Skip to content
The Well of Daliath
Menu
Menu

Coinage and Value

Posted on July 28, 2020

During the reign of the Sartar Dynasty, the princes minted silver coins, called Sovereigns or Guilders, for use in trade. These were modeled on the silver coins used within the Lunar Empire (called “Lunars” or “L”), having the same weight and silver content, and, as a result, the same value. These coins had very wide circulation, and were used in lands as far away as Teshnos and Ralios. A copper coin, called a Clack (“C”) and modeled on the Holy Country currency, is used for smaller transactions.

During the Lunar Occupation, Lunar silver coins flooded Dragon Pass and the Lunar became the standard silver currency. The circulation of Lunar is even more wide than the old Sartarite guilders, and the silver Lunar can be found in markets as far away as Fronela, Jrustela, and Kralorela – even if none of the merchants have ever even seen a person from the Lunar Heartlands. With the liberation of Sartar in 1625, the silver Lunar remained the main coin in circulation, although beginning in 1627 the new dynasty began minting increasingly large numbers of silver coins.

Gold is primarily used for large accounts, such as trade or tribute. The Wheel (“W”), an ancient coin minted by the Wagon Cult, is widely used in accounts, even if it is rarely seen in daily life. The Sartar Dynasty never minted their own gold coin.

Nonetheless, most daily transactions were in barter. Among the rural tribes, cows, and not Wheels, were the instrument of accounts. Livestock or grain were more likely to be exchanged than silver. These exchanges were largely between members of the same tribe; when strangers or foreigners got involved, coins were preferred even by the most traditionalist Orlanthi.

Note that almost nobody outside of the troll realms accepts bolgs. Which is downright mean of them.

So you need coins to buy that fancy sword or that decorated armor or the bolt of silk, but keep that grain, cattle, and chickens to trade for local wool or to get someone to help you work in the orchards.

Sartar is not nearly as traditional as many people have made it out to be. From the very beginning, Greg emphasised that Sartar transformed the peoples around the Quivin Mountains from quarrelling bandit tribes to a kingdom based on trade and commerce with a substantial urban population.

Remember this is not Ireland, a removed island distant from the main trade routes even during the periods of the port of Dublin. Barter, gifting, and coins existed in Central Asia and the Caucasus from the Achaemenids to the British and Russian Empires. Unfortunately, historians tend to isolate their studies.

Jeff Richard

Next
Previous
1625 ST, 1627 ST, Coinage, Lokarnos

Sections

  • Search Tips
  • Current RuneQuest Glorantha Publications
  • RuneQuest Glorantha Corrections and Q&A
  • Catalogue
  • References for Glorantha
    • Gloranthan Canon
  • Gloranthan Documents
  • RPG Systems & Versions
  • Gallery
  • About This Site
  • Get involved!

Latest Posts

  • Sartar Cities

    Sartar can be thought of a confederation of small cities …
  • Catalogue of the Gods revisited

    This piece from the Mythology book is among my absolute …
  • Thunderbolts in Art

    One of the things that really got me down the …
  • RuneQuest Art

    So let’s talk RQ art for a moment. For the …
  • Top Five RuneQuest Cults

    So it is absolutely no surprise to me that in …
  • The Greatest of the Power Rune gods

    So lets think about the greatest of the Power Rune …
  • A Few Notes on the Air Gods

    Any time you look at those big abstract Celestial Court …
  • RuneQuest Campaign Heroquesting

    So while I am on this whole “through a heroquest …
  • How The God Learners Learned About The Gods

    So we know that the God Learners assembled the monomyth …

Links

  • Chaosium
  • Chaosium’s RuneQuest RPG Wiki
  • Glorantha on BRP Central
  • RuneQuest on BRP Central
  • RuneQuest on Discord
  • Prince of Sartar Webcomic
  • Glorantha G+ Archives on Tapatalk
  • Search mailing list archive

Latest from BRP Central

  • Sun County pdf is drivethrurpg’s Deal of the Day for July 1st
  • Permission to use exerpt from map in Starter Set in a Jonstown Compendium release?
  • Speculations on warlock rules in RQG
  • Turning adventures into heroquests
  • Humakti Initiation Heroquest
  • Runelords and Retirement
  • Hospitality Hearth spirits - what are they ?
  • Clearwine Burned & Argrath's Orphan Childhood
  • Arene Thunderqueen
  • Human worshippers of Xiola Umbar and where to find them

Popular Tags

Boldhome (large city) Chaosium Colymar (Sartar tribe) Contents Cult demographics Cults of Runequest (preview) Ernalda Esrolia (homeland) FRA Furthest (large city) G+ post Gods Wall Greg Stafford Guide to Glorantha (preview) Humakt Jar-eel Lunar Empire Lunar Pantheon Magazine Malkioni pantheon Map Michael O’Brien Mongoose MRQ1 New Pavis (small city) Old Glorantha Q&A Orlanth Orlanthi pantheon Photo reference Population demographics Prax (homeland) RQ3 RQG Rune Magic Sandy Petersen Sartar (homeland) Spirit Cult Star Subcult Tarsh (homeland & Lunar province) Troll Pantheon Yelm Yelmalio Yelm Pantheon Youtube

Recently added or updated

  • East Isles Pantheon

  • Gods Wall

  • Himile

  • CHA4013 Griffin Mountain (1981, 2018)

  • Helpwoman

  • Henshie

  • Harana Ilor

  • Hesezjagu

  • Majadan

  • Antigods

  • Hensarava the Golden Archer Prince

  • HeenMaroun

  • Harantara

  • Halisayan

  • Govmeranen

  • Godunya

  • Genderatha

  • Gebkeran

  • Sartar Cities

  • Guide Interview – Greg Stafford (2012)

©2025 The Well of Daliath | Design: Newspaperly WordPress Theme