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This article or section contains lore-related information. Though not strictly necessary for playing the game, you are encouraged to read this section if you wish to have a better understanding of the game's universe.

The Parallar (always capitalized, pronounced para-LAR; Symbol: , may also be abbreviated P$) is the currency of the Mazes.

The most notable fact about the Parallar is the complete absence of paper money or banknotes, being instead entirely denominated in 12 types of coins, ranging in value from 0.05 to 500.

One hundredth of a Parallar is officially known as a Paracent, though it's most commonly shortened to simply a cent. No single coin with a value of 0.01 exists; the smallest denomination available is the Nickel coin, worth 5 Paracents. As such, prices are usually rounded to the nearest five cents.

History and naming

The use of coinage as currency in the Mazes dates as far back as Era 3. The Old Tongue word for "coins" or "currency" was Paramil, which was derived from Param, a noun which meant "value", in the monetary sense, and Il, a noun which meant "metal". Thus, Paramil could be transliterated to "valuable metal". At the time, there were only four types of coins; copper (Gusil, translit. "red metal"), silver (Silil, translit. "silver(-colored) metal"), gold (Limil, translit. "golden(-colored) metal"), and platinum (Zeril, translit. "white metal").

During Era 5, with the introduction of the modern languages, such as Common and Youkai, currency was briefly known as the Para-Dollar; a fusion of "Param" and the word "Dollar", which was invented by Jonas Dolar in E5-123, when he founded the Neo Khazrun bank. After his death in E5-157, the name Para-Dollar was shortened to Parallar, and remained in use ever since.

As time passed and technological levels increased, metallurgical advances made it possible to work with a wider range of materials; namely, alloys, which made it possible to have many different intermediate denominations between the four original coin types. Eight new coin types, most of which were made out of various alloys, were introduced during Era 6. The very first brass coin was minted on Nonama 9, E6-99 (09/09/99 on calendars at the time), using cartridge brass as the base material. See this section for the full story.

Coin design

As listed on this page, there are 12 types of coins, each made out of a different material and using different dimensions. Each is assigned an official name, a two-letter code used as an abbreviation, a value, as well as a number of unofficial names or popular nicknames.

All coins share the following properties:

• Obverse: A number representing the coin's value, from 0.05 to 500
• Reverse: The rifle-and-sword logo (representing the Mazes), the words opum libertas (Old Tongue motto which means "In wealth is freedom"), and a seven-character manufacturing code, formatted AAA-BBBB-C. AAA is a hexadecimal code referring to the date of manufacture (ranging from 001 to 16D; the latter being the hexadecimal code for 365, or the last day of the year), BBBB is another hexadecimal code referring to the year of manufacture, and C is a single hexadecimal character referring to coin type; each coin type is assigned one character, ranging from 1 to C.
  • The manufacturing code of a copper coin minted on Nonama 28, year 684 (the 271th day of the 684th year) would therefore be 10F-02AC-6.

Besides these common properties, each coin is different and distinctive.

Table of coin properties

Coin type	Code	Value in	Color	Material	Diameter (mm)	Thickness (mm)	Mass (grams)
Nickel	Ni	0.05	● Dark gray	Nickel (100%)	15.50	1.00	1.6836
Aluminium	Al	0.10	● Light gray	Aluminium (100%)	17.78	1.50	1.0044
Cupronickel	Cn	0.50	● Light yellow	Cupronickel (70% copper, 30% nickel)	16.12	1.25	1.80
Brass	Br	1.00	● Brass yellow	C260 cartridge brass (70% copper, 30% zinc)	17.45	2.15	4.386
Steel	St	2.00	● Reddish-gray	Mild steel (Steel with ~0.25% carbon content)	20.80	2.50	6.668
Copper	Cp	5.00	● Copper	Copper (100%)	27.00	3.25	16.67
Gray copper	Gc	10.00	● Dark copper	Gray copper (40% silver, 60% copper)	28.69	3.25	20.00
Silver	Si	25.00	● Silver	Fine silver (100%, .999 grade)
Electrum	El	50.00	● Greenish-gold
Gold	Au	100.00	● Gold
White gold	Wg	250.00	● Whitish gold
Platinum	Pt	500.00	● Platinum
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Nickel coins

Nickel coins are the smallest available denomination available in the Mazes, being worth 0.05.

