The truth but tell it slant
They were sat on benches overlooking the Vassa, outside the Printers' Guild enclave. It had been a productive morning. While Immanuel and his guide were taking a well-earned lunch break, the Guild itself was still a hive of activity. Wagons being loaded and unloaded, with great bundles of paper and barrels of ink going in one side and printed papers coming out the other.
"What do you make of it so far?" asked his guide, who was against all odds, managing to eat their wrap without getting so much as a spot on their smart coat.
Gelberg took another bite, chewed thoughtfully, and licked juice off his fingers before answering. "It's impressive, no doubt about it. And you say the Empire has embraced movable type? Despite all the extra work it involves?"
"Oh, don't get hung up on the extra work. It's all down to the typesetters, you see." The emissary of the Printers' Guild swelled with pride as they spoke. "A skilled picker can load a score of words a minute or more. A few of our correspondents like to set the stories themselves, writing straight onto the press they call it, and they're mostly slower. Everyone hates it when they do that, especially the editors. I've even seen the odd fist-fight break out over leading while everyone else is trying to just get the damned edition out. But what would the wide world of publishing be without occasional outbursts of drama? As Sacharissa says; if you aren't making someone, somewhere angry, you're not really doing your job. And arguably that can apply to your colleagues as much as your readers; paragons preserve us from people who don't care about their work, you know?"
Gelberg did know. His experience was more with his fellow academics, but he was no stranger to the idea that people who didn't get passionate about their ideas weren't really cut out to be professors.
"We still use wooden blocks at home," said Gelberg, who assumed Sacharissa was another member of the Guild. He'd been introduced to so many people on his first night in the city; there had been a ball. He looked wistfully back toward the Guild buildings. The thump of the presses was still audible out here on the street, over the twitter and tide of cityfolk going about their own business. "When I get back I'm going straight to our publications department and showing them what you people are achieving here. It's well past time we caught up, whatever the woodblock manufacturers think."
"Well we still use blocks for the illustrations," said the guide. "Although technically I suppose they're not wooden blocks. It's quite an involved process, actually. What we do is..."
Gelberg wasn't listening. He'd spotted a young person loitering around the wagons in a hunched over way that shouted "ne'er-do-well" to his finely tuned academician senses. The slouch of a student trying to sneak into the back of a lecture with a hangover, the carefully curated stance of someone who wanted to avoid being spotted. They looked around, but failed to spot Gelberg watching them. With nonchalant speed, they pinched a box off the back of one of the wagons - a small box of the new Gemeinsamesprache typeset letters that had just been commissioned. It disappeared into their jacket, leaving barely a bulge.
Immanuel was about to draw attention to this blatant daylight theft when the youth spotted him, and waved. The Professor's mind went blank - he had no idea who this was. They seemed to know him though, crossing over and presenting their hand with a dazzling smile. They were brightly dressed in the current fashion as near as Gelberg could tell, but there were shiny patches at knees and elbows, and their rings were silver rather than gold or orichalcum.
"Tomasin de Regario," they said, as if it should mean something. "Merchant-prince of Moors Mill Guild of Printers and Publications. From Moors Mill. Across the river."
The guide choked slightly on their bean wrap when Tomasin claimed to be a "merchant prince", Gelberg noticed. They seemed torn between amusement and outrage. But Tomasin themselves simply stood with their hand out, cheerfully radiating the kind of easy charisma that immediately put Gelberg's back up.
"A pleasure?" said the professor, taking a firm grip on the youth's outstretched hand and shaking it twice.
"Carina said you would be here this morning, and I should come an' introduce myself." Tomasin de Regario didn't seem to mind that Gelberg's hand was absolutely covered in bean juice; they just wiped it on their trouser leg, and it was clearly not the worst thing that had been wiped on that threadbare material. "I was coming over here anyway to check in on my colleagues at the Printers' Guild" - another cough from the guide - "so it wasn't taking me out of my way don't worry. I understand you're looking to invest in the printing arts here in Tassato?"
That was not why he was here of course. Quite the contrary, actually. With a sinking feeling, Gelberg realised that the neutral noises he had made yesterday had been taken by his favourite pupil as encouragement. She had been enthusiastic about her encounter with what could at best be described as a "charity case". He glanced at his guide, couldn't quite hide an amused smirk.
