Quill of Dictation
There are those who would prefer not to hire a secretary for various reasons. They might not afford to, don't want to involve other beings in their secrets, or are annoyed by the presence of others. A Quill of Dictation might be the solution in any of these cases.
Most commonly, the quill is made grom a white goose feather, but the process of infusing it with magic has made its edge dade into gold, red, blue, or black. It is fitted with a gold nib that extends as filligree for a cm or two along the stem. While it feels as soft as any quill, it would take a lot of force to ruffle the feather, much less break it. They are designed to be carried in a bag along with other items if needed, even if most owners never take their quill away from their desk.
When the quill is held just above a surface, it can be left there, hovering.When the person who placed the quill speaks, it writes the words down in the handwriting of the speaker. It provides its own ink and it detects the edges of the surface, making sure to write within margins. If the surface is a sheet of paper or parchment, the quill's magic allows it to be flipped over when needed to continue writing. If the surface consist of empty pages in a book, they will be turned as needed. If the quill ever runs out of space, it gives of a brief, gentle, flash of light and the sound of a wooden chime before falling.
The quill can only take dictation and is thus limited to writing — it can't draw or otherwise represent something that isn't a natural part of the language spoken by the user. This also means that if the language spoken has no written version, the quill doesn't take anything down. It follows the intentions of the speaker enough to never make any spelling errors and it will make simple adjustments from spoken to written language. For instance, 'gonna' would likely be written as 'going to,' unless the speaker intended otherwise.
Significance
Within circles such as academia, especially amongst Aëdelan writers, this tools is considered a sign of a true intellectual. The implication is that the owner is the kind of natural genious who might have insights or beautiful inspiration when no one else is around but they are so focused on what's within them that their discoveries might be lost if they have to deal with practical matters. No one thinks this is absolutely true, but there is enough to it to colour perceptions.
While barton value intellectual persuit to a very high degree, the quill's limitations regarding drawing makes it much less popular among them than one might expect. Descriptions of ideas are all well and fine, but relying on a Quill of Dictation can be percieved as a lack of spatial understanding. The exception is if the quill is only one of several tools used to take down one's ideas, but it should never be considered part of any final design process.
Item type
Magical
Related ethnicities
Rarity
While the Quills aren't commonly produced, they last for a long while and few bother to own more than once. This means they are very uncommon outside large cities or sites of learning, but the latter might have an excess of them. As they are most popular within the Republic of Aëdela, they are easier to find there or in any of the many ports who trade with them.
Weight
20 g
Dimensions
30 cm long
Base Price
25 gp
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