Tallent

The Tallent is the currency used primarily on the Tallent archipelago. It is legal tender in the Mercantilist States for all debts public and private. It is issued by the Mercantilist Central Bank located in Decartes.

Legend

The tallent is believed to have its origins on an unknown island in the Tallent archipelago. Legend says that following the death of a wealthy Emperor, his estate was divided evenly between his twin sons. Among the most prized of his possessions was the Tally Diam, a 50-carat diamond. Finding it more difficult than anticipated to cut, the brothers made an agreement that they each owned half the diamond. One of the brothers used his newfound wealth to establish a village and home for his family; while the other brother, a notorious spendthrift, traveled the island and squandered much of his. After exhausting much of his wealth, the spendthrift-brother began issuing promissory notes for pieces of the Tally Diam, telling recipients they could redeem their share of the diamond at his brother's village. Soon, people from all across the island were coming to the brother's village with these 'Tally-Lents' to claim their share of the diamond.

The village-brother was soon faced with citizens demanding their part of the Tally Diam. Refusing at first, he soon realized he was facing potential revolution. Thus, he declared that he while he could not break up the diamond; he would accept the Tally-Lents as payment for taxes. This was an acceptable offer to the people and soon these 'Tallents' were being used across the island.

Then disaster struck. The village-brother, while traveling Taijitu with the Tally Diam, was lost at sea. Panic struck the island as the Tallents were feared to be worthless. However, the new Empress declared that the Kingdom would continue to accept the tallents and that they would retain their full value.

History

Archaeological evidence shows that tallent coins were first used as the primary medium of exchange about ten millennia ago on the Tallent archipelago. The most common coins were made of an aluminum-iron composite, though some gold coins were known to have existed.

Prior to the signing of the Articles of Confederation, each state issued its own form of the tallent that was convertible to coinage. Following the signing, the Mercantilist Central Bank was created by executive order and it reissued a national tallent note, exchanging them at a 1:1 ratio with the city tallents and maintaining convertibility to coinage.

When a severe banking panic the Mercantilist States, the Mercantilist Central Bank suspended convertibility of tallents and moved to a fiat money system and floating exchange rate regime in order to move out of the economic depression and soften the impacts of future panics.