"Better a dozen voices all arguing about what the truth is, than one voice dictating what it should be," said the guide resignedly. Gelberg assumed they were quoting someone again; before he could ask who it was the self-styled "merchant prince" was regaling him with the "incredible opportunity" investment in the publishers of the Stories of the Vigilance presented for the Commonwealth and it was all he could do to keep up with the rush of words.
Overview
Last season, the Printers' Guild secured the position of patrons of the Beurteilung. They used the opportunity to ask "the Commonwealth appraisers, led by Professor Immanuel Gelberg, to find ways to expand the printing empire of the Printers' Guild, to address all those with a soul, across all corners of the Empire, and beyond". The Commonwealth publishes the words of philosophers such as Leonitz Altmann, to educate, and to inform the people of the nation. Many of these books find their way to scholars outside their borders, spreading a vision of the Commonwealth as a land of freedom and opportunity to neighbouring nations.
Professor Gelberg is interested to see the facilities the Empire has and how they compare to those of his home. He is especially intrigued by the widespread use of movable type in Tassato - it seems that for all their expertise in distribution, the Commonwealth is still using woodcut printing for almost all their publishing. There is excited talk of Printers' Guild expertise being brought to Volkavaar at some point and of the opportunities it would open up there. But that is beyond the remit of the Beurteilung and must remain in the future for now.
The Printers' Guild
| Printers' Guild Grand Guildhouse |
| Commission Type: Edifice |
| Location: Tassato Mestra, Tassato |
| Cost: 30 wains of white granite, 90 crowns, three months |
Effect:
|
- An edifice built in Tassato Mestra would cement the Printers' Guild as a lynchpin in the Empire's publication industry
- The commission would provide additional benefits to the Printers' Guild Museum and Mausoleum
- The offices would allow the Guild to add a single publication to the wiki each season
- The grandeur would allow the Guild to issue a single address to the entire Empire
The Printers' Guild have offices throughout the League, but it is in Tassato Mestra that their presence is concentrated. Professor Gelberg and his assistants are impressed with the facilities, but obviously they could be significantly improved and enhanced with a little Commonwealth expertise. There are ways to improve the logistics and procedures; to cheaply increase the effectiveness of ink and type and of woodcut illustrations. Within a month, Gelberg presents a straightforward set of procedures that also involve buying up additional warehouse space and securing ownership of the rest of the street on which the guild stands.
Once complete, the granduer of the Grand Guildhouse will provide a significant boost to the public prestige of the Printers' Guild (OOC Note: Several paragraphs describing the Guildhouse will be added to the Tassato page, based on description submitted by whoever commissions the edifice).
The new facilities would have more room to house the exhibits on display in the Printers' Guild Museum and the grandeur of the new offices would encourage visitors to Tassato to tour the Museum. The current benefits, the donation of 4 crowns per season and the mana crystals collected by the Museum would be completely replaced by the handsome income generated by the museum from ticket sales - the holder of the sinecure would receive 20 crowns per season in place of these benefits.
The new edifice would also elevate the significance of the Printers' Guild Mausoleum. This cenotaph extols the virtue of the printed word and enshrines the legacy of those who have dedicated their lives to spreading it. The plan to expand the premises would take advantage of this by charging visitors a small fee to take a tour of the Mausoleum, with guides employed to highlight and explain key features of the bas-relief. The current benefits, the mana crystals collected by the Mausoleum would be completely replaced - the holder of the sinecure would receive 3 thrones per season in place of the current benefits.
| Release Publication |
| Authorisation: Email from the group contact of the Printers' Guild |
| Cost: 1 throne |
| Effects: Adds a copy of the supplied publication to the wiki |
Room is always at a premium in a printing house, and the Printers' Guild is no exception. If the edifice were built, the expanded offices would give the Guild enough room to retain copies of their publications along with a small reading room where visitors might peruse the texts. It could take some time for old (or new) publications to be added to the archive, but they would form a lasting library of knowledge for the good of the Empire. (OOC Note: - the group contact for the Printers' Guild could email plot@profounddecisions.co.uk once per season, with a simple pdf containing a single piece of writing from the Empire setting, which would be added to the wiki in the same vein as used for the Seer of the Gateway at a cost of one throne).
