Fictional currency
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Fictional currency is currency in works of fiction. It is often invented, bearing little or no resemblance to any modern or historic currency. This is a necessary plot device, in order to increment the completeness of the environment, and at the same time dissociate it from any known economy on earth. A very common type, especially in science fiction, is credits. This is easily recognizable as money, and different from all earthly currency. The use of credits may serve to prevent the reader from inferring a lot of significance to it, e.g. by maintaining lack of depth that may be inherent to a short story, or simply to prevent it from overshadowing more important themes. However, this term would be inappropriate for a work set in a more technologically primitive environment, such as a medieval fantasy novel. Generic money in this genre is typically constructed from one or more precious or semiprecious metals, such as copper, silver, gold, electrum, or even platinum, followed by coins or pieces.
On the other hand, currency frequently serves as another vehicle to flesh out a story. Examples include:
- Altairian dollars from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (in the TV series the currency symbol is a lower case "a" with a line through it).
- Ankh-Morpork dollars (AM$) and pence from Discworld novels.
- Aurics in the Domination of the Draka.
- Beri (Berries) from the anime One Piece.
- Clams from The Flintstones and B.C..
- CBills (also ComStar credits) from the BattleTech Sci-Fi Universe.
- Credits (also Galactic credits) from Doctor Who (in one serial the currency symbol is a "Z" with a line through it).
- Credits (dataries) from the Star Wars universe.
- Credits from the Star Trek universe, Batman Beyond, Babylon 5 and multiple other sources.
- Crabs (Credits Absolute) from the Nyrond universe.
- Creds from Judge Dredd.
- Crescents in the nation of Calormen in C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia book series.
- Cubits from Battlestar Galactica.
- Dollarpounds ($£) and pennycents (p¢) from Red Dwarf.
- $$ or Double Dollars from Trigun.
- Energy, mentioned as a world currency in a "future timeline" by Arthur C. Clarke.
- Flanian pobble bead from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Not an especially useful currency as it can only be exchanged for other Flanian pobble beads.
- Fretzers from Dr Trifulgas: A Fantastic Tale by Jules Verne.
- Galleons, sickles, and knuts from the Harry Potter series.
- Grotzits in the Doctor Who serials The Mysterious Planet and Dragonfire.
- Hytes and Kules, believed to be the currency of the Riah colonies, from Gundam 0080.
- Jan-jan from the movie A Good Man in Africa.
- Kalganids from Second Foundation by Isaac Asimov.
- Kongbucks in Snow Crash. Also the Hong Kong Dollar, the hard currency used in Luna in The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein.
- Latinum slips, strips and bars used by Ferengi in the Star Trek universe.
- Marks from Pern. The Mark is also the currency of the planet Barrayar in the Vorkosigan Saga.
- Monies from Invader Zim.
- New Yen from William Gibson's Sprawl stories.
- Nick, from the Left Behind series.
- Ningi, a triangular rubber coin six thousand eight hundred miles along each side, from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. It is valued at the rate of eight Ningis to one Triganic Pu. No one has ever owned a Pu. The inspiration for this may have been the Rai stones of the island of Yap.
- Piastras were used in many of the comics of Spanish Editorial Bruguera during the Franco era. Using an undetermined foreign currency instead of pesetas allowed more leeway against the censorship..
- Quatloos from Star Trek.
- Rasbukniks, currency of Lower Slobbovia in Li'l Abner, had literally no value.
- Replicator rations are used as currency (mostly by Tom Paris) in .
- Sens in Fullmetal Alchemist (technically not fictional, the sen being a former subdivision of the yen)
- Solari from the Dune universe.
- Space bucks in Spaceballs.
- Stellars and minims from Citizen of the Galaxy.
- SVUs (Standard Value Units) from The Demon Princes.
- Whuffie, a reputation-based currency from Cory Doctorow's novel Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom.
- Widgets, from Lego's Bionicle franchise by the Matoran of Metru Nui/Mata Nui though introduced relatively recently in the timeline.
- Wong, basic currency in the universe of the anime series Outlaw Star.
- Woolongs (₩) used in the anime Cowboy Bebop.
- Zeni, currency in the Dragon Ball universe.
Game Currency
- Bell from Animal Crossing and GiFTPiA.
- Bottle caps from Fallout.
- Buckazoids from Space Quest.
- Coins from the Mario video game series.
- Dagols from Radiata Stories.
- Energy, used in the Alpha Centauri computer game.
- Filari from Ultima VII Part Two: Serpent Isle.
- Fol, used in the Star Ocean series.
- G or GP, currency used in many computer role-playing games. Likely an acronym for Gold Pieces.
- Gald from Tales of Symphonia and the various other Namco Tales series games.
- Gella from the Wild Arms series.
- Gil from some games in the Final Fantasy series.
- Guilders from Ultima VII Part Two: Serpent Isle (a real currency formerly bore this name).
- Influence and Infamy, from City of Heroes and City of Villains, respectively.
- Inter Stellar Kredits (ISK) from EVE Online.
- Lucre from the Seiken Densetsu series.
- Linden Dollars (Represented commonly as L$) from Second Life.
- Meat from Kingdom of Loathing, in the form of slabs "dropped" by monsters.
- Meseta from the Phantasy Star series.
- Mesos from MapleStory.
- Monetari from Ultima VII Part Two: Serpent Isle.
- Moolah in the Oddworld series and Chibi-Robo!.
- Munny from Kingdom Hearts.
- Neopoints, from the Neopets web site.
- Nanites from System Shock 2.
- NuYen, in the Shadowrun RPG.
- Obsidian coins from Ultima VIII.
- Pang, from Pangya or Albatross18
- Peseta from ''Resident Evil 4
P
--> (PokéDollar) from the Pokémon series.
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