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Before gold coins were Septims, what were they? Remans?

Gold, I imagine.

Oh, that's a bit boring.

If you're looking for something more distinctive, they're also referred to as drakes. Compare Guide to Better Thieving to Wulfmare's Guide to Better Thieving.

They're referred to as Drakes in relation to the Septim line though. They have the dragon's blood.

So did the earlier Emperors though. Cyrodiilic empires have long been associated (edit)WITH(/edit) the dragon.

Thank you very much.

There's and old saw about how the more we love something the more nicknames we give it, and the two objects with the most nicknames are money and inebriation.

i suppose sex would be a close third lol

I think it's fair to say that list could get quite extensive. Let's never speak of it again.

Hundreds of years before Tiber Septim, Reman Cyrodiil had already adopted the Akaviri dragon banner as the standard for the Legions. Before he was even an old man Imperial coins had the Dragon symbol on them and were called Drakes.

Here's a plausible theory of how the term "Drake" could be even older - it stands to reason the Nords, freshly arrived from Atmora, had their own form of currency. We're told the Dragon Cult levied taxes on the people, so they must have been collecting some form of money. It stands to reason that a Dragon symbol would have been stamped on their gold and silver coins - thus they'd have been Drakes.

Very plausible

Just to throw in this bit: In TESA: Redguard, set in year 2E 864, the word "gold" is used exclusively to refer to currency. Considering Redguard's lore belongs in the same era of development as Morrowind's (where "septims", "drakes" and "gold" are used interchangeably), I think it was intentional (at least used to be).

The Raga have always had a rebellious streak from day one. It doesn't surprise me that the Crowns would make their own way.