Soul Coins & Divine Economy (Deities)

This is the player/GM-facing reference for how soul coins work for the gods of Dort.

If you’re looking for the infernal, contract-currency version used by devils, see the devils’ write-up (soul coins as hell-currency). This document focuses on divine use: how faith becomes power, how gods bargain, and what it means in play.

What a “soul coin” is (divine meaning)

When a mortal life ends, what they believed in and practiced doesn’t just become a philosophy—it becomes weight.

A soul coin is a soul transformed into a physical token in the divine realms:

Obverse: the mortal’s name and face.
Reverse: a symbol that reflects the soul’s relationship to a patron power (devotion, vows kept, domain-alignment, etc.).
Weight: how deep the devotion/alignment was.
- Many light coins = broad, shallow practice.
- Fewer heavy coins = fewer followers, but intense and reliable devotion.

A god’s strength is tied to:

how many coins they hold, and
how heavy those coins are.

The soul pipeline (GM overview)

A simple model you can use at the table:

Life (belief + behavior)
Death
Sorting / claim-pressure (multiple powers have incentives)
Arrival at a destination realm (divine territory, infernal claim, Godless, etc.)
Transmutation into a coin (for those claimed by a god—or minted under infernal terms)

The important play consequence: religion is geopolitics, because coin is territory and territory is power.

How gods “earn” coins

Gods do not just gain coins from prayers. The coins that matter come from lived practice.

Common coin-generators (varies by deity):

Ritual observance (consistent, culturally reinforced practice)
Domain-aligned behavior (e.g., justice enacted for a law god; honest trade for a commerce god)
Institutions (temples, guilds, schools, funerary orders, courts)
Life-shaping commitments (oaths, vows, lifestyles that are hard to fake)

This is why deity pages include “How X gains soul coins”: that’s the god’s real power source.

Trading coins (divine diplomacy)

Gods can trade soul coins. This is rare, politically sensitive, and usually limited to light coins.

Typical trade patterns:

Cultural practitioners are tradeable. (They observed the forms; the devotion is real but not exclusive.)
Fervent devotees are usually not tradeable. Their coins are too heavy and too identity-bound.
Some deities treat certain coins as non-transferable (e.g., devotion tied to ancestry, species, or a specific covenant).

In-world implication: divine alliances can be real and practical, but they’re also transactional.

Burning coins (desperation power)

A god can burn a soul coin for an immediate surge of power.

This is always a big deal.

GM-facing consequences you can use:

It’s a strategic resource: a god does it when they must.
It’s a moral scar: the soul is torn out of whatever “rest” it had.
It creates debt and backlash: other gods notice; priests notice; rival powers exploit the weakness.

Most faiths teach that burning coins is taboo except in existential crisis.

Infernal competition (why devils care)

Devils and Tempters treat souls as an acquisition channel. Their goal is to create claim-conditions (contracts, corrupt bargains, coercive vows) that mint or secure soul-coins under infernal terms.

That means every faith eventually develops some version of:

anti-contract taboos,
confession / absolution mechanics,
oath-interpretation law,
“how to spot a Tempter” folklore.

How to use this at the table (quick tools)

Player-facing tells

Heavy coin behavior looks like: consistency under pressure, not performative prayer.
Light coin behavior looks like: custom without commitment.

GM-facing levers

When a deity is weak: shrines are neglected, clergy are thin, miracles are rare, doctrine turns defensive.
When a deity is strong: institutions expand, holy days become civic events, rival faiths feel pressure.

5 questions every deity page answers (or should)

Acquisition: How does this god generate coin?
Retention: How do they keep coins heavy?
Defense: How do they resist infernal claims?
Spending: What do they spend/burn coins on?
Diplomacy: Who do they trade with, and why?