Money and markets

This page is further along your path. Read ahead if you’re curious; you can return when you reach this stage.

Gold and Marks are different

Gold is carried and saved with your character. Marks sit in the account ledger, where DFO can award them for witnessed activity and bounded gathering or loot finds. At the Bank of the Empire, you can exchange Marks for gold; the exchange goes one way. The source defines no gold-to-Marks conversion. The Marks service and the Bank both need a registered account.

The Bank pays less than a Mark's own yardstick: the record values a Mark at about 10 gold of play, while the Bank pays 8. That spread is the price of turning account currency into carryable gold, and the 300-Mark daily cap keeps it slow.

Different Marks sources have their own limits. Combat rewards share a daily account cap, and gather and loot finds each have separate daily bounds. See Caps and timers for the handbook's broader cap reference, and Making money for what pays.

Buy and sell on the Market

The Market handles listings and buy orders in Marks. You can list eligible materials or items; a local buyer receives a purchase immediately, while a buyer in another region pays courier costs and waits for delivery. The live board shows current offers; do not assume another player's asking price is a fixed value.

Rule	What it costs
Listing fee	1% of the listing's whole worth, rounded up, at least 1 Mark; burnt when you post, and not returned if you cancel
Sale tax	5% of the sale, rounded down
Seat Tithe	The holding player guild's rate, where a guild holds the seat: 0–10% at a Palace, 0–15% at a Crown, with a Market Hall raising the cap a point per tier
Courier	By the load: `ceil((units/20) × (1 + pixels/25))` Marks, at least 2; delivery takes 15 minutes plus a minute for every 10 pixels begun
Listing lifetime	72 hours, up to 30 live listings an account

The seller receives the price minus the tax and any Tithe. The tax is worked out on the running total of a listing, so selling a stack a unit at a time does not avoid it. There is no Tithe where no seat holds the board's bailiwick; the seat rules are on City control later.

Access requires a registered account and the Market, professions and Marks services to be open. Buy orders live 7 days, up to 20 an account.

Fill a Court writ

The Work tab offers Court writs for requested materials. Fill one by delivering the requested quantity from your Stores; the writ pays Marks based on the material's value and adds profession experience. You can complete up to 3 writs per UTC day. Gathering materials for a writ is one way to connect the Professions and economy systems.

Common mistakes

Forgetting the listing fee is burnt. Cancel a listing and the fee stays spent; the goods come back, the Mark does not.
Splitting a sale to dodge tax. The tax is charged on the running total, so unit-by-unit sales pay the same.
Assuming every board takes a Tithe. It applies only where a player guild holds the seat that covers the board.
Expecting to buy Marks with gold. The Bank exchanges one way only.

Sources & checked facts

src/net/realm/realmGoldLaw.js: character-save gold and Empire account region
src/net/marksLaw.js: MARKS_MAX, MARK_WORTH_GOLD, MARKS_BANK, MARKS_COMBAT, faucet and daily limit laws
server-account/src/marks.js: account-held Marks and service enforcement, Bank exchange
src/net/marketLaw.js: MARKET_LISTING_S, MARKET_LISTINGS_MAX, MARKET_ORDERS_MAX, MARKET_PRICE_MAX, MARKET_TAX_PCT, MARKET_TITHE_PCT, listingFee, saleTax, saleTaxOn, saleTithe, sellerGets, COURIER, courierFee, courierSeconds
src/net/townSeatLaw.js: TITHE_CAP (Palace 10, Crown 15), Market Hall's extra point
server-account/src/market.js: Market access requirements
src/net/professionLaw.js: Court writ pay and experience
src/net/festivalLaw.js, server-account/src/eg.js, src/systems/gate/gateSpoils.js: separate tokens and items
Research note: handbook/research/E2.md

Facts used on this page

Bank exchange gold per Mark: 8 gold
src/net/marksLaw.js · MARKS_BANK.goldPerMark
Marks bank exchange per day: 300 Marks
src/net/marksLaw.js · MARKS_BANK.perDay
Market listing lifetime: 72 hours
src/net/marketLaw.js · MARKET_LISTING_S
Maximum market listings: 30 listings
src/net/marketLaw.js · MARKET_LISTINGS_MAX
Court writs per day: 3 writs
src/net/professionLaw.js · COURT_WRITS_PER_DAY