Jade (AOS)

Jade is the most common of the Five Magical Materials, attuned to the Terrestrial Exalted, as well as the currency of the Realm.

As Currency

The Realm employs white jade as a currency, with thousands of pounds of it stored in its treasury. Jade currency is divided into talents, bars, minae, shekels, and obols, thought the larger denominations are more often used as accounting units rather than minted currency. A talent is a slab of jade weighing 68 pounds; there are eight bars to a talent, eight minae to a bar, two shekels to each mina and eight obols to the shekel. Obols can also be quartered to produce bits, although this is practice has been outlawed since RY 465.

The carving process produces large amounts of jade dust, which is useful in creating jade-steel alloy. It also means that each denomination is worth slightly more than its component parts — a talent could be cut down into 1,028 obols, but by weight it is worth 1,536 obols, with the difference lost in dust.

In RY 185, fiat currency worth a fraction of an obol was added to the monetary system for use by the peasantry of the Blessed Isle. This "jade scrip" is backed by the Empress's Private Purse rather than the Treasury, and serves several purposes. It keeps jade out of the hands of the peasantry, and provides more convenient units for small, everyday transactions. It also controls what peasants can and cannot buy — weapons, for instance, can never be purchased using scrip.[1]

Because of jade's magical properties, jade currency comes with certain complications. Dragon-Blooded can track it by its resonance, spirits are drawn to it, and its value as a raw material limits the amount put into circulation as coinage. For this reason, the Guild has long advocated for a silver standard, although this has its own limits: mundane silver, unlike jade, is vulnerable to magical manipulation, and no merchant wants to see their treasury transmuted into lead by the whims of a sorcerer or Exalt.[2] Jade also has properties that strengthen the fabric of Creation, which silver lacks.[3]

As a magical material

Jade is exceptionally hard and durable, and can be carved directly into various wonders or alloyed with steel to create a more malleable material suitable for arms and armor. The five colors of jade correspond to the five elements, which tend to be found in environments where that element predominates.

  • White jade - Earth - mountains.
  • Green jade - Wood - forests
  • Red jade - Fire - volcanoes and deserts
  • Black jade - Water - deep water
  • Blue jade - Air - high altitudes or intense cold.

The color of jade used in an artifact depends on its purpose. The Dragon-blooded use artifact armor and weapons crafted from the color that corresponds to their elemental Aspect; the jade grants the alloy a brilliant color. Other types of artifacts use the color of jade that corresponds to the effects they are intended to achieve. Mechanically, if the artifact's power can be linked to a specific Ability or Charm, it should use the jade color corresponding to the Aspect for which that Ability is favored — an artifact meant to make the user more stealthy would use blue jade, for example.[4][5]

Other Types of Jade

A few first edition sourcebooks contain references to yellow jade; this was originally intended to be the color of Earth-aspected jade, and these mentions slipped past the editors and made it into publication. In Second Edition, Books of Sorcery Vol. 3: Oadenol's Codex refers to yellow jade as a material only created by mistake, as a wink at this history. However, Manual of Exalted Power: Infernals contains several references to yellow jade, and some fans have suggested it corresponds to the Malfean element vitriol.

Underworld jade may or may not be distinct from the jade in Creation. It is typically described as white or black, although there are references to "bruise-hued"[6] and "iridescent"[7] Underworld jade as well. As the Underworld does not have elements or Elemental Poles comparable to the ones in Creation, such jade would necessarily have different properties.

References

  1. ↑ Exalted: Exalted Second Edition, p. 356-359
  2. ↑ Exalted: Masters of Jade, p. 9
  3. ↑ Exalted: Masters of Jade, p. 42
  4. ↑ Exalted: Books of Sorcery Vol. 3: Oadenol's Codex
  5. ↑ Exalted: Arms of the Chosen
  6. ↑ Exalted: Compass of Celestial Directions Vol. 4: The Underworld, p. 143
  7. ↑ Exalted: Manual of Exalted Power: Abyssals, p. 51
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