Scribing Halls

Description

The Scribing Halls is a guild consisting of just that: scribes. Originally it was an order of itinerant scholars, who had been trained to rapidly transcribe any documents using both hands simultaneously. They worked for monasteries, academies, nobles and just about anyone who could afford it. And they always kept an additional copy of each manuscript for the Halls themselves. Thus they built up a center of knowledge at the same time.
But that all changed when an ambitious member of theirs saw the new steam technology and used it to invent the printing press to drastically improve their art. They soon ceased the traveling copyist trade altogether, and founded the first publishing houses, continuing in their role as the servants of knowledge. As printing became more and more widespread, the organization soon faded in prominence.

Services

Nowadays, they are no longer as important as they were, and while they still provide printing services, they have also delved into another market where their expertise is valued more: scribing spell scrolls or other magical texts. Doing so requires a certain amount of detail and intimate knowledge of the subject at hand, and is something that printing presses cannot replicate. Thus, they have been able to carve out a niche for themselves, even in these changing times.

Influence

Long ago they were an exceptionally influential organization, but nowadays they are effectively just another business. Their mark has been left on the world however and can still be seen if one were to look at manuscripts from before the presses, as nearly all of them bear the signature mark of the Halls.

Location

Middenland