Rossan Numerals
The Rossan numerals are a numeral system that originated on the island of La Rossa around the year 1700 TT. Written in base 8, the system has mostly been replaced by the decimal system for purposes of international cooperation and trade, although it remains widely in use across the island. Read left-to-right, and top-to-bottom, the digits are arranged around a central cross glyph in order of value, with the "thousands" or mille in the top-left corner, and the single units in the bottom-right. For numbers with more than four digits, two or more glyphs are placed in sequence.
The octal system is thought to have originated from the long practice of cutting up silver coins into pieces of eight in order to pay a fractional value. The modern day argotto continues to employ the same fractional division, and still displays Rossan numerals on its backside.
Form
All numbers written using the Rossan numeral system start with the drawing of a cross
. Due to the consistent size of each four digit glyph, and the importance of locational placement, the four areas are traditionally filled out from lowest to highest. With the system constructed around base 8, the system contains eight standardly defined digits, corresponding to 1
, 2
, 3
, 4
, 5
, 6
and 7
. A blank space is used for 0
. The number of lines drawn for each digit corresponds to its value. The digits are arranged around the glyph, forming a compact four-digit unit.
There have been recorded instances of the use of a single digit for 8
in the past, however, it has fallen out of use, and is now considered to be non-standard. The glyph 
, denoting zero units and one otto (Ros. for "eight") is used instead.