allow people to break the mechanics, and it's at least recognized worldwide to allow for ease in transactions. The way it was explained to me by an OP was that they were made out of a valuable metal that you could specify, allowing you to RP it out as you please as long as it makes sense. I often use single Mehrial's as made out of silver and larger values of it made out of gold.

You're not entirely wrong Vlad and no it doesn't make much sense in the terms you describe. Or maybe at all except for it needing to make sense for simplifying an aspect of the game.

http://belariath.com/locations/bank/currency.html

That's a very old page which has it as a universal currency for at least eight years, and I could sort of justify it by saying that in the distant past there were empires that spanned the whole world in trading with one another and they decided on a collective currency to facilitate this. As society devolved, knowledge of the magical process of creating the mehrial was retained by certain High Elves, many of them still alive to this day since they have such a long life span.

Probably someone with a more highly developed imagination can do better

Ok, just to ask this if it wasnt covered above..
SB said, its more a broader rural area than a condensed city, and I am guessing that includes the forest itself. What is considered the 'city limits' to that end? (Im askin what constitutes the 'city' and where is the line drawn when doing a head coint for the citys' population? Im actually asking geographical distances, I think. Yes. Thats it. thanks)

Update: nm. I see it on the map, lol. My bas.

Ok heres something else: Ive heard mehrial coins also come in multi-denominational styles, IE a ten mhl coin, upwards of..
what is the upoer limit, and what do these coins/ingots look like ? because A) sometimes we take 18000 mhl to the reb or the SS, lol and I know big sacks or chests of coins are heavy so.. B) has the Empire ever considered a paper currency? they have printing presses from the newspaper and it wouod not be hard to make a magical watermark.. since wizard marks are all unique, you just appoint a trustworthy Noble to stamp them for you, easy-peasy. (points to callie and whispers behind his hand, “pick her.” )

Wadeywade wrote:Ok heres something else: Ive heard mehrial coins also come in multi-denominational styles, IE a ten mhl coin, upwards of..
what is the upoer limit, and what do these coins/ingots look like ? because A) sometimes we take 18000 mhl to the reb or the SS, lol and I know big sacks or chests of coins are heavy so.. B) has the Empire ever considered a paper currency? they have printing presses from the newspaper and it wouod not be hard to make a magical watermark.. since wizard marks are all unique, you just appoint a trustworthy Noble to stamp them for you, easy-peasy. (points to callie and whispers behind his hand, “pick her.” )

No derision, snark or insult intended ....
I'd imagine there were coin denominations other than the single copper and single mehrial values. This, however is a fantasy game whose main theme is that of 'surprise sex' and other such allied, adult themes. It is the potential realm of Conan the Barbarian, not Conan the Wa, er Banker. It's bad enough we 'need' to keep tabs on how many legs of lamb you have, let alone just what denomination coins you have, requiring a shop worker taking that 50 Mhl piece and making change ... er, just no.
I'd expect there to be a 10, maybe a 100 mhl coin, but that is NOT an ex cathedra statement, just pay the toll and don't worry about the value of the coins, just the total.

Yeah I don't imagine that when you pay 1000 mhl at a shop you are literally counting one thousand coins and tossing them one by one on the counter, there are likely higher and lower value coins. But it's something that can easily be abstracted without having to be spelled out in RP.

Also the newspaper is an OOC item

There is no printing technology in Belariath. That's what scribes are for.

While it is not normal for me to chime in on basically a dead thread this one is quite interesting to me and has provided not only multiple questions of things that we do tend to take for granted [which frankly is fine by me considering the nature of the channel and its foci].

However, from a world building standpoint it offers a lot of notes that could be played upon perhaps opening new avenues to explore down the line.

My input on the matter of MHL [mehrial] which I will henceforth refer to by its abbreviation.

Long before the empire was the empire, long before the will of him who we all honor and respect as our Emperor, back when the elves themselves had grand empires bereft of the conflicts and divisions that we all well know. The first coins where minted, by the grand empires of the elven nations, originally they where but simple things, poured metal into molds, lacking any mark or form. Little more than tokens to trade their value in the metal itself. While this in and of itself made trade and mercantile far more convenient, it also allowed for the spread of the coin to flow to the furthest reaches of elven kind. However, as all things do time would see the simple flaws in this first production. For the elves live long, and even metal can succumb to time. These first coins fell eventually to this fate, corrosion being the core of their death. As such a new improved form needed to be made. [One may surmise that in the interim actual forms where added its not particularly important.] Hence forth the currency that we now call mhl came into the world. These where better, by all means, made through specific processes, infused with magics that most now could barely fathom. Many would argue that it was simple mithril many would be proven wrong. While the metal itself was nothing particularly of note, it was the second part of the process, the infusing that produced the vaunted currency to its current status. Beyond being as convenient as coin, mhl proved to be exceptionally light, durable, and seemingly unbreakable. This, my friends is where the proliferation came from if one believes the tales. While any nation with sufficient resources, could produce coin, the dwarves, and even our own come to mind. What sets this apart is simple as it is effective. The fact that we can not particularly reproduce it without the influence of the elves also lends credence to the facts above. In short my friends, many a coin can be minted, but few can be called a mhl. The other benefit of these coins though, is that while certainly producing them has its own unique quandaries, they never lose value, and can be made of any worth we need. [my twenty cents?]

On a less world building note: it was common for nations with contact with each other to have exchange rates far before our real world example. As far as the imperial credit part, to some extent yes to some no. Aside from my worldbuilder rambling, the metals are valuable, what they are can be left to the imagination, one could consider copper, silver, gold, platinum, and mithril variants. Itd make perfect sense beyond the additional influence of their creation and method being a protected secret that lends additional value because of their nature.

On the matter of land "ownership": Yes this is simplified a lot, cause to do otherwise would be an absolute migraine. The way it works now makes it viable for an rp and system. Elsewise itd be well a lot of pay/payroll/taxes esque stuff, at the base level it works out the same with the pricing and limitations in place.
To compare a little: If a feudal lord [noble] decided to run roughshod over a current peasants property for well any reason the result would be the same as when a pcs "bought" land is reclaimed. The land would be repurposed according to either the lords will or the will of whomever the land was awarded to. The results remain roughly the same we just forgo a lot of the politics and red tape that would have to be processed for that system side. Additionally, since this is an rp, it can be considered that those lands are "protected" until such time as the "protected" decide to vacate.

The basis is that the emperor owns everything in the empire. He delegates management of areas to lords who have the opportunity to profit in return for a) sending a tithe to the emperor, b) supplying troops when called upon and c) protecting his/her sphere of influence from others.

As in a feudal system, peasants don't own the land. They work land governed by a lord in return for a share of the produce. When someone 'buys' a piece of land, they get to keep a much larger share of the production, paying a tithe to the lord and through them, to the emperor. But they are given the right to sell the remainder of what they create on the open market and make more cash. The feudal peasant has little more than what he needs to feed and maintain his family.