Sense writing for the blind

Table of Contents

Sense writing is a technology that has been invented to allow blind individuals to read.

Origin

The exact date of invention of Sense writing is unknown, but it has been around for several millennia at least. Nevertheless, information on how to create such writing is not widespread and it has disappeared and reappeared periodically through the empire and other countries.
Lately, no creator of such books could be found in the empire, but a few books could be bought at exorbitant prices from the Northern Islands. However, Heiress Ylucianie, the blind daughter of Lord-Consul Xénophène Ylucianie has recently relearned the technique.
Now the Ylucianies have a successful business centred around the production of Sense books and their trade through the empire. However, this does not bring in massive revenue as each book as to be slowly hand written and few individuals - blind or not - have the means to buy them. A few lords and ladies have created library in the major cities in their Estates to make Sense books and other books available to their subjects, but it is not a widely shared practice.

Heiress Ylucianie by AmélieIS with Artbreeder

Working

Each written word is represented by a special symbol that appears as a dot of ink to seeing people. When a finger is put on the dot, the magic inside put a concept or picture in the mind of the person reading. This allows everyone to read a Sense book without having to learn to decipher any alphabet or ideogram. For this reason, illiterate individuals also make use of Sense books when they are available.
A high-quality Sense book should not degrade with time, with magic infused in both the page and the ink to make them durable, and the magic itself not fading. However, poorly created or poorly stored books—if exposed to high concentrations of magic—can become damaged, which will lead to the rapid fading of the ink and the magic it contains.
In order to write one such book, special instruments are required. The papers and ink have to be specially prepared with the help of elixirs so that they can properly be imbued with the thoughts of writers, conserved them and released an impression of them as triggered by touch. Those exact recipes of those elixirs are not a closely kept secret, but few have been interested in learning them and so the information is not widespread.
The pen used for the writing is a delicate artefact that needs to be crafted by a master. While in theory any mage can use any such pen, in practice it is best to have them tailored made so that they best fit their owner's magic and allow it to flow more freely into the ink. The pens are made from the special Rosane wood known from its emotion-binding properties. They are covered with delicate run diagrams that enhance those properties and harness them so that they can be transmitted into the ink.
Using the pens required some training into the combination of magic used and mental gymnastic required to produce Sense writing. Would-be writers need to have a great ability to focus exclusively on a precise concept or image while writing.

A book with Sense writing by AmélieIS with an image from Vecteezy

Pen for Sense writing by AmélieIS

Heiress Ylucianie fumbled around her desk until she found her pen and the ink pot standing next to it. That Ancestor-cursed Damien had once again moved everything from their correct spots, no matter how many times she told him to be careful! She would tell Sélène not to have him in the office ever again if he was unable to follow easy orders.
She swallowed back her annoyance and moved her tools to the right of the papers disposed in front of her, precisely where she wanted them. She opened the pot of ink with her left hand, put her pen in with her right one, and focused.
Her left hand found the corner of the paper, helping her orient herself on the page. The pen made contact with the paper and she allowed nothing but the idea of a warm embrace to fill her mind. A few seconds later, she rose her pen, moved it a few centimetres to the right. Another contact. Feelings of impatience. Another. A more complicated concept, lateness, that required her a full minute of focus. Then one more contact, a questioning feeling.
She moved the pen down to the middle of the page, contact, let the ink fill with her idea of self.
There. That would do. She put the pen aside and moved her hand to the bell to call for Sélène to take the letter to its recipient in town.