34 réponses à ce sujet

[Zakhar]

well, considering a mug of ale at the hanged man costs three bits (coppers), and going by the beer prices at my local hangouts, 3 bits can be anywhere from 3 to 6 dollars american....  so say 1 bit =  1 dollar.... then 1 silver = 100 dollars and 1 sovereign = 10000 dollars.  now if its 6, then its 1 bit = 2 dollars in which 1 silver would = 200 dollars and 1 sovereign = 20000 dollars....  This was according to da2, however in origins if you give money to the people in dust town, the chick who reveals the hideout gets like 10 silvers or something and says she can go to bed on a full stomach... and the guy you get to catch leliana's nug can get like 40 silvers i think and says he can buy a blanket and some food... so im not sure on that.... maybe orzammar just has inflated prices...

Orzammar also changes it's prices based on who's asking. Since it's basically built in practice to mark up if a Casteless is trying to buy.

[Mistic]

Each nations currency seems to be worth the same value, 1 Ferelden Sovereign being worth 1 Gold crown yeah.. But the national currency would still likely need to be exchanged if you cross the border.
You probably couldn't pay your Orlesian workers in Orlais with Ferelden Sovereigns for example. Imagine if an American tried to pay his employees cash in hand in yen?

But yeah all i'm really pointing out is that there doesn't seem to be a single national currency, The mints in Orlais wouldn't be issuing out coins with the symbol of the Royal house of Ferelden on it? That'd be just...strange

 

As whanzephruseke already pointed out, you're thinking in terms of fiat money, where the value of money comes from government regulation (they ensure that the value that appears in paper money or coins is real and backed by the state), while Thedas seems to use commodity money, where the value comes from the material it is made of. In medieval times, the tiers copper-silver-gold were actually very common, so seeing it being used in Thedas is not strange.

 

Of course, money exchange has been used since Biblical times because countries could use coins with different quantities of metal, depending on size (fair enough) or content (problems for clueless merchants). However, as long as everyone knows for sure the value of that coin, you should be able to use it in Orlais as well as in Ferelden.

 

As for the real life example you mentioned, nobody seemed to care in America when workers were paid not with yen, but with Spanish dollars. In fact, many current world currencies (including the Japanese yen, the Chinese yuan and, of course, the United States dollar) were based initially on this old Spanish currency, because it was used internationally and had a value known by everyone.

[Aimi]

Of course, money exchange has been used since Biblical times because countries could use coins with different quantities of metal, depending on size (fair enough) or content (problems for clueless merchants). However, as long as everyone knows for sure the value of that coin, you should be able to use it in Orlais as well as in Ferelden.

Classical and medieval coinages generally had values associated with the ratio of various precious metals in their alloy; higher percentages of gold by weight, for example, would be more valuable. When different rulers coined on different alloy ratios, the rulers who could afford to put more precious metal in their coins were regarded as more powerful and more solvent, and the metals themselves had their own high value as commodities. It's a somewhat bizarre mixture of the fiat and commodity concepts.

Trade was easier when multiple rulers coined on the same standard of weights and measures, insuring that, say, a Korinthian silver stater (a term indicating not merely the denomination of the coin, but its weight) had the same composition as an Aiginatan silver stater. This reduced uncertainty and eliminated the necessity of intensively checking the weight of each coin exchanged in a given transaction. In Hellenistic times, the Attic standard, after Athenian systems of weights and measures, was the most commonly used coinage; most of the great monarchies of the East made use of it (save the Ptolemaic empire, which as usual had its own special way of doing things).

This is relevant because the states of Thedas also employ a near-universal standard of weights and measures, imposed and maintained by the Dwarven Merchants' Guild. An Orlesian sovereign is equivalent to a Fereldan royal; they weigh the same, and they are composed of the same proportion of metal. This effectively eliminates any need for exchange rates. One wonders, however, whether the usual practices of shaving or debasing wouldn't show up again in times of fiscal extremity. Loghain, for example, was in such dire financial straits that he was literally selling off his own citizens for Tevinter gold at the end of his time in power; if he did not abandon the dwarven standard as well, the power of the Merchants' Guild's retribution must be terrifying indeed.

[Riverdaleswhiteflash]

500 sovereigns is enough to support an Orlesian army including chevalier for a year.

Holy frack my Wardens are loaded.

[Master Warder Z_]

Holy frack my Wardens are loaded.

 

Ridiculously so.

[Aimi]

Holy frack my Wardens are loaded.

Considering the amount of that money that those Wardens can spend on building the Redcliffe army, the amounts you deal in almost kinda make sense!

[Riverdaleswhiteflash]

Considering the amount of that money that those Wardens can spend on building the Redcliffe army, the amounts you deal in almost kinda make sense!

I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about the ones I got through Awakening. (I swear my money more than doubles over that campaign.)

[Mistic]

This is relevant because the states of Thedas also employ a near-universal standard of weights and measures, imposed and maintained by the Dwarven Merchants' Guild. An Orlesian sovereign is equivalent to a Fereldan royal; they weigh the same, and they are composed of the same proportion of metal. This effectively eliminates any need for exchange rates. One wonders, however, whether the usual practices of shaving or debasing wouldn't show up again in times of fiscal extremity. Loghain, for example, was in such dire financial straits that he was literally selling off his own citizens for Tevinter gold at the end of his time in power; if he did not abandon the dwarven standard as well, the power of the Merchants' Guild's retribution must be terrifying indeed.

 

I didn't know that the Dwarves had imposed a standard for currency in Thedas. Even today I keep learning new things about the DA setting. And I'm surprised it wasn't Orzammar (the city is the sole provider of lyrium and one of the most important trade partners of Orlais, Tevinter and the Chantry), but the surfacer Merchants' Guild. They had more power than I thought (of course, Orzammar doing most of its surface business through them must have helped).

[Riverdaleswhiteflash]

I didn't know that the Dwarves had imposed a standard for currency in Thedas.

Me neither, but it makes sense. It simplifies things greatly, and the dwarves have the most interest in doing so. And it's especially the surface dwarves who have this interest in uniformity, since they're the ones who deal with everyone.

[Mistic]

Me neither, but it makes sense. It simplifies things greatly, and the dwarves have the most interest in doing so. And it's especially the surface dwarves who have this interest in uniformity, since they're the ones who deal with everyone.

 

It also simplifies things for the creators a lot. The currency is set by an international, independent merchant organization. And each country takes its value as the standard. So no matter if future games take place in Rivain, Tevinter or Antiva, money will work the same way.