Furthermore, the prestige conferred on the Guild by the grandiose commission would generate fleeting interest in their publications across the Empire. In the season following completion of the offices, there would be renewed interest in the publications of the Printers' Guild. The often controversial broadsheets and pamphlets published by the Guild, would be sought out by Imperial citizens across the Empire. This allows one of the merchant princes of the guild - perhaps Jonah Yakovitch or Carmine de Sarvos - an opportunity to spread their editorials far and wide. (OOC Note - A merchant-prince of the guild will have an opportunity to create an address to the Empire, following the same guidelines as an Imperial address. The text of the address must be submitted by e-mailing plot@profounddecisions.co.uk before the end of the downtime following the event where the edifice is completed. The letter will form part of the Winds of Fortune update that appears on the wiki for the next event. This ability can only be used once ever.)
The Farthest Shore
| Printers' Guild Bibliopole |
| Commission Type: Edifice |
| Location: Betovering and Leerdam |
| Cost: 8 wains of white granite, 24 crowns, three months |
| Effect: Copies of Printers Guild publications stored in Tassato would be made accessible across the world |
- Opening offices for bibliopoles in Betovering and Leerdam would make Printers' Guild publications accessible across the world
The prestige of the Printers' Guild in the Empire is only half the task, however, and the rest of Professor Gelberg's time is spent exploring ways to spread the words printed beyond the borders of the Empire. As the Commonwealth knows well, "exporting words" runs into two main problems. The first is the language barrier, and the second is the interest barrier. While the Empire speaks a unified language, shared with the foreign powers local to it, each other great nation of the Known World speaks its own language or in some cases languages. Translation is an art rather than a science, and greatly increases the effort needed to make written words accessible - especially when one takes into account that a Known world-wide audience needs dozens of translators potentially.
Then there is the interest barrier; ,most people are broadly disinterested in things happening in the Empire that don't concern them directly. Those nations with an interest in Imperial activities already have their own means to keep abreast of situations - that's what ambassadors are for after all. The main audience for books and papers written in foreign nations is magicians, engineers, and natural philosophers who can benefit from studying the techniques used by their foreign peers. With the best will in the world, however, this represents only a tiny fraction of the people in the world. And many of them, says Professor Gelberg grumpily, haven't got the budgets to spend on lots and lots of foreign books.
Still, a little interest is better than no interest. For a modest investment of 8 wains of white granite and 24 crowns, the Printers' Guild could open small shops in Leerdam and Betovering and employ a bibliopole in each city to translate and sell copies of any publications stored in the main offices in Tassato. These investments wouldn't yield much in the way of returns - but sales of rare translations to interested parties would produce be sufficient to cover the running costs. These translations are never going to move the masses in foreign nations, but it would mean that foreign scholars and specialists across the world, could have access to any of the information published in Tassato if they took an interest in Imperial affairs.
The Publishing Clearing House
| Publishing Clearing House |
| Commission Type: Great work |
| Location: Tassato Mestra, Tassato |
| Cost: 50 wains of white granite, 150 crowns, three months |
Effect:
|
- Establishing the Clearing House in Tassato would boost sales and profits for every publishing house in the city
- This great work would boost income for all businesses in the territory
- It would enhance the prestige and profits of the Printmaster of Cevia
- It would enshrine Tassato's position as the centre of the Imperial publishing world
Having considered ways to promote the standing of the Printers' Guild, Gelberg and his team, have devoted the remaining time to looking at ways to boost the interests of printing houses in Tassato more generally. The professor states that doing so meets the terms of Die Beurteilung since it will advance the cause of the Printers' Guild along with everyone else. In truth it seems that the professor's implacable commitment to the Common Good means he is more comfortable working on problems whose solution might benefit society more widely.
Gelberg proposes the establishment of a clearing house in Tassato Mestra that would serve all of the cities' printing guilds. The clearing house would specialise in distributing books, pamphlets, and broadsheets mostly in Imperial but also small runs of documents in foreign languages that might sell abroad. A warehouse suitable for storing large amounts of reading matter would be established along the river, with piers so that boats can quickly and securely load and unload bundles of paper and the like for wider distribution. A small staff of professionals would be hired to help run the clearing house, specialising in identifying opportunities for sales or dealing with visiting merchants. The Clearing House would boost profits of printers across Tassato, allowing them to concentrate on printing while the Clearing House handled sales for them, or provided expert assistance. Given the scale and excellence of Imperial printing this would represent, it would also attract interest from smaller nations with less established printing industries who could come to Tassato looking for help to commission print runs of their own texts.