They are made entirely out of nickel, and weigh roughly 1.68 grams, or just under 26 grains.

These coins have the distinction of having a sufficiently small diameter to fit into a 12 gauge or 12 gauge CAWS shell, which has led to the invention of coin shot.

Common nicknames: Nick, Nicky / Nickie

Aluminium coins

Aluminium coins are the second smallest denomination available in the Mazes, being worth 0.10.

They are made entirely of aluminium, and because of its nominal mass of almost exactly 1 gram, such coins are sometimes used as weighing scale weights.

Common nicknames for these coins: Al, Albert, Dime

Cupronickel coins

Cupronickel coins are the third smallest denomination available in the Mazes, being worth 0.50.

They are made out of cupronickel alloy, which is 70% copper and 30% nickel. One popular nickname for this type of coin is Cunny; which was presumably invented by putting together the chemical abbreviations for copper and nickel: Cu and Ni. As the term can be considered mildly vulgar, the abbreviation Cn, or the alternative name Half-buck may be preferred.

Brass coins

Brass coins are the most common type of coin in the Mazes, with the symbolic value of 1.

Brass coins were the first of the new types of coins invented in Era 6, at a time of need for smaller, less valuable denominations than copper. They are notable for being made out of C260 or cartridge brass, which is the exact same material used to make cartridge casings.

In early Era 6, during the ninth decade of the era (E6-90 to E6-99), the Mazes were experiencing a copper shortage; most of it was used for industrial applications, such as the copper jacketing used in bullets, leaving very little for other applications. As such, minting of new copper coins was severely slowed down, resulting in shortages of copper coins. Since the next highest coin denomination was silver coins, which was worth five times as much as copper, it made smaller, everyday transactions more difficult.

The story of how brass coins came to be is thought to have originated in the military town of Camp Baxter, where it was a common partice to cut the heads off of spent cartridge cases and use the resulting brass discs as scrips, using the headstamps and the different sizes as currency for trading various commodities, such as rations, cigarettes, or medical supplies. Visitors from other towns noticed that the local stores seemed to accept both real coins and brass scrips, and although the exact conversion ratio was lost to time, it was commonly understood that a single case head may have had a value ranging between 25 cents and 1 Parallar, depending on the caliber.

A visiting engineer, noticing the practice, asked the local captain what they did with the cut brass, since they were now useless brass tubes that could not be used for handloading. The officer replied that they stockpiled the brass, in the hopes of selling it as scrap brass for melting, and acquiring money with which to trade the scrips for, "so that I can finally pay my men their salary," in his own words.

As it turned out, the visiting engineer submitted a proposal to the Engineering Corps to create new currency denominations and standardize the process he witnessed at Camp Baxter, namely through the creation of brass coins. His proposal was accepted, and he was transferred to the secret Minting Facility, where he oversaw the minting of the first brass coins. The very first brass coins were minted on Nonama 9, E6-99, and legend says that they were made by melting spent 9x19mm Parabellum casings. In the months that followed, new denominations using other materials were soon created, thus creating the 12-coin denomination system that is still used to this day.

Steel coins

Steel coins are worth 2, and were invented shortly after brass coins.

Steel coins are made out of stamped mild steel.

Common nicknames: Steve, Deuce, Dub or Double

Copper coins

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Gray copper coins

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Silver coins

Silver coins are worth 25. They are one of the historical four coin types, with the second lowest value of the four.

Historically, silver and silver coins were known as Silil in the Old Tongue.

They are made out of fine silver, with a purity of 99.9% (.999 grade).

Other common nicknames: Silvia, (rarely) Quarter-gold

Electrum coins

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Gold coins

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White gold coins

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Platinum coins

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