Which leads to states declaring that 'defacing the portrait of the king' is treason and punishing the miscreants. Taxes are the real goal here for most states. The state demands that all transactions are conducted in their currency so that they can correctly assess the tax. Transactions at markets and fairs tend to be taxed and are an important source of income to local government. Moneychangers make considerable money charging you a percentage to convert your wieght of foriegn silver into local coinage.
One thing I am working on for my Red Cow 'twenty years after' update is some material on Jonstown. I am toying with including the idea that Sartar introduced 'fairs' to the kingdom.
A 'fair' is a merchant-to-merchant market rather than a merchant-to-consumer market (although such transactions are often a sideshow of the main event). The fairs are 'royal' because the House of Sartar authorizes them and they move between towns to stimulate the economy of each region, with each fair tending to emphasize a 'seasonal' product. So Jonstown might have the a spring 'wool' fair to sell newly sheared fleeces. Transactions at those markets are taxed by the royal house, who in turn guarantee the safety of merchants travelling to and from the fair (by forging agreemenets with the tribal kings who in turn forge agreements with the clans to maintain the 'peace of the fair'). Those transactions are carried out in guilders stamped by the royal mints of the towns, so that they can be more easily assessed. The problem of goods vs. coins exists less here because the merchants tend to have portable wealth that the producers/consumers don't.
Also it creates a 'fair' filled with foriegn merchants in most Sartarite towns - which is filled with gameable opportunity.
Ian Cooper
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