The lack of a printing press got me thinking about something that I think is often taken for granted in Fantasy-
Literacy
In our own history, literacy was not common until the invention of the printing press. For the first time, writing could be mass produced and distributed to the masses. Suddenly, there was a reason for people to learn their letters and a practical means of doing so. Before this invention, literacy was primarily kept alive by monks and scribes for the purposes of studying religious text (At least in western Europe) This meant that if you were to find someone who was well read in 1000AD, they’d likely be part of the church. This skews what knowledge was kept, what knowledge was exchanged, and who was granted the privilege of writing their own perspectives into history.
Ok… So why do I bring this up?
Well, literacy is incredibly powerful. More than that, how a society develops and maintains literacy is reflective of that culture’s values, it’s hierarchy, and how it is perceived on the world stage. For one culture, words on paper may be a means to do business, for another it may be the difference between life and death.
In re-reading the descriptions for the human nations some ideas came to mind for world building around literacy and how it could tie in to each nations culture, history, and technology. I’m a firm believer in a “Lore Buffet” where people take what they like and leave what they don’t. So try to think of each of these ideas as independent from one another, or as all of them tied in, or as all of them being misinterpretations of an in universe madman. The characters in the Veiled Age won’t know the difference anyways.
Part 1
Arvel
Many Arvan’s have a keen interest in ancient history, not just their own history, but the history of the Naga specifically. I believe interest in a dead race’s history, culture, and technology would have to come downstream of written works that speculate on the nature of the Naga and their disappearance. If an Arvan does not know what the Naga ruins once were or why they are interesting, they would just be a pile of rubble, not worthy of a second thought.
Arvan Trade routes spread far enough throughout the continent that the Arvan language is the common one. I am sure historically much business was conducted purely through an exchange of words. But I believe at a certain distance it becomes too risky to send goods without a written record of what those goods are, what their cost should be, and the confidence that someone at the end of that trade route can read/interpret that information.
Finally, Arvel is a constitutional monarchy, written words matter to them to the point that words on a piece of paper restrict what the highest authority in the empire can do.
So, what can we do with this information?
It seems the Arvel empire would be the one of the most literate nations in the setting, and that makes me curious as to why. Something mentioned previously was that Naga artifacts exist that would be tremendously more advanced than any current technology. Perhaps the Arvel Empire discovered one such artifact that would accelerate their rate of literacy.
Now I don’t want to do “It’s a printing press but MAGIC” so what if instead of a printing press, you drop the equivalent of a modern printer into a medieval setting? A printing press on its own is somewhat rudimentary. I’m sure if someone who is a bit handy and a little curious discovered a printing press, they could quickly piece together what its use is and how to reverse engineer it. But a modern printer would be incomprehensible to them, yet at the end of the day, it would still be able to make copies of a written work. (Of course, the actual design and functionality probably shouldn’t literally be a laser printer)
With only one such device on hand it would probably become something of a national treasure to the Arvans. However, the technology would be alien to them and their understanding of how it works would be limited. This would require constant adjusting and maintenance. Further, the time to print from it could also be a consideration, mass producing a work could still take a large investment of time, but still be faster than a group of monks writing out every copy by hand. It’s not a perfect solution to mass produce text, but it would give the Arvans enough of a nudge to spread the written word significantly faster than other nations would be able to.
The idea of a monopoly on what texts get mass produced has some further interesting implications-
Who decides what texts are worthy of being mass produced?
What kinds of texts are mass produced? Are they primarily religious? Historical?
Do they ever make copies of fiction?
How do you know if each copy is perfect or tampered with?
Have others tried to invent a similar device?
Is its existence common knowledge or a secret?
Finally, if only one Naga artifact could elevate a civilization this much. Imagine what other Naga artifacts could do? It would make the dangerous expeditions to Naga ruins far more enticing to the adventurous Arvan.
On a character level (and a meta one) you can have many young scholars dream of someday writing something that is worthy of being “published”. Perhaps scholars who are published are held in particularly high regard, with their words being taken as absolute truth. If mass production of written work is possible, but still difficult, what happens when one such scholar makes an error in their work?
But maybe a fantasy printer isn’t something that can fit no matter how hard we try. There is another nation with a history tied to the Arvel Empire that I believe would have as much, if not more reverence for literacy…
Part 2
Tophet
Tophet society revolves around making contracts. Not all contracts need to be written, but Tophet’s value utility as well. It is impractical to go and talk to every single person they contract with. After all, why bother with making the trip when a cleverly worded letter can make someone sell their soul willingly and make them think they are getting the better deal.
