Impressment Reproduction Enabler, The

This is a dark tale and not one oft told.

How you use the information is your concern but I do advise caution, The Sodality remain vigilant and do not look kindly on any who would discredit their name.

Copy Scribing

Allow me to set the scene; a century or so ago there was I in the city of Aurora, capital of Calyopsis, about to bear witness to a horror that would have made my skin crawl had I had any. Oh, bear in mind I was then as I am now, a cursed skull. I am personally aquainted with tales of horror, being a victim of one myself...!

BOO!

Apologies, dead humour, don't get out enough. I see this is over your cranium so let us continue...

Aurora, indeed the nation of Calyopsis prides itself on its 'Industry, Innovation and Implementation' culture, where successful endeavour leads to social standing.

There is a corner of that city devoted to copy scribing; the art of reproducing a manuscript or other written document as a way to:

• preserve the original,
• ensure the work is not lost to accident, theft or wilful destruction, or
• as a means of distributing a piece of work to a wider audience.

The epicentre of this trade is a thriving location called Swift Square, named for the rapidly flowing stream that runs by as well as the ambition of the master scribes ensconced there.

Wealth and Want

One scribesmith in particular had a hunger for status and the privilige it would bring, and this hunger grew more ravenous with time and age.

He was a portly human of garish habits named Mordik Rothber, known as the Ogre of Swift Square. Not being content with being one of the most successful scribing houses with the ample wealth this generated, he obsessed with being the most successful house in The Illuminated League.

A reality of life in Calyopsis is that poverty is the oppressed twin of success and more than a few souls find themselves with little to their name, no coin in their hand and no bread in their belly. As a result they may find themselves working as indentured servants, bond slaves or even impressed into the service of a military force or business enterprise.

Rothber built his success on the toil of such destitute souls. He established a series of inexpensive taprooms from which his agents could evaluate the clientele for their manual dexterity potential and then 'press' intoxicated patrons into accepting his coin. They would then be tied to his workshop for a period of around three years.

He would average around 40 men and women in his... establishment, most employed by such dubious yet legal means.

The Master and the Manipulator

So the hunger grew. And one day a solution presented herself; an Elemental Manipulator in need of copy work entered his reception room. Her requirements and his price were agreed; a complex manuscript copied in return for a means of increasing productivity.

Now, knowing Inducers as I do, the relinquishment of a potentially powerful document does not ring true, Manipulators are prone to distrustfulness and moreover, usually have other means of replicating such valued writings.

However, the deal was signed and time passed.

Months went by, the Scribemasters Guild of Calyopsis Awards came and went and for the first time since he inaugurated them Rothber was absent. A pack of his neighbours decided to investigate and cautiously entered the premises; Rothber was not found in the reception nor his office. A curious sound drew them to the door to the workshop; a chattering like teeth on a freezing morning regularly punctuated by Rothber's muffled voice.

There was no response to their calls so gingerly one of the group opened the door, gasped and feinted!

The others almost ran but the door creaked open and the scene was laid bare.

In the centre of the workshop was a single grotesque fusion of bones and desks. The animated skeletal remains of the workforce busily scribed away, their teeth clacking and bones tapping, endlessly inked quills never running dry. At the, er, head of this monstrous creation was the skull of Rothber dictating a manuscript to his disassembled scribes. Not once did he interrupt his narration, not even the shrieks of horror or sounds of retching from his neighbours broke the rhythm.

Only once did his skull turn to face the horrified intruders; to thank them for their potential custom and suggest they await him in reception.

Truth and Consequences

And so Mordik Rothber got his wish, though this is a point of contention amongst the small group of scholars familiar with this tale; was this wish literal or merely symbolic? The power of wishes is akin to the power to travel back in time; untold damage could be done with the smallest miscalculation or misstep.

I do not believe the Inducer would use such power so flippantly. Unquestionably awesome, dark powers were harnessed during a period of days to strip the bodies of living tissues, fuse them and their equipment together and then reanimate the bones by re-binding the spirits again; the hallmarks of the Shroud rather than the Veil.

Oh I see you considering the situation similar to my own, however the curse limiting me to my own skull predates the Flare and the associated rending of the Tether into the Veil and Shroud, and thus my curse is of a far more potent nature!

The Sodality of Leigha claimed jurisdiction over the investigation and clean-up of the site. I am only aware of four outcomes from the process:

1. Word of this atrocity was kept to a minimum by the discovery that the neighbours of Rothber had been responsible for engaging the Inducer all along, wishing to discredit Rothber and damage his business. The actual outcome of their deception so horrified them that they preferred to bury the truth and create the Mordik Rothber Trust to provide compensation to the families of the innocent sciribes consigned to a living purgatory.
2. Rothber was transformed from Ogre to Hero! The gruesome reality was disguised by flame; the Sodality destroyed the premises and a shrine erected on the site, 'to the memory of the scribes who perished here and the heroic martyrdom of their employer Mordik Rothber who valiantly tried to save them but died in the attempt'. That is what the plaque states to this day! In further recognition of Rothber's sacrifice the Scribemaster's Guild created the 'Mordik Rothber Award for Best Newcomer in the Field of Scribing", presented annually at the awards ceremony. How the unworthy ascend, eh?
3. The... item was labelled 'The Impressment Reproduction Enabler', 'IRE', or 'Dark IRE' due to its murky genesis, or 'Repro-Press'.
4. It was removed supposedly to be destroyed by the Sodality, but had I my gut it would scream they had it secreted away somewhere for further examination. Afterall, some profoundly dark powers were harnessed by a fellow Inducer to create it, a Cardinal crime in the Sodality.

So there you have it, a horribly dark tale about a horribly greedy man, his horribly twisted end and a horribly fascinating scribing... thing!

You know the darkest part of the whole event, the fate shared by those innocent scribes perhaps trapped for eternity with their taskmaster; what torment!

Iaro Gaunt

Item Names

The Impressment Reproduction Enabler.

IRE.

Repro-Press.

Number Known to Exist

Unique.

Point of Origin

Aurora, capital city of Calyopsis.

Inventor/Creator

Unnamed Inducer as a commission for Scribemaster Mordik Rothber.

Current Location

Unknown, rumoured to be in the possession of The Sodality of Leigha.

Function

• The mass copying of manuscripts and other documents.
• Faster completion of individual copy assignments.

Notes

Knowledge of this item is strictly controlled, any investigation may attract the attention of The Sodality.

Item type

Tool