This post feature will cover a diverse array of topics, rather than a particularly curated category of material, such as nations, organizations, creatures, and so on. But, with this electronic format and the brief shelf life of content on timelines, I will do my best to include tags to ease finding certain bits of material again.

—the Earthly Wordsmith

From the annotations and drafts of Alder the Scribe…

Currency of Iorth

Due to the strong influence of the former Great Empire, as well as the institutionalization and backing of the Coin Guild of in the gnomish city-state of Zurik, all nations in the world of Iorth use and mint the same type of tri-metal decimary currency system. Though each currency may bear different obverse and reverse designs on their coins, the size, weight, and shape of the coins, as well as their metal content, is universal. Since the fall of the Great Empire, this monetary system has been kept due to the familiarity and trustworthiness it holds with the populace.

The standard coins of circulation are as follows:

• The copper penny, which is the lowest denomination currency of the realms. It has a smooth edge.
• The silver shilling, worth 10 pence and is the most commonly used currency of the realms. It has a reeded edge.
• The gold crown, worth 10 shillings (or 100 pence) and the highest value common currency of the realms It has a diamond knurled edge. 

Furthermore, there are special commemorative coins created by the Coin Guild that are not as frequently seen, but are still regarded as legal tender. Unlike standard coins, these coins bear only the hallmark of the Coin Guild on the reverse, and bear a special scene or portrait of a nation’s sovereign (left-facing for coins struck after a sovereign’s death, and right-facing for coins during a sovereign’s reign). These coins are:

• The bronze farthing, worth 5 pence. It has a smooth edge and a round central hole.
• The electrum guilder, worth 5 shillings (or 50 pence). It has a reeded edge and is square in shape.
• The palladium rupee, worth 5 crowns (or 50 shillings, or 500 pence). It has a reeded edge and is hexagonal in shape.
• The platinum dollar, worth 10 crowns (or 100 shillings, or 1,000 pence). It has a diamond knurled edge and is octagonal in shape.

Though in some instances the value of a coin is expressed by its full name, typically the expression of currency value in merchant notation makes the use of numerals proceeded by the currency sign (‡), with periods used for decimal place markers of fractional values and commas used as decimal place markers of thousands whole values. So, using merchant notation, a monetary value of 3 gold pieces, 4 silver pieces, 5 copper pieces would be written as thus: ‡3.45

The Common Languages of Iorth

Though there are several languages throughout Iorth, there are only a relative handful of widely-spoken languages that can be encountered. Due to the powerful and vast influence of the Great Empire during its reign, Common has become the base language of almost all humans in Iorth, and it is used as the language of diplomacy and trade throughout Iorth. Some languages have been adopted for use beyond communication by native speakers.

Language	Typical Native Speakers	Script
Celestial	Celestials, angelkin	Celestial
Common	Humans	Common
*Halfling	Halflings	Common
**Thieves’ Cant	Rogues	—
Draconic	Dragons, lizardfolk	Draconic
Giant	Ogres, giants	Dwarvish
*Dwarvish	Dwarves	Dwarvish
Abyssal	Demons, yugoloths	Infernal
*Gnoll	Gnolls	—
*Deep Speech	Aboleths, cloakers	—
*Infernal	Devils, devilkin	Infernal
*Minotaur	Minotaurs	Infernal
Orc	Orcs	Orcish
*Goblin	Goblinoids	Orcish
Primordial	Elementals	Primordial
*Aquan	Water elementals	Primordial
*Auran	Air elementals	Primordial
*Ignan	Fire elementals	Primordial
*Terran	Earth elementals	Primordial
Druidic	Druids	Druidic
Sylvan	Fey creatures	Elvish
*Elvish	Elves	Elvish
**Gnomish	Gnomes	Elvish
Undercommon	Troglodytes	Trog
Veslish	Westerner nobility	Veslish
Estlish	Easterner courtiers	Estlish
Sudlish	Southerner traders	Sudlish
Norlish	Northerner shamans	Norlish

The major scripts used in Iorth include:

• Celestial: A simple, accurate, effective, and clear phonetic alphabet. Often used for religious purposes by followers of the Path of Light.
• Common: A simple phonetic alphabet created during the rise of the Great Kingdom. It took lessons from existing scripts and languages and purposefully avoided creating digraph (like ch or th) glyphs for each phoneme of the language. There is also manual and tactile versions of Common.
• Draconic: An exhaustive logographic script.
• Dwarvish: A precise runic alphabet. The original script used for the Giant language included diacritics, though the use of the script for Dwarvish only uses the diacritics for important ceremonial uses, and abandons them for everyday use. Dwarvish also has a tap code version of the script.
• Elvish: A flowing complex phonetic alphabet, with print and cursive forms, as well as a ceremonial Ogham-like form.
• Infernal: A complex and difficult abugida that heavily uses diacritics made for the Infernal version of Abyssal. The near-similarities of glyphs and diacritics make decoding mistakes rampant, even for skilled speakers, readers, and writers of the script and language. Often used for religious purposes by followers of the Path of Darkness.
• Orcish: A true abjad script written in reverse boustrophedonic fashion. Primarily used for inscriptions on objects, but has been adapted for use in texts.
• Primordial: An ideographic script, and the oldest script in Iorth, used with the oldest language in Iorth.

Rarer scripts encountered in Iorth include:

• Druidic: A rare combination logosyllabic and alphabetic script derived from both Primordial and Sylvan, and used exclusively by druids. It was purpose-made to be easy to carve into material such as wood or stone. Druidic also has a whistled language.
• Estlish: An abugida script with several diacritics used by the peoples of the Estlands.
• Norlish: A runic alphabet used by the peoples of the Norlands.
• Sudlish: An abjad used by the peoples of the Sudlands.
• Trog: Unlike the other scripts mentioned, the Trog writing system is a tactile cuneiformic abjad written in boustrophedonic (winding) and stoichedonic (gridded) patterns, meant for use in the total darkness of the Nether Lands. There is also a tap code version of the script. It is a combination language fusing elements of Elvish and Dwarvish into a core descendant of Abyssal.
• Veslish: A syllabary script used by the peoples of the Veslands.

Link to the Radiant Citadel

Recently there have been reports that a rediscovery of a lost extraplanar conveyance known as a Concord Jewel recently occurred. Per reports of the encounter, the Concord Jewel and its passengers have not been to Iorth since the days of prehistory. These passengers also speak of a guardian of Iorthling cultures, known as a Dawn Incarnate, which resides within a structure deep within the Ethereal Plane known as the Radiant Citadel.

As reported before their latest departure, the Black Opal is the Concord Jewel of Iorth. The Dawn Incarnate of Iorth is said to manifest as a powerful Black Opal Lynx.