Grand Besaidian Dollar

Early Besaidian Currency
When the city of Besaid was just founded, there was little currency and most things pertaining to economics and trades were done through bartering. Overtime, individual communities and parts of the early empire began to develop local and community currencies which were able to be used in the communities they were made in and for. One of the large problems with this system was the exchange of currency between communities and the ease to counterfeit this form of currency. Another major problem was the lack of official minters and regulators who would maintain, expand, and enforce the value and integrity of their currency by busting counterfeits. The early empire, unable to deal with the problems by fixing the system, introduced an entirely new system.

This new system consisted of four main coins, those of the Gold Tumsa, the Silver Urska, the Platinum Triumra, and the Iron Plusca. These coins had no one who officially minted or circulated them either. However, each community within the city and early empire had different metal smiths who could make them such coins in exchange for goods and services like salt and the tending of animals. The four coins were originally done by dimension and later, dimension and weight, in order to prevent counterfeiting by using the principles of density to ensure pure tender. Counterfeiting was a major problem that was somewhat common before the standardization of the coin’s dimension and weight later on by the Imperial Government of the Besaidian Empire. Under this system, ten Iron Pluscas were equal to one Silver Urska, five Silver Urskas were equal to one Gold Tumsa, and twenty Gold Tumsa were equal to one Platinum Triumra. Thus, one thousand Iron Pluscas were also equal to one Platinum Tumsa, and one hundred Silver Urskas were equal to one Platinum Triumra. During this time, Platinum Triumras were extremely rare and usually only owned for show, as they were generally worth too much to trade for a standard amount of coins or goods, though they were occasionally used in the purchasing of land and by banks for easy storage of large sums.

Imperial Currency
As the Besaidian Empire continued to grow and advance, the government realized that this currency wasn’t fool proof either. For the coins were heavy, and at times hard to recognize counterfeits due to the different shapes, symbols, and images that may be on coins from different regions and smiths. Another major problem was that there was no way for the empire to keep track of coins that were made nor were given to foreign states and entities due to the lack of a serial and standard system. Thus, the empire created the Jinketa Zentara, a standardized imperial currency that had numbers on each coin indentifying it and were it was made, and when. These coins also had secret mixtures and standardized complex images which made the coins near impossible to counterfeit, this along with the serial number system, allowed for counterfeits to be found and disposed of easily. The Jinketa Zentara was made in seven different mints across the empire which allowed for them to be standardized, minted with oversight, quickly created and easily regulated. Not long after introducing the Jinketa Zentara, the government was willing to trade the old metal coins for the new ones at standard rates. Luckily, the government’s willingness to trade in the old coins helped to end the short lived crisis of the markets during a twilight period between the two currencies when markets and people weren’t sure what currencies to except, how to except them ,and if to except the old ones at all. The Jinketa Zentara came in the values of One unit, Two units, Three units, Five units, ten units, twenty five units, fifty units, one hundred units, and one thousand units. People commonly referred to the one thousand units Jinketa Zentara as a “Sunny Day” for if someone happened to stumble upon a lost one it would generally make them rather joyous and generous for the day (or until it was spent or claimed).

Late Imperial Currency
Later in the time of the Besaidian Empire, near the end of its peek, its government decided to fix the last problem of their currency, weight, by introducing paper (and other light substance) Jinketa Zentara in the same previous amounts with new complex mixtures and expanded images. During this time, the coined version of the Jinketa Zentara was still acceptable, and still commonly used for large unit coins like the one hundred and one thousand unit coins to continue to help prevent counterfeiting of large denomination coins.

Coalition of Nations
When Besaid was occupied by the coalition of nations, it’s currency was declared invalid by the occupant nations in an effort to weaken the spirits of the Besaidian People. This however, proved futile, since many Besaidians still accepted the currency and the rule of the coalition of nations was short lived and weak.

Eperyllia
When Besaid was taken from the coalition of nations by the Empire of Eperyllia, it’s currency was restored as a regional currency, though the Eperyllia Yulle was introduced as the imperial currency. The only real difference between regional and imperial currencies in the Eperyllian Empire was that only the imperial currency could be used to pay taxes and fines. This generally wasn’t a problem for the average Besaidian since the Yulle and Jinketa Zentara was easily exchangeable in nearly any market place or towns hall.

Currency Today
The Jinketa Zentara was used for a couple years after the War of Independence and during the war as a “provisional” and “independent” currency of Grand Besaid until a new currency could officially be developed.

One of the first acts of the Democratic Transitional Government, and of the First Republic was to instate a new currency. That currency was the Besaidian Shilling.

Today the Besaidian Shilling is used as the standard type of currency in Grand Besaid, being minted, regulated, and protected by the government of Grand Besaid. The Besaidian Shilling is in many ways similar to the Jinketa Zentara during the later eras of the Besaidian Empire, with only images and composition causing them to be immensely different. Besaidian Shillings still come in One unit, Two units, Three units, Five units, ten units, twenty five units, fifty units, one hundred units, and one thousand units. Though all of those units are of the “paper” version as opposed to some which were in the coin form under the Jinketa Zentara. Another big change is that of less than one unit coins, or cents. Coins of the Besaid Shilling come in .01 units, .05 units, .10 units, .25 units, .50 units, and there are even a few coins which are one unit coins, though they are rather uncommon.

The transition over to the Besaidian Shilling was a rather easy one for the government was willing to double a person’s money if they switched over to the Shilling. Nearly all Besaidians did within a matter of months, and since businesses began to only pay their workers in Shillings, the Jinketa Zentara was quickly phased out of the Besaidian Economy and put into museums along with its old metal coin ancestors.