pegshas

Pegshas is a fictional term used in worldbuilding and speculative fiction to describe a class of modular, peg-based tokens employed to encode social information within a community. In imagined cultures, pegshas function as portable markers that can be added to or rearranged on a cord, board, or rack to signal favors performed, debts owed, or permissions granted.

Construction and form: A pegsha is typically small, 1–4 cm in diameter, and made of wood, fired clay, or bone. It includes a hole or notch for threading, allowing multiple tokens to be worn or displayed together. Glyphs, icons, or color codes indicate category (labor, knowledge, ritual) and magnitude or priority.

Social use: Pegshas cultivate reciprocity by providing a tangible record of social exchange. People exchange pegshas during gatherings, adjust their arrangements as relationships evolve, and consult the collection when negotiating aid, access to shared resources, or ceremonial roles. Because tokens are visible to others, pegshas reinforce accountability and communal memory.

Origins and variants: The pegsha concept appears in several fictional literatures and is often presented as a preledger system in communities that prefer physical tokens to digital ledgers. Regional variants differ in glyph sets, materials, and the rules governing transfer. In worldbuilding practice, pegshas serve as a simple, tangible model of a token economy.