The Sundering Basin Economies
Coin
The Imperium mints every standard coin in the known world. No northern clan and no independent land strikes its own. Imperial coin moves north on the trade routes and the lake and river traffic. Every coin bears the reigning Emperor's face on one side and the citadel of Valcaris on the other.
Crown: gold, half an ounce. For contracts, bounties, big purchases and noble dealings. Most common folk handle a Crown only a few times in their lives.
Mark: silver, an eighth of an ounce. The everyday coin of merchants, trade towns and skilled work.
Common: copper. Wages, taverns, and small purchases.
One Crown is worth ten Marks, and one Mark is worth twenty Commons, so a Crown is worth two hundred Commons.
Hacksilver
Where coin runs short in the North, people trade in hacksilver, broken and cut pieces of silver weighed out on a scale, or they barter goods directly. Hacksilver is valued by its weight, never by any stamp. Because nobody guarantees its purity, it trades at about a fifth below coin. An ounce holds eight Marks' worth of silver and settles at roughly six and a half.
A pinch of small bits, a quarter ounce: about 1½ Marks
A thumb-length cut off an arm-ring, half an ounce: about 3 Marks
One ounce: about 6½ Marks
A whole broken arm-ring, two ounces: about 13 Marks, enough for a good riding horse with change left over
The merchant's scale decides. Every trader and trade hall keeps its own weights, and the weight the merchant reads is the weight you pay. Arguments over a merchant's weights go to the local authority to settle. Busy trade towns like Skeldvik see enough coin come through on the lake and river traffic that most business there runs on stamped money.
What Things Cost
A day of common labor: 2 to 3 Commons
A day of skilled labor: 1 Mark
A tavern meal and a bed: 3 to 5 Commons
A good riding horse: 8 to 12 Marks
Two horses and two weeks of supplies: about 25 to 30 Marks
A seasoned fighting man's pay: about 10 to 12 Marks a week
Twenty Crowns: enough to field a dozen armed men, fed and mounted, for a month
Trade
Rivers and coastal shipping carry most of the world's goods, and market towns are where they change hands. Guilds and merchant houses are more common in the Imperium, but every northern trade town has its merchants. Trade ties often hold alliances together as firmly as oaths.
The great routes:
The Sundering Sea carries freshwater ships and fishing fleets along the divide between the North and the Imperium.
The Norcrest River is the main western trade road, linking the Sundering Sea basin to the west coast.
Lake Vaelor is the heart of northern trade. Vaelorvik is its chief harbor and exchange, with shipyards, warehouses, and a hall where contracts are posted. All winter the lake is frozen shut.
The River Skelda runs north from Lake Vaelor to the Whitefrost Ocean. Everything moving between the lake and the sea passes through Skeldvik, with its docks, warehouses, ferries and trade yards.
The Norcrest passes carry the overland trade between North and South. Frostscar Pass was once Eldrhold's. Greywind Pass belongs to Haldrenhold.
The Amber Sea is the main trading water for the southern kingdoms.
What the North Produces
Haldrenhold: gold above all, from the rich Norcrest foothills, along with silver, copper and gemstones. Its wealth comes as much from its mines as from Greywind Pass.
Blackvein: silver, with some gold and copper.
Irongard: iron from the Norcrest foothills, with some gold and copper.
Brennholt: timber and pelts.
Varnheim: grain and livestock.
Merewatch: fish, lake timber, and caravan goods.
Vaelorvik: the lake trade itself, ships and the goods they carry.