Hello you lovely deviants,Some time a go, I did a poll about introducing a currency system that would essentially not allow you to hoard your wealth to quick or too soon. I tossed around the idea of of different currencies per Village, and by that I mean Region - so the 5 different affinity villages and regions surrounding those.The main reason is that, I don't want other regions or villages to feel more valuable or wealthy than the others. I understand this is just an inherit RPG design thing, in which later bits of gear or materials will cost more as you unlock more things in later areas - but I wanted to try and find a solution to this.And I think I finally have the idea - but your feedback, and questions are super important to me.First, this world would have a standard currency system - it is just that you would not partake in this. As the Mysterious Merchant would prefer something else in exchange for goods, "Monster Essence"So what is Monster Essence?You collect monster essence based on the region you are in - so if you are in the Ashenwood area, you would collect "Ashenwood Essence" as you slay enemies, or the Primrose Hollow region "Primrose Essence" from slain enemies. Keep in mind this mysterious merchant will appear in every region, it is the same merchant. But if you were to visit the Merchant in Primrose Hollow, they would have zero interest in the Ashenwood Essence , for reasons unknown to you, and reasons they care not to divulge. Ok, so does that mean when I get to a new area - the monster essence from other areas I have is worthless?Not quite, when you leave a region - the monster essence will lose some of its quality, and be converted into "Hollow Essence" as it no longer is surrounded by its matching affinity.Hollow essence will then slowly start to draw in the surrounding affinities characteristics, eventually turning into the regions corresponding essence. So think of it as a teething process when you go into a new area, if you had a lot of the other regions essence, that's fine, in time it will start to convert essence, so it will be useable.What I am thinking also, is that depending on how much of the current regions essence you have is what can affect the speed in which it converts. i.e if you have a higher concentration of the new regions essence on you, the hollow essence would convert faster. It would also be a gradual transfer not a lump sum - so like (using arbitrary numbers - you may have 500 hollow essence, and 200 region essence, after 5 minutes in a combat zone as that is where there would be a higher concentration of affinity energy, you may have 400 hollow, and 300 region because 100 converted) Does that make sense?The idea is that when you get to a new area, you may not just have an immediate advantage to just buy better things, you would need to engage with the enemies of the current area and be in that new area for a little bit to convert your wealth.I will also be adding caps to monster essence (with the hollow essence having a larger cap), so you may not be able to convert all your essence straight awayAnother important thing to note, regarding not making areas feeling like one is more valuable - the items in the stores are going to have comparable and relative prices. i.e a common item found in Primrose Hollow, or Ashenwood would cost a similar amount of monster essence, just different types of essence. And obtaining monster essence will be based on rarity of the enemy, not their level (experience points will be different) but the amount of essence will be comparable - making the shops and regions feel of equal value, not that one is better than another.What do you think of this idea, I would love to hear your feedback, concerns, questions etc.