Currency of Tamriel

[Raynil dralas]

In morrowind the currency was refered to as "drakes" in oblivion in was just known as gold and now in skyrim its "septims" Did the currency change during the couple hundred years? or are drakes perhaps an interval of septims like pence to pounds? this would explain why the resale value of rare goods in morrowind was 10s of thousands rather than thousands... Or are drakes exclusive to the morrowind province? Maybe im over thinking it.

[Baloth-Kul]

Drakes are the same thing, exact same currency. In Morrowind, they sometimes just call it gold, and sometimes septims too. My thinking as to why the term "drakes" was coined, lol coined, is because of the association and symbolism of dragons with the Septims, and the Empire as a whole. Plus, I believe the Imperial Dragon is stamped on every coin, hence...drakes.

[Raynil dralas]

Drakes are the same thing, exact same currency. In Morrowind, they sometimes just call it gold, and sometimes septims too. My thinking as to why the term "drakes" was coined, lol coined, is because of the association and symbolism of dragons with the Septims, and the Empire as a whole. Plus, I believe the Imperial Dragon is stamped on every coin, hence...drakes.

I don't remember it being referred to as septims in morrowind? but you reckon the term drake is almost slang for the currency?

[Baloth-Kul]

Slang, yes. If you do another playthrough sometime, and pay attention (esp. for quests where you are collecting money from someone, or something), they should occasionally say septims instead of gold or drakes.

[Raynil dralas]

Slang, yes. If you do another playthrough sometime, and pay attention (esp. for quests where you are collecting money from someone, or something), they should occasionally say septims instead of gold or drakes.

Ill look out for that I never noticed, I guess after playing it so much I tend to skim read a lot of morrowinds dialog.

[Raynil dralas]

Since we're on the subject of currency, where on earth are the banks in the other provinces? Highrock and Hammerfell have well established banking industries yet there's non to be seen anywhere else! Its a pretty poor economy the rest of tamriel has it would seem

[Br3admax]

All the Great Houses had treasuries.
All the Counties as well.
All the Holds likely do as well, Whiterun and Solitude being among the most wealthy.

I believe some people are called bankers in lore, the banks are still there. They're fundamental to society.

[Raynil dralas]

I was joking about the fact banks disappeared after daggerfall...

[Snake]

It would be nice to be able to use them though, without mods. Like it was in Daggerfall.

[Zero_The_Dark]

I think the main reason we don't see banks in game any more would be because money used to have weight to it in Daggerfall so to store your money you kept it in a bank. In later games however money has no weight associated with it so the banking system was removed.

[Raynil dralas]

You could take out loans too, if they re-introduced that feature though they'd have to make non payment have some serious consequences though otherwise it'd be pretty exploitable.

[Dark Spark]

In Skyrim, someone will hire three thugs to essentially murder you if you happen to "borrow" a book from their library. I'd hate to see what a debt collector would look like. Do they bust your kneecaps? With arrows?

There's a bank in Markarth. But, since you don't own a homestead or a mining claim within the hold, you don't qualify as a customer.

[Raynil dralas]

In Skyrim, someone will hire three thugs to essentially murder you if you happen to "borrow" a book from their library. I'd hate to see what a debt collector would look like. Do they bust your kneecaps? With arrows?

There's a bank in Markarth. But, since you don't own a homestead or a mining claim within the hold, you don't qualify as a customer.

Now i have images of Orc bailiffs turning up at the dragonborns house to repossess his belongings.

[Pilaf The Defiler]

This topic is pretty much wrapped up as it is, but I'll add my two cents.

"Drakes" has likely been in use longer than the Septim dynasty, as older coins would have also contained this motif. It would have certainly adorned ancient Nord currency under the Dragon Cult, and likely the currency of both the Ayleids and Alessians, as both groups venerated Akatosh. The specific design of the Akaviri dragon which appears on the flip side of the coin likely appears in Akaviri currency as well, as it's based on one of their flags. This flag was adopted first by Reman Cyrodiil, and continued to be used on through the Second Era after his death. Varen Aquilarios was known to have used it as his personal banner. I'm guessing certain types of currency have been called "Drakes" since the Merethic Era, and Septims being called that colloquially would be nothing new.

As for banks, they're still a big part of the lore. References to banks, coffers and treasury still exist in books that shipped in Skyrim, even if the books are re-used. Banks are definitely not abandoned concepts. Sheogorath himself is said to often take the guise of a simple banker to help lead people down the golden road to insanity.

[Snail's Pace]

Little known "fact": All of the inns in Skyrim were supposed to have ATMs but they didn't make it into the final game. That's why there's that curious line of dialogue where you can ask Keerava at the Bee and Barb "Where's the ATM?" and she'll tell you "It's over there... by the restroom."

[legoless]

In ESO all the coins bear the Chim-el Adabal symbol. Also apparently the Dominion has their own coinage.

[Pilaf The Defiler]

I would imagine with the Auriel Eagle motif, since it also adorns their ships and flags. I wonder if the Daggerfall Covenant uses the Imperial coins or their own variation, perhaps with a Lion stamp?

[legoless]

In Shornhelm it seems they use "Imperial coins".

[Pilaf The Defiler]

In Shornhelm it seems they use "Imperial coins".

Logical, as they consider themselves True Heirs of the Empire.

[Mway1]

In TESA Redguard there is the mention of Silver Drakes as well

[Pilaf The Defiler]

It's logical there would be smaller units of currency than the basic gold piece. That exists across similar fiction, like dnd (really the origin of the Tamriel setting in the first place, if you dig back far enough) and also fits real-world parallels.

Of course, in the real world, the price comparison between gold and silver has fluctuated historically. There have been times that Silver was more valuable than Gold. I'd assume going by these games that Silver is the lesser material, but we can't be sure without direct confirmation.

[Zero_The_Dark]

Actually I'd say we can say for certain that silver is the lesser of the two precious metals. In skyrim we have access to both gold and silver ingots and ore. In both cases silver is the less valuable of the two. In both oblivion and Skyrim at the very least silver jewlery is less valuable than its gold equivalent and finally in oblivion we can get gold and sliver nuggets, where again gold is the more valuable of the two.

I think we can say without a shadow of a doubt that gold is indeed the more valuable material.

[Dark Spark]

Silver has had more practical applications than gold, one aspect being it's more chemically active and useful as a compound (photography, for example). Before the Space Age the only use for gold was pretty much ornamental.

Gold may be more valuable, but it just sits there and looks pretty.

Now, in a world of magic, perhaps gold is able to channel or store magicka more readily than most other substances... the inlay of precious metal on an ebony sword being much more than a decoration, for example.

[Pilaf The Defiler]

My point wasn't that Silver may be more valuable than Gold at the time of TES V, but that the value was unknown during Redguard, which was many centuries earlier. Values of materials do fluctuate wildly from one era to another for a variety of reasons. It's logical to infer the silver drake had less value, but it's unknown. Our data is limited.

[Dark Spark]

There is the anecdote that Napoleon had a table setting of aluminum that was more valuable than gold or silver, mainly because the metal was so difficult to purify before the dawn of electricity.