Article Written: 11 April 1453
The "qors" currency was established by the Kingdom of the Great North as a way to standardize credit. In fact, the term "qor" is an acronym standing for "quantity of revenue," and was originally based on a standard unit of silver. However, it became a fiat currency by the middle of the eleventh century.
Combria: 1086-1184
With the establishment of the nation of Combria in 1086 came the establishment of the Combrian Qor currency. It was originally a direct exchange with the Great Northern Qor, matching the value exactly. But after about ten years, economic growth in Combria led to inflation, decreasing the value of the Combrian Qor gradually.
Such decrease in value entered a more rapid trend in the years of President Chadwick, as con artists and criminals began running amok and forming cartels that laundered money. This problem exploded in the years following Chadwick's departure in 1165.
It was when Jacob Henry became President of Combria that the issues surrounding the value of the Combrian Qor began to be addressed. By that time, it had decreased to one percent of what it was in 1086. President Henry's solution was to keep the currency system but to change the base unit of credit from one qor to one hectoqor, or 100 qors. He termed this officially the "hectoqor," but it was also referred to as the "merchant qor," later shortened to "marq."
Combria: 1184-1238
Shortly after becoming President, Jacob Henry enacted a law to establish 1.00 Combrian Marq per hour as the base pay of a starting laborer. However, this was not officially a minimum wage law. Under Combrian law, all official businesses were officially financed and established by government charters headed by appointed departments. However, there was no established minimum base pay increase. And the only entities to establish such increases were workers unions in various workplaces.
Another caveat was that there was permitted to be free-standing businesses established by capital from sources outside of the Combrian government, so long as these businesses paid "compensation taxes" to the Combrian government. These organizations were not bound by the laws governing charter contracts to pay a minimum base compensation to its workers, and were usually keen to convince those in "desperate demographics" to accept lower wages either through "golden life" propaganda or through coercive moves within local community politics.
Nevertheless, the economy grew between 1185 and 1200. And so wages and prices followed suit. By 1200, the average minimum pay with established businesses was 2.00 Combrian Qors per hour. Despite the economic hardships of the first two decades of the 1200s, the value of the Combrian Qor remained relatively stable. By 1231, minimum pay averages had risen to 3.00 qors per hour.
However, established businesses, bound to their contracts to establish minimum pay, produced employment positions that were rather competitive. Meanwhile, free-standing businesses were eager to step in and hire millions of Combrian workers for lower pay. This created a three-tiered Combrian social class structure, comprised of the notoriously wealthy presidential department heads at the top, the comfortably affluent workers of the established businesses, and the "scrap-workers" of the free-standing businesses.
Some free-standing businesses would be commissioned by the President Henry Administration to carry on certain projects adhering to temporary mutual contracts. Such a commission was granted to two business partners: Thomas Reyshack and James Shawtun. The commission came to be known as the Basin Project, which constructed what would become the Basin District and city of Retun. Reyshack and Shawtun were keen on providing establishment-standard pay to laborers for the Basin Project. However, they were convinced to sign into their commission contract a provision for their business to pay employment compensation to the Estate Department of the President Henry Administration. The Estate Department then decided to pay employees directly via planned lump sum payments.
The Department, during the Project, provided food, needs, and housing to the Basin Project laborers on a very minimal level as well as paid minimal living wages. However, the laborers were anticipating this, for they were promised a large sum of payment upon completion of the Project in five years time. Based on the notion that these laborers worked 10 hours a day, six days a week, and thirty weeks a year, the Department promised to pay these workers a total lump sum of "45000 hqs" and grant each worker a comfortable place of residence in the new Basin District with a lifetime retirement pension.
This was appealing to the laborers, and many of them committed to the Project despite the harsh conditions. In January 1236, the Project was complete, and laborers learned that their lump sum payments would be made in monthly installments beginning that year and going through the year of 1237.
These monthly installments, however, were quite small, amounting each to about 23.70 marqs. Furthermore, the houses provided were offered for sale at unaffordable prices, and subsequently became home to members of the middle and upper classes. Laborers, also experiencing harassment from some of the wealthier patrons, began filing collective petitions against the Estate Department, who responded with a statement that the payments would be adjusted after the last payment made in December 1237. This led to widespread disgruntlement among the laborers.
Thomas Reyshack and James Shawtun, after a falling-out with the Department over other business exploitations implemented within the bounds of the charter contract, rallied the unhappy laborers and began a collective movement. On 3 September 1237, an unusual darkfire event on the nearby peak Mount Carris prompted widespread panic in the Basin District and gave the Department an opportunity to falsely place blame for the darkfire incident on the two figures, leading an officer, claiming to have misheard orders, to shoot the two figures dead. Meanwhile, the laborers were forcibly divided by President Henry's dispatched forces into perimeters.
In January 1238, the Estate Department released a statement to the laborers, stating that the promised payment of "45000 hqs" was in reference to 45000 "house qors" another term for the original Combrian Qor, and not "hectoqors." In other words, laborers were being paid a total of 450 marqs for their five years of labor. This enraged the working class, who joined forces with loyal affluent figures opposed to President Henry's other oppressive policies and led the Basin District and its surrounding territories to gain independence from Combria, forming the Federal Estates of Retun.
By that point, 1.00 Remikran credit was worth 6.00 Combrian Merchant Qors. And after the war, when the new Republic of Retun established its official currency, the Retunian Qor, the Retunian Council set that new currency to equal 1.00 Remikran Credit.