None

~39 AD

Toxai library, invisible book on an empty bookshelf.

Beatel

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When the Tindremenes took over Morin Khur, we initially tried to adapt to the situation. They brought with them plans for devices to print books.

They claimed to wish to spread the knowledge of reading and writing to the people of Morin Khur. Some took offense to this, particularly my fellow scribes, as we have our own method of writing and we train many young apprentices to read and write.

Seeing our offense, they invited us to work with them.

We compared our own method of printing, blocks of wood pressed to paper instead, and made improvements to our techniques based on them. We also began printing books in the style and method the Tindremenes use. There were many arguments about the proper Tindremic characters to represent our sounds.

Of the many disagreements, perhaps the largest was the choice of two characters, KH, to represent a sound the Tindremic language lacks. As it stands, there is no standard of how to do this, only an author's preference.

We quickly began producing books to preserve our stories, history, and tales. The distribution of them brought the attention of a Tindremene by the name of Didacus. He took particular offense to our texts concerning dragons and Geeredh and burnt many of them.

Three of our number were jailed for things they had written.

Fearing further action, many fled. Some fled westward toward the young forests, while several others and I fled through the valley to Toxai. All of us carried our books with us.

Of those who fled to Toxai, some have returned to Morin Khur. Others, including myself, remain here.

Although quite some time has passed since this event, I was approached by a young woman who wishes to learn to write and make scrolls. She reminds me of myself when I was a young man. Such a passion for the idea of reading.

Soon Toxai will have another scribe, and she will offer the perspective of one who was born and raised here without the oppressive control of Tindrem.

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