The Scribes
The Scribes are a collection of people scattered across the world, in towers called Scribe Repositories They live and work in these Repositories, occasionally sending or receiving collections of books, information, or people. Many trust The Scribes to be honest and fair, and they're a welcome member of any community they're visiting.
Scribes are often Psychics, either natural or learned, and some of the greater masters of their abilities can be formidable opponents in combat.
Scribes are often Psychics, either natural or learned, and some of the greater masters of their abilities can be formidable opponents in combat.
Structure
-Archivists are highest in each Repository, being the leaders that manage the Indexes
-The Indexes are the most active and involved in the workings of the Repositories, working on the layouts, the arrangement, the logistics of collection and placements. These are natural parts of the Repositories, composed of crystalized stone from (somewhere) and formed by magic at the hands of the Archivists when the new Repository is founded. Most of them are not conscious, with few exceptions. (See: K'will)
-The Librarians are responsible for maintaining order and structure, making sure books are where they go. Level Two Librarians are more involved with the Indexes, and deal more in arranging the books as available in new wings or expanding centers.
-The Scribes, the lowliest, copy books. They work in small groups to copy, refine, edit, and correct the information as it is delivered.
Culture
Universally, the Scribes value knowledge and accuracy. Most are raised to appreciate simplicity and work. Tedium is not a known word, and the happiest a scribe can be is usually when collecting obscure or unusual information. Scribes are usually ink-stained and pale, and their robes are sleeveless with a large draping tunic for warmth or cover if they need it. Their tones are often austere and dry wit is the 'accepted' sense of humor. Puns, especially. Very little in the way of personal decoration is promoted, but hairstyles are often important and individual in ways that bring out whatever it is naturally. Combs are a common and precious treasure here. (It is important that the styles be either easy to maintain or easy to keep in without bothering with much.)
Public Agenda
They are known through most of the world as record keepers, but they are famously good sources for magic spells and medical knowledge in the right places. They want to watch the world Learn. The towers are respected by everyone nearby, the knowledge inside is valuable to all.
History
The Scribes were officially established in Year 0, such was the importance of their founding. Their original beginning was in ~-2000 ish, somewhere in there, when the first Library was established in a Dwarf Tower that didn't make it out of the ground. Their history keeping and medical studies and accumulated knowledge quickly expanded, but as it grew, so did word of the thing, and I don't know which god it is, yet, or maybe an Aspect (I bet Gahd did it.)
Either way, that library was a burned out hollow husk, and so the few remaining Bookkeepers (as they were known at the time) gathered what little they could, and they fled.
I'm not sure how many failed attempts there were, yet, either, but they eventually landed on the northeastern corner of Noress on a godforsaken rock in the ocean, off the coast and away from everything. The gods would not want to fuck with them here, and it was out of the Primordials' range of interest (they could hope), and so they established The First Scribe Repository.
After that, the organization grew and accumulated more knowledge, sending tendrils out to collect more, gathering and copying history books from locals, collecting atlases, all the more medical knowledge as more species were being accepted into the mainstream living circles and their medicines were being adopted.
It took a few thousand years, a couple thousand I think, but Archivist T'mi got a little too big for his britches and decided to try to use the information he had access to in the tower to experiment with the walls of reality.
The story does not go well.
The poor man they tried to send across the wall was driven quite insane by the time he got back, and the resultant magical mess killed everyone in the tower. If the mess didn't get them, the poor madman did.
That event is referred to as The Scattering, which I'll detail later. The Scattering is called that because the single standing Repository was determined to be a bad idea--the magic that allowed the archives to exist allowed T'mi far too much dangerous knowledge unchecked, and so they would need to balance that out.
To keep it simple, the magic used to search the library can only find information that is only kept in that library. If it is kept in another as well, then the information will be incomplete, featuring only details that aren't shared.
After that, the Scribes, once again left to only those who had been out collecting information, decided to establish smaller towers, offshoots, while they waited for a figurehead to help them figure out what to do.
As Scribes are actually useful people to have around, weird though they are, most places welcomed their temporary guests, and several even established full groups before they began to build new Repositories.
Demography and Population
The smattering of species around tends to reflect the local population with a few extra elves here and there, as their longer-lived species does well with trying to learn an entire, ever-growing Repository.
Territories
The Scribe Towers are scattered throughout the world as per The Scattering. Single towers stand a hundred feet high at least with thick walls and narrow windows.
Foreign Relations
Almost everyone likes them. No one is stupid enough to not like them, and no one is stupid enough to mess with them. The Scribes look fragile, and they are not. Repositories are known to be nigh impregnable and even if the people within were not psychic, they have access to every bit of knowledge concerning magic, self-defense, artillery, and if they really can't do anything else, they can push a bookcase out the window onto everyone's heads.
Coming to seek knowledge is welcome, and a Scribe will (almost) never turn you away or cast you out, even if you're just lost. (They might talk you into escorting a load of them between towers. Books often need to be transported so that they could be copied.)
Almost everyone else around will come to them for information. Generals about past wars, doctors for healing methods, family trees, local governments, all of it.
Agriculture & Industry
Due to the insular nature of the Scribes, they usually keep gardens within the gates, but also on the roof, and the entire top floors (above the Archivist) are often greenhouses to maintain the crop.
0 - n/a
Type
Information Network
Capital
Alternative Names
Keepers, Librarians
Demonym
Scribe
Leader Title
Government System
Technocracy
Power Structure
Autonomous area
Economic System
Command/Planned economy
Parent Organization
Subsidiary Organizations
Location
Related Ethnicities
Comments