Imperial Currency:

The official currency of the Imperium is the tessel, created by Imperator Molvano Calabactix to serve as a monetary system easily introduced to worlds of varying technology levels that the Imperium might want to annex. A silver-nickel alloy serves as the standard for the tessel, which is typically arch-shaped with a hole through the middle, permitting stringing and easy storage. Though tessels are often brightly colored in an attempt to increase their appeal to the "savage and ill-disciplined races" (Molvano's own term), they all bear the same design, based on denomination.

Tessels are available in denominations of one, three, four, six, twelve, 36, 144, and 1728, though the three-tessel piece rarely sees use and there has been consistent demand for a 72- and 288-tessel coin. The lesser denomination of the tessel is called the fath, which is 1/144 of a tessel and, since it is so valueless, is rarely used.

However, due to an attempt by Imperatrix Shrai Bolingorendas to integrate the Imperium's many most distant worlds, fractional coinage based on the preferred number systems of many colony worlds (base-10, base-8, base-16) etc. have become common. Since these coins, collective called outers, are based on lesser fractions of a tessel (1/10, 1/8, 1/16) and thus more useful as small change, in addition to their increased value on their native planet, they have become increasingly common for travelers and the poor.