利衡币——世界的脉搏 Balance Coins — The World's Pulse

关于利衡币——翁法罗斯本地货币的简要介绍，内含一则历史故事。 About Balance Coins — A brief introduction to Amphoreus' local currency, including a historical anecdote.

「商人重利，但仍需规矩制衡。」——不知名的塔兰顿祭司

"Merchants may obsess over profit, but rules are required regardless to maintain balance." — Unknown Priest of Talanton

利衡币，由塔兰顿划定的交易最小单位，也是它赐予人类的礼物。在当今世界，利衡币表现为沙砾般细小的砝码，可以如胶泥般将任意数量混合成更大的砝码。正因如此，单枚利衡币几乎无法被携带，而城邦间的交易则要用大地兽来运载所需的巨额钱币——但没人能否认，线性的计数方式确实非常「公平」。

Balance Coins, the smallest unit of trade decreed by Talanton, as well as their gift to humanity. In the present world, Balance Coins take the form of tiny gravel-like weights that can be mixed into bigger weights with any amount like clay. It is because of this that a single Balance Coin simply can't be carried, and trade between city-states requires dromas transportation to move obscene weights of currency. But no one can deny that this linear calculation method is indeed very "fair."

利衡币的历史可追溯到古老的黄金世初期。在那之前，各城邦往往会选用与所信奉的泰坦相关的物件作为交换媒介，如贝壳、羽毛、红土块等。随着城邦的物资日渐丰盈，彼此通商的需求愈发强烈，商人们迫切需要某种一般等价物来充当交易的媒介，金银等贵金属便跃入了人们的视野——产量不高、价值稳固，能有效减少交易中的摩擦。自那之后，各城邦的日常交易也逐渐向贵金属转型。但即使最轻的铜币，面额也远超一颗菜的价值，这为平民生活带来了许多不便。

The history of Balance Coins can be traced back to the ancient Era Chrysea's nascent period. Before that, city-states bartered using objects of Titan worship, such as shells, feathers, redsoil clay blocks, etc. As the city-states' supplies became more abundant, along with increasing demand for inter-city trade, merchants urgently needed some common equivalent as a medium of exchange. Gold, silver, and other precious metals came into the picture — rare in production quantity, stable in value, and effective in reducing friction during trade. From that point on, trade among the various city-states gradually gravitated towards precious metals. But even the face value of the lightest copper coin far exceeded the cost of one stalk of vegetable, and this brought much inconvenience to the commonfolk.

在各城邦的经济发展期，每年都有许多贵金属流入市场——我们知道，经济规模的扩张需要更多货币作为支撑。一位名叫迈达斯的富商兼城邦之主因而动起了歪脑筋：倘若拥有全天下的黄金，我的城邦岂不是举世无敌？他向某位泰坦祈祷（有人认为是吉奥里亚，有人认为是扎格列斯，还有人认为是法吉娜；学界至今仍对此争论不休），用邪恶的祭祀换得了操控矿藏的能力，将整个翁法罗斯的贵金属矿脉都集中在了自己的后山里。他公开宣布此事，要求各个城邦都听命于他，否则便不再有新的贵金属可用。

During the economic development of the various city-states, many precious metals streamed into the market each year. We know that the expansion of an economy's scale relies on the support of even more currency. A wealthy merchant and city lord by the name of Midas devised a devious plan exploiting this very concept: What if I possessed all the world's gold? Wouldn't my city-state be unrivaled? He prayed to a certain Titan (some opine that it was Georios, some thought it was Zagreus, and others thought the patron god was Phagousa, but this remains a subject of great debate to this day), attaining the ability to control mineral resources using sinister rituals, and consolidated the entirety of Amphoreus' precious metal deposits in the mountains of his domain. He then announced this circumstance, demanding the other city-states to bend the knee, or there would be a dearth of future precious metals.

然而，历史总会找到新的出路。在贵金属输入受阻后，各城邦的日常交易并没有停止——法吉娜的城邦拾起了贝壳，吉奥里亚的城邦捡起了石块，艾格勒的城邦捆扎起羽毛…人们重新回到以物易物的时代，日子照旧，只是城邦间的通商无从维系。讽刺的是，由于这些杂物更方便携带和获取，平民参与交易的热情反倒提高了。

Even so, history always finds a way. After precious metal was monopolized, the city-states did not cease their daily trade — Phagousa's city gathered shells, Georios' city gathered stones, Aquila's city bundled feathers... The people once again returned to the days of barter, and life went on as usual — it was only inter-city trade that was untenable. The irony was that these sundries were portable and plentiful, increasing people's enthusiasm in trade.

为平息这场闹剧，塔兰顿翻转天平，把取之不尽的砂砾转化成附有神力的砝码，并设立它为所有城邦的统一货币，也就是当今的利衡币——兼具物币和贵金属的优点与缺点。「公正之秤」最为守信，有它亲自作担保，城邦间的贸易很快便得以恢复。迈达斯本人则在悬锋城的围攻中愈发疯狂，直至最后变成了一座纯金雕像。

To quell this farce, Talanton overturned the scale, turning bountiful gravel into weights enchanted with divinity, and established it as the common currency across all city-states, which are the Balance Coins of today — encompassing both the benefits and drawbacks of goods and precious metals. With the Scale of Justice being the most trustworthy, with the god's personal guarantee, inter-city trade was very quickly restored. Midas went increasingly mad when he was besieged by Castrum Kremnos, and eventually turned into a statue of pure gold.