copyists in Scarterra
Due to the efforts of the goddess Khemra and her servants, Scarterra has a moderately higher literacy rate than real world medieval Europe, but the fundamentals of the copyist's trade have not changed.
Scarterra doesn't have a historical equivalent to Gutenberg and thus they have no moveable type. They certainly don't have anything akin to a copy machine or fax.
The only way to have a copy of anything is to have someone physically make a copy by hand. One page at a time.
Copyists transcribe written things for money.
Career
Qualifications
Be literate.
Have good penmanship.
Have good stamina and patience.
Payment & Reimbursement
Copyists are usually paid by the piece, not by the hour. Paper and ink is usually expensive, and copyists usually provide their own ink and paper and bake that into their fees.
After deducting expenses, a typical freelance copyist can typically make five to six copper pieces a day if he or she has a full work load. The most skilled and specialized scribes capable of very precise or very rapid work can potentially make double this.
Temple scribes and court scribes that are on retainer make a lot less coin for their work, but room and board is included as part of their package. Copyists often compete fiercely to get positions like this.
Perception
Purpose
To preserve and disseminate written knowledge.
Social Status
This means everyone in the temple has to take a turn copying books, but the bulk of this falls primarily on the shoulders of the youngest and newest members....even handsome musicians. This type of boring grunt work is hardly limited to the Keepers, most priesthoods put their acolytes on copy doing from time to time. Most nobles make their sons and daughters do a copyist work to 'build character and practice penmanship'. Demand for copies is high and there aren't as many literate mortals as everyone would like, so no one was exempt from being drawn into this."-Aheneus Estalar of the Dawnby Eron12 with Hero ForgeCopyists require a high degree of literacy and that implies a lot of social status. "On the other hand, copying is viewed as grunt work, the lowest status job available for a literate person because it's a rather monotonous task. I love and honor Khemra and I do not regret choosing to represent the Lady of the Light as a career path. That said, the biggest downside for being one of Khemra's Keepers is the paper work. Khemra is the goddess of literacy, and wants to preserve the knowledge of the past into the future.
History
The Second Unmaking saw a lot of scholars dead and a lot of books destroyed.
In the immediate aftermath of the Unmaking, literacy declined greatly as immediate survival became a far greater priority than scholarship.
Intact books and scrolls from the the Second Age are more valuable than gold to the right people, but most knowledge of yesteryear had to be recreated and rediscovered from scratch. Khemra's followers, the Keepers were instrumental in preserving and recreating the lore of the past and gradually pushing literacy.
Over the centuries, as literacy and scholarship increased, the demand for scribes and copyists increased. Enough to allow trades guilds and associations to form for scribes and copyists.
Operations
Tools
Materials
Like many other things in medieval Earth and Scarterra, ink and paper varies widely in terms of quality with the fanciest papers and inks costing up to ten times more than the cheapest.
Fancier paper lasts longer longer than cheaper paper. Fancier inks smudge less and write clearer.
Candles and lantern oil is pretty expensive. Most Scarteran copyists rise and retire with the sun much as it is is with manual laborers, though some copyists have greater access to artificial lighting than the average Scarterrans.
Provided Services
Wanted posters need lots of copies, including copies of the portrait. Flyers for entertainers also need portraits to be copied. Royal decrees and announcements (and similar messages from dukes and counts and the like) need to be spread far and wide, so copies of these things need to be made. Most landed nobles have at least one copyist or scribe on full-time retainer. Books and scrolls don't last forever and need to be periodically re-transcribed to be preserved. Most libraries and archives have a staff primarily if not exclusively hired to make copies of things they already have in order that they are not lost. This is the most important task we are called on to do to make sure we do it perfectly."-Zeroks the gnome, maker of fine copiesby me with Hero Forge"By job, the most common thing copyists are hired to do is to write letters. Literacy is not a yes/no binary, literacy is a spectrum. Most Scarterrans, even commoners, can read and write a little bit, but not especially well. It's fairly common when Scarterrans need to send an important letter, they will write a draft themselves and then pay a copyist to make a cleaner, neater, and more eloquently written version of their letter. By volume, the most common thing copyists do is make books. Since each page needs to be copied manually, a single book is a lot of work for copyists. This is the main reason that books are so expensive.
Alternative Names
scribes, writers, scriveners
Type
Artisan
Demand
high
Legality
Professional copyists usually go through an apprenticeship like most other skilled profession.
Most large population centers have a Writers Guild or Copyists Guild to set regulations. Like with other trades, Copyist's Guilds exist to make sure every declared tradesman meets a minimum standard of quality.
Other Associated professions
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