
The head face of the Denarii
The Morsian Denarii was the primary currency of the Morsian Empire on Mors. While the denarii was the only legal currency on Mors for a long time, it was also used alongside the Galactic Credit Standard, usually on the Morsian Protectorate Planets.
History[]
Inception[]
As the early Morsian Kingdom expanded its lands into uncolonized areas, it was decided that the basic tribal system of bartering should be replaced by something percieved as more civilised. A standardized measure to ensure that goods get a fixed value and avoid easy scamming and overpricing of goods from one town to the next. Various ideas were tried, and several different currency systems trialled, until the denarii was adopted.
Despite their rapid development, the denarii was not in fact the oldest currency on Mors, with that honor going to the Kingdiomi Di Sparti and their Dramaka. The original denarii was the smallest unit of Morsian currency, though this was rectified later on with a smaller unit, the sestertii.
Attempted spread to the wider galaxy[]
At the discovery of the rest of the galaxy, the denarii had to be introduced to galactic trade, with a conversion rate to galactic credits as the latter did not exist in the Morsian economy. For a placeholder amount, it was decided that a denarii would be worth a 1:1 exchange rate to a galactic credit. At first, denarii was not considered legal tender anywhere bar Mors, so the Morsians had a choice, either work hard to get it accepted with the intergalactic banking guilds, or retire the denarii and adopt the galactic credit as the new currency on Mors.
The latter proposal was met with extreme backlash and hostility in both the Morsian Senate and wider population. As such, the decision to follow the former was quickly enacted. The Morsian Imperial Mint worked with banks across Mors to create exchangers that Morsian traders could use to exchange denarii to credits. Due to this, the denarii upped in price as Morsian traders started to establish more and more trade connections to outside companies who were interested in Morsian goods. Thanks to the booming economy, the exchange rate of the denarii to credits increased constantly before finally levelling at 1 denarii to 1.6785 credits. The Morsian economy boomed as trade took off with intergalactic connections bring goods to and from Mors.
Troubles on the protectorates[]
On the protectorate planets, the denarii had a hard time. Some planets had their own accepted currency system which often caused problems to the Morsians who tried to standardise currency across the empire. In some cases, where the pre-existing native currency was wildly debased or fluctuating, the Morsians were able to replace it fully with the standardised denarii and its derivatives. However, on planets where currency was in place and working, there was no opportunity to do so. Therefore, the denarii either had to slot in alongside the original currency or not be introduced at all. This created the problem of having two, and even three if galactic credits are in use, in a single country, causing confusion. Currency exchangers appeared across the Morsian Empire and the list of accepted currencies across the Empire started to grow as more countries joined the protectorates which started to cause problems with all sorts of coinage and currencies appearing across the planets. To avoid this, the Central Imperial Currency Exchange was built in Malum which aimed to centralise the various coinage across the Empire and standardise exchange rates. All currencies also were standardised to follow the Morsian currency policy, which avoided the problem certain economies had where there were half units, etc. More and more exchangers appeared on planets and in countries which could now use this exchange standardisation, preventing a currency crisis that was threatening to throw the Empire into chaos.
The denarii was eventually accepted as legal currency with the banking guilds across the galaxy several millennia before the Old Sith Wars, allowing Morsian traders to deal in denarii and not have to first convert them to credits back on Mors. However, it was not widely used outside of Mors or its protectorates, though slowly currency converters across the galaxy allowed the denarii to be exchanged for credits.
Post-republic denarii[]
When the Morsian Empire left the Galactic Republic, the denarii ceased to be true legal tender in the wider galaxy, though currency converters continued to keep a stock of denarii for exchange and allowed users to change freely between denarii and credits, though the rate of adoption of the denarii in currency converters slowed due to the schism that occurred when the Morsians left the wider galaxy.
The denarii made a resurgence during the Clone Wars, when the Galactic Republic was pursuing closer ties again with the Morsian Empire. As the Morsians were officially neutral for nearly all of the conflict, Morsian trade increased and the denarii came back into a more mainstream use, causing an increase in conversion across the galaxy and a wider adoption of the denarii in conversion stations.
When the Republic reformed into the Galactic Empire, the Empire was eager to stamp out the use of the denarii across their territory. They saw the Morsians as their largest enemy, so did not want their subject planets using the legal tender of the Morsians. Despite this, it continued to be used and converted by Morsian traders to the galaxy and all currency converters had an exchange rate for the denarii. The usage did not decline massively over the rule of the Empire, though it did decrease a little in the Core systems, where the Empire had the most influence and power to stop its use.
On the death of the Empire, the denarii remained in background use on Morsian trade routes, being converted across the galaxy by users of the Morsian trades. The New Republic did not prevent the use of denarii across the galaxy and were more relaxed about its use due to the gratitude they had for the Morsian assistance towards the end of the Galactic Civil War. At the appearance of the First Order, the denarii did not fall out of use or devalue, though the First Order did attempt to use counterfeit denarii to frame the Morsians or purchase illegal equipment.
Currency value range[]
- The lowest value coin was the Sestertii.
- A Denarii was 100 sestertii.
- A Quintii was 5 denarii.
- A Decemii was 2 quintii or 10 denarii.
- A Viginii was two decemii or 20 denarii.
- The highest value coin is the Quintidecemii which was 5 decemii or 50 denarii.
Coin minting[]
A denarii was only legal if it was created at the Imperial Mint on Mors or one of the official Imperial Mints on the protectorates. The face of the coin had the head of the current Morsian Emperor on it, while the reverse had the Morsian crest, a standard measure for the minting of coins. The material of the coins were a mixture of gold, silver or copper depending on the value, which were heated, melted and pressed into moulds to create uniform, identical coins. During the early days of the Morsians, before the planet was unified, the coins were created by hand which resulted in different shaped and sized coins with different levels of quality. When superior moulding technology was invented or adopted, the coins became more uniform and identical.
Behind the scenes[]
- The denarii and its derivative values are based on the real currency of the Roman Empire, though in names only.
Gallery[]
|