Clay Press Item in Retika | World Anvil
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Clay Press

The invention of the Clay Press revolutionized the way both Itakian and Retikan Seadweller culture, allowing both cultures to preserve information for posterity to benefit from.   The Itakian culture had already developed a rudimentary written language using impressions in clay tablets, but the Press allowed for many tablets to be made, then fired and preserved in rapid succession.   For Seadwellers, the press meant they had now had access to a reliable method of writing.  Creation of a clay tablet that was usable underwater required only a few extra steps, and the clay press meant that the extra steps in question didn't take nearly as long.    The clay press is a large machine that forms a clay tablet into a standardized rectangle measuring 8x11inches.   The tablet is then fired to a point where it'll hold its shape on its own, but is still malleable enough for impressions to be made on the surface of the tablet.  For above-water use, this is all that's needed until the preservation stage.  For underwater use, the tablet is covered in a thin layer of wax, and placed in a hardened coral frame to help it hold its shape underwater.   From this point, a stylus of either wood or hardened coral is used to make the impressions in the clay, recording whatever information is deemed necessary.   Once the information is recorded, the filled clay tablet is returned to the Press, removed from the coral casing if necessary, and fired until it is completely dry.   At this point, the tablet is ready to be stored in a dry, arid location to preserve the tablets for future use.   The Clay Press continued to be used by the Retikan Seadwellers well into their industrial revolution, even after the Itakians moved onto paper and ink to record information, due to paper and ink being unusable underwater.   Eventually, the Clay Press was replaced by paper and ink as the Seadwellers began to spend more of their working hours above water, and later, digital data storage methods.
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