I am currently developing a world with a hard magic system based entirely on manipulating the natural order of reality in accordance with physical possibility. As long as the ultimate end-state of a magical act results in a universe that continues to follow physical law, and the intermediate states are well-defined enough to be abstractly formalized, the only barrier to magic is how much energy is expended in the process.
Naturally, simple alchemical processes like the spontaneous synthesis and transmutation of matter is possible in this system, so material currency, especially metal coins, wouldn't be impossible to create from scrap material to a sufficiently powerful mage. The shape and design of such coins could also be flawlessly reproduced for someone who has dedicated enough effort into analyzing, memorizing, and codifying the design as an arcane formula.
In such a world, I am trying to come up with either a mechanism, or an explantation for the inherent inefficiency of counterfeiting physical currency (crypto-currency would be a viable option were it not for a pre-industrial technological level in the particular setting I am considering this issue).
A couple of thoughts I had already considered:
- Natural law would make transmutation above the Iron Peak prohibitive in terms of energy required, especially for Gold and Platinum
- The amount of magical ability, investment of effort, and consumption of magical energy required to flawlessly reproduce a single coin of the highest denomination would be far less profitable than participating in the economy legitimately, or using telekinesis to pick pockets
One final option that I considered briefly and would want to use only as a fallback in case the other, more natural solutions weren't actually viable, would be a system wherein all legal coins would all bear a permanent and irreproducible (by external parties) enchantment [as in the system, existentially unique arcana is possible to achieve]. I would much rather resort to one of the two above ideas, since those solve the issue far more cleanly.
I am looking for any other suggestions, or for any more thorough treatments of the solutions I proposed. The system as it is is rather intense and would be difficult to provide more information on without muddying the issue, but I can provide any relevant details to clarify should the need arise. I would also like this post to be more generally applicable to systems other than my own, so leaving out the specifics helps keep it general.
