Imperial Commerce

The cornerstone of Aquaticus for the civilized races is commerce. In the early years of the Empire commerce was conducted by individual arrangements, most often bartering of one good for another. Issues of places not having ready access to certain resources communities desired, most often because they lacked a trade good the owners of the desired resource wanted, led to the formation of the beginnings of Empire. In the year 538, the first merchant’s meeting was held on Charpon. Over 400 representatives of various communities and private interests attended.

Over the course of two years, the the traders worked out an agreement that led to what would become the Empire. The original agreement laid out a common currency that all members agreed to accept. The common currency was named the Sovereign. The value of a Sovereign was based on a ⅓ of an ounce of gold. While precious metals had been commonly used in trading, there was not nearly enough to actually be used. To resolve this the merchants agreed to a representative currency that was made of special glass beads that took a very specialized process to make. The actual process for creating the beads is known only by members of the currency guild. What is known is that to make these special glass beads it takes material from both land and sea.

The Beads come in various sizes to represent a fixed amount of gold. For the general population, Sovereigns come in denominations of 10 (pp), 1 (gp), ½ (ep), 1/10 (sp), and 1/100 (cp). The currency guild uses a process to color the beads such that most people refer to them that way. The common names are in parentheses beside the denominations just listed. Since weight is a constant concern, 50 beads weight only ½ an ounce. Traders doing large transactions do so with Trade Strings. These are a series of specially colored beads tied with a special kind of cord that denotes their value. Common Trade Strings are 50, 100, 500, and 1000 Sovereign values. These beads have no value if they are removed from the binding cord. Over time the merchants developed standard prices for goods so that no matter where in the Empire a person might be the costs should be the same. This is one of the aspects that the Empire enforces on members whether land borne or waterborne. Currently the Empire has established “Trade Centers” at all member islands and most seaborne communities. These Trade Centers are where quantities of goods can be bought and sold easily. Using a portion of the tribute collected from each member community the Empire maintains a large fleet of trade ships and accompanying navy ships to see the transfer of goods throughout the Empire. Should a person or group desire to go into the unexplored lands or visit an island or seaborne community that is not currently a member of the Empire the Sovereign is typically accepted and bartering is typically required.