04.

[assistente]

FORM: sending crystal
SENDER: Seneschal Salvio Pizzicagnolo
RECIPIENT: everyone and anyone, but especially anyone not in Tevinter
WHAT: two words: magical texting
WHEN: now!
WHERE: Kirkwall
NOTES: read up on the The Emergent Compendium for more general info, or the ooc post for faderifty info!

Hello. This is-- Salvio Pizzicagnolo. Seneschal Pizzicagnolo. [And for once he's sounding almost normal. Dare we even say... excited?] Seneschal to the Inquisition's base in Kirkwall and Head of Base Operations.

Recently the Inquisition has come into the possession--or, well, we will come into the possession--of some texts. A result of the negotiations, with the-- [You know what, who cares, the less strikes and mages and rifters and the Chantry are brought into this, the better, all that would only sour the news, and so Salvio revises what he is saying midway through the sentence.] In cataloging and examining the list of texts that will be added to the Inquisition's library, I have discovered an extremely rare text: The Emergent Compendium.

It, um--the text, that is--the text is likely unknown, to most--I have only seen passing reference to it, in other works and--well, to quote Scholar Bodaliere, [and in a voice of one reading right from a page] "the volumes are automatos: new entries appear of their own accord, with no scrivener's quill in sight".

Yes. So. I, I wrote directly to request access to the Compendium, and-- and I have had it for some time now, and--by the Maker, it produces pictures that appear and then disappear, out of nowhere, accessing some--some vast, unseen library, or--ah, and text, it will produce lines of text, obscure in their--well, so, I would invite those who would wish to behold it to do so, but--please, within the office hours of Base Operations, and I would suggest that you wear gloves--

But, um, in addition to viewing the Compendium, I have-- I have taken the liberty of making some... some rudimentary copies of the Compendium. Imitations, I mean. What connects the original to its unseen library or author, I cannot say, so the copies, they-- they are connected to one another instead.

It was, um. Premature, perhaps, uh, presumptuous, but--they seem to be operational. I have tested them. You can write back and forth, as if sending a letter, but much, much quicker. Of course, they are but test copies. They are limited in that they will only function within the walls of the Gallows, once they are outside of the Gallows, the connection severs, and they become as plain writing-books, but--

Um. To those members of the Inquisition that remain in Kirkwall--I, that is, Base Operations, requests your current assistance in the testing of these books. Your assistance will be invaluable in refining this, um, this development in communication, streamlining the process of-- communication.

If you are interested, and are in Kirkwall. Please, the Base Operations office--I mean to say that I will be in the Base Operations office. Handing out these texts.

Yes. So. That will be-- uh. Thank you.

Comments

[assistente]

Strategic, uh, strategically, yes--

[Shit. Scrambling, Salvio digs out not the specific paper that he was looking for, but some paper, at least, something that he can write on--]

Useful, in its--or perhaps other applications, that might-- Um. A machine, of... of what sort?

[rathercommon]

[ Kitty chats, completely oblivious to Salvio's mad scramble. Or maybe just indifferent. She wants to chat a bit, and doesn't really want to just sit there waiting for him to sort himself out. ]

It's called a telegraph. Essentially, it's got buttons coded with each of the letters of the alphabet, and there's sympathetic magic that connects each of those buttons to buttons on another identical machine. So you press the buttons one by one to form words, which are transferred onto paper.

[assistente]

Tell a--

[Muttered, somewhat frantically, to himself. Paper: he has it. Now ink, pen, dipped with nervous compulsiveness into the inkwell, three taps at the side--]

'Sympathetic' magic. This is--?

[Say more words on that, is what that prompt means.]

[rathercommon]

Well, I'm no magician. But as I understand it - essentially, spirits talking to each other.

[assistente]

[The scratchy sound of his notetaking stops as he tries to picture this.]

So--the buttons are pressed on one end, to spell the message. And that--alerts the spirit within, and the spirit communicates the message to... another spirit, who presses buttons to spell out the message on that end?

[rathercommon]

Mmhm. Or - there might be separate spirits in each button. But - yeah.

[assistente]

Oh. And--who is it, that builds these tellgraphs?

[rathercommon]

Well -

[ She deflates a bit. ]

Commoners build the machinery in factories. Then magicians enchant them.

[assistente]

A collaboration. Very-- um, so. It is then then magic that-- differentiates, enters the, machinery.

[Too thoughtful on the topic and dense with tone to pick up on any deflation, Salvio considers this.]

Is it easier, to have the letters in that way, do you think?

[rathercommon]

Yeah.

[ She shakes it off. ]

I think so. If you're trained - We learned touch-typing in school, where I am - A trained typist can go three or four times the speed of a scribe writing things by hand, with perfectly uniform letters every time.

[assistente]

[Stunned silence, before Salvio asks the unnecessary:]

Really?

[rathercommon]

[ What, is that so weird? ]

Yeah. I came with some typewriters, actually, which are quite similar. I could show you.

[assistente]

[YES IT'S SO WEIRD]

Type-- This is another name for the spirit-machines? Tell a graph?

[rathercommon]

Not - A typewriter is just a machine that prints onto paper. It just uses the same sort of keyboard as the telegraph does.

[assistente]

[What the shit????? Salvio, imagining a harpsichord, says--]

I see.

[He does not see.]

Or, uh. I should perhaps--see. To understand.

[rathercommon]

Oh, yeah, that'd be a lot easier. When's good for you?

[assistente]

Er--

[A great shifting of paperwork proceeds Salvio's weak answer--]

Four days from now, after the noon hour. I think.

[rathercommon]

Four days. All right. I'm looking forward to it.

[assistente]

Good. Um--

[wait]

Are they--transportable? How large of a space do they require? The Base Operations office, it is, uh, rather--occupied. I will make necessary arrangements. If necessary.