When imagining literacy through the lens of Tophet society I believe there are two potential ways it could have been “endowed” to humanity.
- Literacy was a means of “lawfully” entering into contracts with Modus, the god of law. Being an evil god, Modus would probably have difficulty securing agreements with mortals. Why should someone enter a binding agreement with anyone if the terms could be altered at any time? You could of course codify the terms but without a mutual level of understanding, it wouldn’t be a particularly lawful or useful contract. In the interest of fairness, and to ingratiate themself to the infant humanity, Modus could endow them with a knowledge of reading and writing. This would empower many, but also lead to some becoming the architects of their own downfall. Much to the amusement of Modus and their devils. (Modus would be a big fan of how gym memberships are worded)
- The more benevolent alternative would be that Genos endowed humanity with literacy as a way of combatting Modus. Perhaps Modus had been making deals for centuries, reaping the benefits of an uneducated race entering contracts they could not fully understand. In Modus’ thinking, it is not their fault that the person agreeing to the contract agreed to it without understanding it. Maybe there is a story told throughout the centuries of Genos and Modus arguing over the terms of a contract that was entered into under false pretenses, the results of that argument leading to the endowment of literacy.
I love law and good arguments, and I feel that the potential for some interesting, more philosophical storytelling could spring from approaching literacy from this angle.
Side Note: Fantasy lawyers are another rarely seen oddity, I think part of that may be that the word lawyer evokes the same level of childhood wonder as the phrase “I gotta make sure to get my taxes in early”. To circumvent this and to add more flavor to the setting we could change the wording. In the real world you have a prosecutor and a defense attorney. In the Veiled Age it could be a Modus and a Genos.
Potential implications for the Tophet
For the average Tophet, the ability to interpret a piece of writing could quite literally be the difference between a lifetime of enslavement or the life of royalty. The Tophet that are particularly clever and well-read would be more than strong lawyers, but instead leaders able to continually tweak infernal contracts to their benefit. The devils they have these contracts with would be doing the same thing, each trying to outwit the other. Right now, it seems the Tophet are reaping tremendous benefits from these contracts. They are growing at a rapid rate through bloody conquest that has the Arvel Empire concerned about what was once a band of heretics.
But how are they able to violently subjugate their neighbors? The obvious answer is that they are contracting to bolster their military. But I believe the justification for why is even more interesting. At its core, a contract is an agreement to give something to get something in return. The Tophet may not see what they are doing as brutal conquest, but rather as a benevolent, but violent, supplanting of what they view as inferior cultures. The average Tophet is more inclined to be well read, well off, and well-motivated, traits most cultures would value. “Your nation could benefit from all of this if you just let us run things for you!” I also imagine the Tophet aren’t just brutally murdering every nation they are invading (Although they may have a contract that stipulates that) Regardless of their motivations, the question would remain, why isn’t the Arvel Empire stopping them?
There is a round table of nations, meaning there is some kind of agreement between all of them. Tophet may be getting away with its conquests through shrewd interpretations of that agreement. While Arvel tries its best to maintain a fair rule of law for all with good faith interpretations.
Because of their shared heritage, I can see Arvel and Tophet being somewhat similar culturally. Genos and Modus are both Lawful gods and the rule of law would be a shared value between the nations. For Arvel to disregard that and march into Tophet to impose their own law would be a betrayal of the agreements they established themselves.
For the Tophets part, I believe they have a begrudging respect for Genos and their followers for holding the same values of law and order. Although, a Tophet would argue that laws should bind their enemies and benefit themselves, while an Arvan would argue that law should be the great equalizer.
So! the Tophets share many traits with the most stereotypical evil lawyer one can imagine. It seems like they have gotten good enough at this to start becoming noticed not just on the world stage, but possibly even the infernal one.
As the Tophet grow, more eyes will be closely watching them, waiting for an opportunity to snatch their gains from under them. Maybe all it takes is a re-interpretation of a particularly foundational infernal contract for the Tophets ambitions to crumble. If things ever did get too desperate for a devil… Genos counts scholars of law amongst their followers…
For the Tophet their ability to interpret the written word at an advanced level is exactly what makes them so powerful. But what of the opposite? What happens to nations that have to deal with the Tophets without those advantages?
Part 3
Shattered Yoba
Well, my brain immediately jumps to them being mostly illiterate…
…
BUT
I think that makes them particularly interesting and something that I want to expand upon in a future piece of world building.