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Greeting all fellow Qadirans.
I am pleased to meet you. I have introduced myself, but for any late comers, my name is Samur Scarring and I am an Ulfen man who, in truth, is something of an exile from the Ulfen people and when joining the Pathfinder society, I came to ally myself with the Qadiran cause.
Now to be clear, I am no saint, but I am not an evil man. I am a summoner, but I swing a battleaxe and enjoy the company of my friend and eidolon, Howlfur. Now that I have all of that out of the way, let me say also, that I am in the pay of Qadira. I choose Qadira because I hear that they pay well.
Don't be critical of this. I could serve the Taldans and their ruler in their Ulfen guard, but I never would. I could serve the Chelaxian mistress if kinkiness was my passion. Fanatical freedom would be the way of Andorans, and if the eternal something or other dead was my whim I would serve the Osirions. Gold is simple and honest in a strange way. I know where I stand.
So I have tried to embrace Qadira and visit Katheer. Truthfully I find the weather a bit much, but I'm getting used to it. The food and the aromas of Katheer are not always to my liking either. Perhaps I will open up a Northern food restaurant (but I don't think there would be much call for it). I have learnt something of appraising the value of things which is more interesting than I first thought. And then it came to me - where does the money actually come from?
How is there always money to pay me? Is it taxation on every sale made? What is the basis of the Qadiran economy? It had never struck me as important until I began to learn Qadiran ways, but now? Will the money ever run out? Is a "crash" coming? What thoughts are these for an Ulfen warrior you might say, but I am now an adopted Qadiran and a Trade Prince. So tell me more of this place and I will pay you for your time.
May golden coins always pour from your purse.
Samur Scarring
Traveller, Lover of Coin and Dabbler in Trade
Man who pays homage to both Erastil and Sarenrae for they are great
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"My brother in arms Samur. While the full situation is far more complicated than this, the simplest way to explain our prosperity, and the strongest reason for said prosperity, is our positioning. As the western satrapy of the mighty Padishah Empire of Kelesh, the strongest power in all of Casmaron, we control access to exotic goods from the markets of Casmaron into the inner sea, goods like silks, spices, and more. The Padishah Empire is so vast, our cities in Casmaron are host to goods from as far east as Kasai and as far west as Magnimar. When you have that kind of market control, you can set the prices for purchase and sale, and when you can do that, you can reap quite the profit by buying from those who have plenty and selling to those who desire it most and are willing to pay a premium. Praise be the Dawnflower who watches over us and grants us health, happiness, and good fortune in all our ventures."
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As to the western origin of money, look to ancient Lydia, a center of gold mining. Gold and silver had been accepted as a medium of exchange but each piece had to be checked for purity and weight and then haggling over both before we could even get to the price of good. Some genius both invented the disk of gold but put the kings portrait and Lydia on the disk. Lydian coin became a very accepted coin (but still subject to shaving and clipping. That's what that gear like edge on your quarter comes from, to prevent that when it was silver long ago). Also, the PR from having your portrait on the coin didn't hurt either.
I assume something like that happened here and that the inventor of the coin should be an honored Qadrian hero.