-920 to 1000 CE-

Over the past 250 years, gold-laden altin rocks from the mines of the Altin Tepelir had begun to be used as currency in the active trade between Ionia and the Southern Cavale. By 920 CE, altin stones had become the most common item of exchange used by Southern Cavale merchants in trade with their Ionian counterparts.

However, the exchange of altin for other goods had always been in a gray area of legality, unsupervised by the leaders of the two nations. This meant that none of the profits rung up by the altin traders benefited their nations' governments. Another ongoing problem was the continued disputes regarding the value of altin between merchants, which sometimes even turned deadly.

At the same time, the priesthood that had arisen in the city of Guneyorman as conduits and interpreters between the spirits and the populace began to smelt coins with their logo on them out of gold pieces. These amulets were said to be mystical artifacts, which could protect whoever wore them (Note: the coins have no mystic powers). Even the Great Chief herself wore one.

Previous Great Chiefs had no knowledge of the gray-area altin trade, as their advisors were in on the deception and made part of the profits for themselves. In the summer of 920 CE, the Great Chief at the time finally discovered the scale of the altin trade. Following this, she commenced a crackdown on the mines of the Altin Tepelir.

By this process of control, the Southern Cavale government gained control over the continued flow of altin. The remaining government members including the Great Chief then hit upon an idea of how to maintain trade while keeping the altin stockpiles under government control. The smelters of Guneyorman would create coins using the altin, to be stamped with the Southern Cavale logo. Trade between the merchants of the Southern Cavale and Ionian nations would then be tracked using these coins, with a portion of the profits made by the Cavale merchants to be repaid to the government as a tax. Additionally, setting a universally-ascribed value to each coin would also solve the problem of value-related disputes between merchants.

Forty years later, the system of altin coinage had largely achieved its goals. However, the supply of new altin had started to run low, and the altin coins had proved to be too valuable for utility in many of the exchanges conducted by altin-trading merchants. A solution came in the form of alloys with the abundant supply of gumus (or silver) to be found in the altin mines, now controlled by the government. This alloy came to be called electrum, and small pieces proved their utility in low-value transactions. Finally, with all issues of supply and value mooted, the Southern Cavale coinage system spread to national use beyond the altin and gumus trade by 1000 CE.