Pruztian Five-Pence Piece (Wermspittle)

Blood, iron and compressed Red Weeds are all used in the manufacture of these coins. They carry a lingering, bitter taste that only a fool would ascribe to the strange crimson metal filaments derived from the noxious Red Weed alone. The iron is said to have been harvested from battlefields, but that may be a bit of poetic license. The sort soldiers are most susceptible to, and that the better officers tend to ignore. The blood has to come from somewhere, of course, but no one really knows whose it is that gets used. It's enough, for most, to know that somewhere, somehow, some one bled over these coins as they were minted. The fear, pain and suffering imprinted upon each coin is faintly palpable, even in broad daylight. Or so goes the idle talk of war-wounded veterans and deserters, and others.

Brutal in its clean lines and efficient design, the Five-Pence piece carries none of the usual trivial and redundant markings of lesser coinage. No extraneous stampings or frilly, pointless imprints. No denomination is noted as none is needed. The only decoration, aside from a slight beveling of the edges, is the impression of a single eye gazing sullenly -- or perhaps somberly? -- from the center of what is presumed to be the front or face of the coin. This image is seared into the coin by a process involving Black Smoke and is completely indelible. Old soldiers claim it is the same process used in preparing the rubberized-leather Trench-Armor issued to the front line troops at Kalinigrav. Seeing as the process is considered a State Secret in Pruztia, no one knows if this is true or not. The soldiers don't much care.

Scratch it all you want, you cannot remove or deface that Eye that continually stares at you, considering, calculating, judging. The Eye depicted on the face of the Five-Pence has intrigued numismatists and scholars ever since it first appeared less than a decade ago. Whether it is meant to be the sign of some deity, Sorrow or Fate or Necessity Herself perhaps, or some representation of a more worldly power such as the Archduke, or perhaps the Hierarch if you listen to the muttered imprecations of the downtrodden refugees fleeing the out-lying Pruztian territories, no one really knows for certain. Ever since the assassination of the Minister of the Treasury there have been no new coins minted and no answers forthcoming from Pruztia in regards to such idle speculation.

Each Five-Pence carried into battle absorbs a tiny bit of the fear and pain experienced in battle. Exposed to enough such impressions, a single coin will sometimes take on a very rigid, mightily proper Pruztian attitude and bolster the courage of the one carrying it, granting them a +1 on their Saves versus Fear and related effects. Some coins, it is alleged, have seen so much bloodshed and misery in the field that they make those who carry them practically fearless. Such coins are indeed much sought after by many diverse hands...