The Publishing Clearing House would provide a burst of additional prosperity for Tassato. Between the demand for Tassatan printing, and the printed materials themselves, traders from all over the Empire would visit the city. It would also be of interest to travellers from Faraden and Axos, and potentially from Otkodov and Skoura. The investment would be a significant boost to every printing house in Tassato, but the knock-on effects would mean more money in the local economy, providing 36 rings a season to every business in the territory.
The project would also enhance the prestige and importance of the Printmaster of Cevia, who oversees the Oathwright Press (the only Imperial newspaper endorsed by an eternal). The Printmaster's printing profits would be increased to two thrones each season, representing their improved access to Imperial markets.
Perhaps most importantly of all, the Clearing House would cement Tassato's position as the centre of printing technologies in the Empire, helping them to improve their production quality and otherwise bringing prestige to the guilds that focus around the written word. This would include creating an update to the printing press section of the wiki, as it fosters widespread acceptance of movable type and positions Tassato as the world-leader when it comes to modern printing techniques.
A Printer's Shrine
| Investment in Moor's Mill |
| Commission Type: Edifice |
| Location: Tassato Regario, Tassato |
| Cost: 5 wains of white granite, 5 wains of mithril, 30 crowns, three months |
Effect:
|
- A subsidiary proposal has been made via one of Professor Gelberg's students
- Investment in the Moor's Mill Guild of Printers and Publications would increase interest in ringblack novels
- It could provide future opportunities to inspire vigilance in Imperial citizens
While visiting Tassato Mestra Carina Schiver, one of Professor Gelberg's students, was approached by a group of young people associated with the small printing guild of Moor's Mill in Tassato Regario. The printworks has seen better days. Controversy caused the once prosperous guild to disband some twenty years ago following backlash against the publication of Necessary Actions, the memoirs of the polarizing exemplar Berechiah. The abandoned building was taken over by a small group of youths who repaired the press, and began their own small business. In addition to offering cut-price printing to the poorer folk of Tassato Regario, they are perhaps best known for printing a sporadic periodical called "Stories of the Vigilant".
This cheap broadsheet contains variously fictionalised accounts of plucky Imperial citizens taking on and helping to defeat cults of Agramant, vyig schemes, wicked Whisper Gallery inspired plots, embezzlers, and corrupt politicians. They're quite popular in some quarters, apparently, especially among the mountebanks and bravos. Improving the prestige of the Moor's Mill guild would give them more opportunity to commission and publish ringblack novels - a form of entertainment popular in Tassato - and increase interest in other parts of the Empire (the rest of the League, Highguard, and the Brass Coast in particular). This would help establish a new literary movement in the Empire.
There was a brief hope that the press might see an injection of funds when the Vigilance assembly was looking for a suitable inspirational tomb for Berechiah but that amounted to nothing. The ambitious guild saw an opportunity to advance their operations when the Commonwealth academics came to town and managed to finagle a meeting with them via Carina. Immanuel Gelberg was polite but saw little benefit in getting their hopes up - but Carina Schiver disagreed and pressured the professor to include her own notes as part of die Beurteilung. After all, she says, the Printers' Guild are no strangers to controversy themselves. Truth be told Carina is clearly a little enamoured of the romance represented by the "plucky underdogs".
Investing in the Moor's Mill Guild of Printers and Publications represents an edifice built in Tassato Regario. At the most basic level it involves renovating the premises and modernising the presses, as well as giving a much-needed "makeover" to the members of the guild themselves. The Guild themselves have neither wealth nor political power to contribute to this project; they are very much looking for wealthy philanthropists to offer them a little no-strings patronage. This investment would be significantly less impactful than the proposals that would have seen the place become a centre for the distribution of Vigilant tracts. It would merely foster interest in the ringblack novels that the small guild specialises in. These somewhat lurid stories of Imperial citizens - usually of the League - doing vigilant and audacious things are viewed as a particularly cheap form of entertainment unsuitable for more refined palates. (OOC Note - as an edifice this would also add a few lines of description on the Tassato page, as befits an edifice of limited grandeur).
