" But that was before everything really started going to sh&t. And it went sh&t, you see, because Nuryevens have these wonderful coins. And the great thing about coins is that they’re imaginary. You laugh, but it's true!
If you take out one bit of silver and I say, this is worth one good horse, then you have to consent to be part of my hallucination. And then we have to get a bunch of other people on board with it until we are all collectively hallucinating that this little bit of metal is worth one good horse, or three goats … or however many bushels of wheat. You get the picture. Coins are imaginary, the metal that makes them up is real, but the magic that makes them coins instead of metal with pictures on, that's all in our heads. And it's a damn painful thing to wake up to, you know? "

― Alexandra Rowland , A Conspiracy of Truths (A Conspiracy of Truths, #1)