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:
- Ankh-Morpork dollars from Discworld
- Aurics in the Domination of the Draka
- Bell from Animal Crossing and GiFTPiA
- Beri (Berries) from the anime One Piece
- Bottle caps from Fallout
- Buckazoids from Space Quest
- Clams from The Flintstones and B.C.
- Coins from the Mario video game series
- Credits from Doctor Who's Satellite Five.
- Credits from the Star Wars universe
- Credits from the Star Trek universe
- 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
- Dollarpounds and pennycents from Red Dwarf
- $$ or Double Dollars from Trigun
- Energy, used in the Alpha Centauri computer game and mentioned as a world currency in a "future timeline" by Arthur C. Clarke
- Filari from Ultima VII Part Two: Serpent Isle
- G or GP, currency used in some computer role-playing games
- Galleons, sickles, and knuts from the Harry Potter series
- Gella from the Wild ARMs series
- Gil from the Final Fantasy series
- Guilders from Ultima VII Part Two: Serpent Isle (a real currency formerly bore this name)
- Hytes and Kules, believed to be the currency of the Riah colonies, from Gundam 0080
- Inter Stellar Kredits (ISK) from EVE Online
- Kongbucks in Snow Crash
- Latinum from the Star Trek universe
- Marks from Pern
- Monetari from Ultima VII Part Two: Serpent Isle
- Monies from Invader Zim
- Neopoints, from the Neopets web site.
- Obsidian coins from Ultima VIII
Pfrom the Pokémon series- Pokos from the Pikmin series
- Quatloos from Star Trek
- Rasbukniks, currency of Lower Slobbovia in Li'l Abner, had literally no value
- Rings, from the Sonic the Hedgehog video game series. These did not have actual money value until Sonic Adventure, where they could be used to buy items for your Chao.
- Rupees from the Legend of Zelda universe. A real currency also bears this name.
- Simoleons from Sim City, The Sims and other similar computer games
- Solari from the Dune universe
- Sovereigns from Knights of Xentar
- Space bucks in Spaceballs
- Tiberium, a disruptive resource that served as currency in the video game Command & Conquer
- Whuffie, a reputation-based currency from Cory Doctorow's novel Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom
- Woolongs used in the anime Cowboy Bebop
- Zeni, currency in the Dragon Ball universe
- Zenny, used in certain Capcom video games such as Megaman Legends
- Zorkmids from the Zork series of interactive fiction; also used in NetHack