That said the place still resonates with the elements of Berechiah's life that are about direct action - about investigating and uncovering threats and confronting them personally, about taking responsibility for keeping your home safe, about exposing threats publicly - and about commemorating the people who do such things. If the Vigilance assembly were to choose to consecrate it with true liao, it would likely have some impact on the vigilance of the League. This would be especially true of those bravos and mountebanks who look to Berechiah - or at least his notions of vigilance - for inspiration.
A Printer's Friend
- The Chair of the Wolf could commission any of these projects as part of their responsibilities
- Doing so identifies them as benefitting the prosperity of the League and attracts additional interest
- The current Chair of the Wolf is Lucrezia Corvinascura but the title is due to be reappointed during the Winter Solstice
The Chair of the Wolf is a title established in Holberg with the support of the College of Engineering at the university there. While they're free to commission projects as they wish, the College expects the Chair to spend at least some time ensuring that the cities of the League remain the greatest in the world. Once Professor Gelberg's proposals are delivered, they present additional opportunities for the Chair. The Printers' Guild opportunities in Tassato have potential to inspire ambition and pride in the people not only of Tassato but the League as a whole. Their support also comes at least a little from the fact that textbooks are expensive, and better and more accessible printing helps professors and students alike.
If the Chair of the Wolf commissions any of these three commissions, there will be additional benefits.
- Printers' Guild Grand Guildhouse: Support from the Chair of the Wolf would position the expansion of the Printers' Guildhouse as a virtuous reward for ambition, and a source of pride for the whole city. It would improve the perceived grandeur of the Museum and Mausoleum, ensuring they became places of note in Tassato and attract historians, scholars and academics to the grand opening of the new offices. If that happens, then Niccolo dos Tassato, an esteemed member of the Tassato School of Epistemology has offered to use the school's facilities to house visiting scholars, supporting the opening with guest lectures and an exchange of knowledge. If that happens the Guild could request that the bishop take advantage of the occasion to produce a single piece of historical research on a notable incident or individual, by sending them a winged messenger from a member of the Guild in good standing.
- Publishers Clearing House: Commissioned by the Chair, the project would capture the imagination of the guilds of the League. If that happens, renowned architect Katarzyna Von Carstein, would volunteer her services to design the Clearing House. She has in mind a bold design employing the latest architectural techniques to create a great vaulted glass ceiling, one to rival the Ambition of Capodomus Cathedral, a stark illustration of the ability to allow great literature to illuminate any situation. News of the grandeur and beauty of the building would inspire printers and publishers all over the world, calling them to Tassato to share their learning and study the latest techniques. It would permanently elevate the position of Tassato, not simply as the centre of printing and publishing in the Empire, but in the whole world. No other city or would be able to rival Tassato's mastery of this new technology while the Clearing House still stood.
- Moor's Mill Publishing Investment: Investment in the plucky underdog guild would catch the imagination of the more romantic members of the League if it were commissioned by the Chair of the Wolf. If that happens, then Esmeralda di Rodez, a cicisbeo with a troubling past, will donate a relic of Berechiah to whichever title is appointed to run Berechiah's Basilica in Bastion once both commissions are complete. Esmeralda claims the relic was recovered from the vyig, when those criminals were driven out of the League. The lady has always denied the rumours that she herself was often to be seen in the company of said criminals, before their fall from grace. Whatever the truth of the matter, she is acknowledged as a member of the Moor's Mill Publishing Guild now, and the offer appears completely genuine. She asks only that someone send her a winged messenger once the work on both commissions is fully complete, so that she can arrange delivery of the relic.
Obviously the Chair of the Wolf can only oversee one commission each season and likely has their own projects they wish to pursue. As long as the situation does not change, however, the opportunities remain available until the situation in Tassato changes significantly.
Further Reading
- Threats that are to come - 387YE Autumn wind of fortune discussing the Beurteilung
- Beat of your drum - 387YE Summer wind of fortune discussing the Beurteilung
- Germinating a city - 387YE Spring wind of fortune discussing the Beurteilung
- According to principle - 386YE Winter wind of fortune introducing the Beurteilung