A Catalog of Losses Regained

An early attempt at a systematic assessment of the state of knowledge across multiple fields in the world after the end of the Great Forgetting, this work was a collective effort of scholars at Aberstone and Vesper and is now seen as the first solid effort to re-establish the practices of science on a firm basis. It drew heavily on the material which the Order of the Silent Word had preserved during the Great Forgetting.

Purpose

The codex was designed to provide a single, simple work of reference which would provide an overview of the state of practical knowledge in building, crafting, medicine, agriculture and animal husbandry, also acting as an index to more specific studies where such trusted works existed.
The authors declared that it was their intent not merely to document proven methods of working but further to inspire novel improvements in every field of human endeavour. They looked forward to the publication of new studies which would eventually supersede their own work.

Historical Details

Legacy

The catalog quickly became a popular work of reference, used alongside a developing apprentice system in the education of craftsmen, artisans and engineers. Reissued in a second and third edition in 95 AF and 113 AF, it always retained a strict focus as a descriptive guide to proven processes and practices in trades and crafts as they were known at the time, but it did succeed in providing a foundation for later developing sciences and technologies as its authors had hoped.

Type

Report, Scientific

Authoring Date

62 AF