Chapter 5
Money, Measures, and Time

 

In an effort to encourage trade between the peoples of Ruin Mist, the kings of old turned to the lore keepers to develop official standards for money, measures, and time. Because there were so many different currencies in use, the task set to the lore keepers was a difficult one. In deriving the precise estimates of the values of the coins used, the lore keepers looked to the weight and metal of the coins. They used crowns to designate any large, round piece of gold stamped with the profile of a monarch. Although these differ somewhat in weight and purity, they are roughly equal in value, as the “crown standard” developed by the lore keepers ensures all such gold pieces are of similar size and purity. Specifically, a crown must be large enough to fill the inside of a man’s palm and at least half the thickness of a man’s finger. Its luster and appearance must be that of pure gold, or nearly so.

  The lore keepers used lokes and half-lokes to identify the various silver coins in use. Officially, a loke is a large, round piece of silver that must be the same approximate size as the average man’s thumbnail and at least half the thickness of a man’s finger. A half-loke is any of a variety of silver coins that are smaller in size than a loke.

  The large brass coins, which are the principal medium of exchange among the common people, are called drudgers. Officially, a drudger is a large, round piece of brass that must be large enough to fill the inside of a man’s palm and at least half the thickness of a man’s finger.

  Crowns, lokes, and drudgers are all struck by a central government, be it the free cities or the kingdoms. A myriad of small copper, brass, and bronze coins referred to as oifs are also in use. These coins are not struck by the central government, but rather by the local governments at need, and intended only for local or provincial use. A single oif buys breakfast; a drudger, a day’s work from a common laborer; a loke, a well made suit or silk dress suitable for a wealthy trader; a crown, a good horse or a carriage drawn by two mules.

  As the lore keepers sought to develop standards of measure, they quickly found that measures of length or distance were not necessarily commensurable. Thus, they developed loose standards and educated the people about these standards. In the lands of men, league designates a distance of approximately 3 miles (5 km) and horse stride designates a distance of 10 leagues (which is approximately the distance horse messengers are made to travel in a day). These are the correct measures for distances between cities.

  The span is the distance between the extended thumb and forefinger—about eight inches (20 cm); it is the correct measure for the height of a person or a small structure. The hand is the distance across the average man’s palm—about four inches (10 cm); it is the correct measure for the height of an animal. A tall man in the kingdoms is 9 spans; the average, about 8 spans. Traditionally, a horse’s height is measured at the withers—an elevated part of the spine between the neck and the back. The measurement is made in hands. Typical riding horses stand 14 to 16 hands high. Kingmaker horses stand 18 to 20 hands high.

  A chain is the length of a measuring chain of 100 links. As each link measures approximately a hand and a span (12 inches or 30 cm), a chain is approximately 100 feet (30.5 m). Chains are used in land surveys to measure distances and by engineers to measure the height and length of large structures.

  The pace indicates a single step, or about 30 inches (76 cm). The stride is a double step, and thus about 60 inches (152 cm). In some professions, the terms double stride and day stride are used. A double stride is four steps, and typically part of a series of movements, such as a dancer might make during a performance or soldier might make during field exercises. A day stride designates a distance of ten thousand strides (approximately 9.5 miles or 16 km) and is so called because it is the distance foot soldiers are made to walk in a day.

  Another commonly used measure is the cubit. The cubit is the distance from a man’s elbow to the tip of his longest finger (about 18 inches or 46 cm). Cubits are often used to measure trade goods being bought or sold. A girl may order five cubits of cloth for her mother and a man may trade a great bear’s hide of ten cubits for a good sword.

  To measure the passage of time, many terms are used. Eons, the longest division of time, are subdivided into ages. An eon is a vast length of time that is too long to measure. An age, also referred to as an era, is a period of time made distinctive by a significant event or development. The ages of Ruin Mist are measured by the ruling peoples of the time. Thus, there is the age of titans; the age of men, elves, and dwarves; the age of men and elves; and the age of men.

  Ages consist of many lifetimes; lifetimes, in turn, are divided into years, months, weeks, and days. Though the lore keepers sought to unite the peoples of Ruin Mist under a single calendar, this has not yet been accomplished and therefore the length of a year varies. The two most prevalent calendars have beginnings some thousands of years in the past. They are the Titan calendar adopted from the titans of the olden days and the Kingdom calendar adopted by the original founders of the kingdoms of men. Ancient lore says the calendar of the titans begins with the creation of the worlds in the spring of the first year of being, but Kingdom lore says the calendar of men begins in the winter of their discontent.

  The Titan calendar is divided into 12 months of 30 days with five or more extra days at the end. The first day of the new year begins on the vernal equinox, which marks the first day of spring. In addition to the Days of Atonement at the end of every year, the Titan calendar has fixed and movable feast days.

  The Kingdom calendar is divided into 13 months of 28 days with one or more extra days at the end. The first day of the new year begins on the winter solstice, which marks the first day of winter. In addition to the King’s Time at the end of the year, the Kingdom calendar has many fixed and movable feast days.

  Under the Titan calendar, the days of the month are calculated by counting backwards from the beginning (calends), middle (ides) or end of the month (nones). As each month has 30 days, this means that the tenth day of the month can be referenced as the tenth of calends, the fifth of ides, or the twentieth of nones.

  Under the Kingdom calendar, the month is the lunar one of 28 days and a week is a quarter of the lunar month, or seven days. Though the names of the days of the week have changed with the whims of kings, most commoners refer to the day of the week by its position as in Firstday, Secondday, Thirdday, and so on through Seventhday. There are some who refer to the days of the week by other names—Crowsday for the first day of the week, Heartsday for the middle or fourth day of the week, Hearthday for the sixth day and Homeday for the seventh day. Thus, it is said in the kingdoms that liners, carts, and other traveling men are on the road from crows to hearts with hope of returning by hearth and home. It is also said that laborers are ever earnest from crows to hearts but beware the ire of one who works from home to hearth.

  When dealing with short durations, our concept of time in hours, minutes and seconds often is presented to help the reader understand precisely how time is moving. Not everyone in Ruin Mist sees the passage of time so precisely, however. For this reason (and others), duration sometimes is expressed as the time of day with emphasis on the general portion of day or night. Thus, a person arrives or leaves at an odd hour, a late hour, an early hour, etcetera.

  Though there are no true mechanical clocks in the kingdoms, many kingdomers have seen working sun dials and water clocks. While sun dials have indicators for the hour in terms of the day’s start, midday, and progression toward night, water clocks have indicators for the hours of the day and the portions of the current hour that have passed. This is where the notion of hours and minutes comes from. The concept of seconds is less precise than our own and more akin to the length of time between the beating of a steady heart.

  The learned and all who have studied the Great Book of the southern kingdoms have a stronger understanding of the passage of time than most. The reason for this is the “Clock Doctrine” of the First Keeper that tells how to count the passage of time using the indicators on sun dials and water clocks. These indicators can tell time imprecisely in terms of the hour and the portion of the hour that has passed.

  Being able to read a sun dial or water clock to tell the time does not mean that one can build a sun dial or water clock. Kingdom lore says the elves stole the secrets of the water clocks from the great titans and men in turn stole those secrets from the elves. As one might imagine, the inner workings of waters clocks are guarded carefully by master craftsmen known as the clockmasters, though most major cities have one or more working water clocks. Some cities even have a clock square where the Watcher of the Hour or Watch Crier calls out the hour and half hour so that all may know the time.