Gold, Mana, and the Price of Power

Gold is more than currency. Gold controls and stores human mana. It stabilizes red magic, holds it in reserve, enchants objects, and binds potions. Everything else follows.

Cerberus needs more gold than it produces. Askenon has it. This exchange defines the politics of both peoples: the dwarves supply gold and mithril; Cerberus supplies potions, enchantments, beasts, and war magic. A single delivery of one hundred fifteen tons was enough to kill a vampire. The regular trade that followed made Kaz'Nakaram the wealthiest kingdom in Askenon and the head of its merchant caste one of the world's most powerful dwarves.

This is not a free market. Dwarves control the flow, burying gold to sustain its price and removing rivals through litigation when their fleets grow too quickly. Cerberus knows that the gold it buys may fund cannons one day pointed back at it.

Marcus Crassus threatens this balance. He discovered how to turn mana into gold—the secret everyone desires. Create Gold produces one hundred coins per caster level, as real as mined gold. His doctrine is simple: spend more and earn more. He also created a ring that turns its wearer into a lich upon death.

Share Fortune reveals the other face of the same principle. Beneath its generous name, the enchantment endlessly cannibalizes one person's innate mana reserve and redistributes it to others. Archon's Partage is this spell on the scale of a kingdom.