The "coin" of the Celestial Plane's economy is generally taken
to be Essence. This is fine and good, and Marc, as an eminently
practical Archangel, usually goes along with this. But remember
that Marc invented the idea of money, and he has reasons for
wanting to apply it to the Celestial Plane, too.
So Marc issues and backs a currency. The basic unit is called
the "talent," on the rare occasions when it's discussed on the
Corporeal Plane. The name was first applied in the eastern
Mediterranean during the Hellenistic period. For centuries,
a "talent" was a unit of weight in that area, and a talent of
gold or silver was a common unit of money -- well, commonly
referred to; since a talent is several pounds, it's not a common
amount of money to encounter.
The Celestial Talent is likewise a pretty formidable unit.
It's worth one character point. This means Marc is able to
put a monetary value on Songs, relics, reliquaries, geases,
and of course on demons and angels.
The reaction of several Archangels, when they first heard of the idea,
and heard the price of a new-minted reliever, was (in the
most ineffable and celestially dignified way, of course), "Eep!"
Jean was not much moved; Michael laughed. But Eli and Dominic,
in a biut of cosmic irony, found themselves on the same side of
the issue, sharing a feeling of deep distaste.
Mammon, of course, tried to copy the idea and issue infernal
currency. In fact, he's tried several times, but each currency
winds up devaluing to less than the essence it's printed on, due
to logarithmic inflation, after a few months or years. As a result,
talents circulate briskly in Hell.
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