Aurum

"Aurum makes the world go round. The more you have, the faster it spins."

- Head Councilor Rho Cho

The Xai Aurum, simply known as aurum, and abbreviated as ∇, is the official currency used by the many worlds of the Xai Ascendancy, as well as the nations under the subjugation of the Xai. The aurum was created by the Ascendancy as the sole currency of Xyon in 1 AXU following its formation as the sole government of the planet. The aurum was latter backed by the banking centers on Jarra Dal, which ensured its stability as a major currency following Xyon's entrance into space colonization. Because of the vast wealth of the Xai and their undisputed influence across the known galaxy, the aurum is used by virtually every major space-faring civilization encountered by the Xai, with the exception of the Izanagi, who use the aurum as a trade currency, while maintaining the usage of their native mon.

History
Aurum has long been used by the Xai as a method of payment when trading or dealing with other Xai for wares, equipment, and materiale. Its initial origins can be traced back to the ancient city of Oxida Nova, where so many other major aspects of modern Xai society had their roots. Aurum, originally small, geometric gold coins, were used in place of bartering, which was phased out of rapidly growing urban life, and shifted into the countryside. This took place very early on in Xai history, a strong testament to their species rapid societal development. The Dark Ages of Xyon saw the development of aurum transition from gold to sardonikium coins with nullium centers as new form of the currency. These coins were considered valuable as neither nullium nor sardonikium had reached the vast levels of usage they attained by the modern era, and were thus considered more precious than even gold.

Following the formation of the Xai Ascendancy, aurum based on nullium and sardonikium began too fade as worthless as counterfeiting by Iconian profiteers arose. They were chipping away pieces of buildings and homes, and coining their own aurum, gaining monetary wealth overnight. To prevent this criminal activity from debasing the value of the aurum, Manawaki the Great, leader of the Ascendancy at the time, ordered the revaluation of the aurum in 395 AXU. This transformed the aurum once again, though this time it turned the aurum into a digital form of currency. As the growth of the Xai civilization saw them expand across the stars, new sources of wealth began to usurp the position of the two precious materials used by the Xai as standards of wealth. Thus, Manawaki's order came as a good time, for it prevented the value of the aurum from crashing and bankrupting the Xai nation.

By the year 2482 AXU, the aurum has grown to symbolize the wealth and power of the Xai Ascendancy. Each and every world under the control of the Xai use aurum as their primary currency. On worlds were aurum are not regularly used, such as Junction and Elysium, where Elysian banking still reigns tenuously, the aurum is used as the official backing of the Elysian currencies. Precious metals, resources, and trade goods still back the aurum, though the fact that the aurum outweighs most of the goods produced by the Xai means that at many times the aurum is not fully guaranteed. Thus, the great banking houses of Jarra Dal used their economic dealings to ensure the public's fate in the aurum as an infallible form of legal transactions are protected, though this too means that the aurum is most oftenly backed by the fate of the Xai instead of the wealth they produce.

Forms
Aurum comes in a number of shapes and sizes, as well as in different forms of transaction. The most common form of the aurum is the thin black sardonikium card, which is interlaced with nullium and filled with a thin sheet of nishatium. This are cards hold electronic information which contains the details of the holder's banking account. Each is issued to a Xai upon birth, but only given once the Xai reaches adulthood, or an age upon which the parents fill it prudent to give the Xai his or her card. They are gene-coded, meaning that only the person it was issued to may use it. Others attempting to do the same will be warned of the matter, or if it has happened in the past, apprehended by the authorities for attempted theft. These cards are often issued on the core worlds of the Ascendancy, where the more metropolitan and technologically advanced Xai reside, and where electronic transactions are more common.

In the colonies, thin sardonikium coins with a pressurized piece of solid nishatium in the center and thin black nullisheet banknotes are used. The coins themselves are geometric in design, coming in different types of polygonal shapes and sizes according to their worth. The nullisheet banknotes bear the banknote's worth, place of printing, the name of the Ministry of the Treasury head at the time, and the face of one of Xai'athus' foremost Xai on it and a place of importance on the back. These are easier to procure given the lack the facilities to produce the sardonikium e-cards from the core, though they are still quiet easy to find in the colonies. Given the more practical uses of the currency in the often hostile and rustic colonies, having hard money on demand is often more appealing to buyers and traders than electronic money that has little immediate value to the more practical Xai outside the core worlds.