‘One day, a Scribe named Noelon di Foerssen announced that he had made an ingenious discovery. By taking the simplest of characters, and assigning to them all of the specific oral sounds used in speech, he found that less than fifty of these were needed, compared to the two-hundred-fifty-thousand-some-odd characters then in use. The implications, of course, were seen right away. What began as a method to record commerce, became the means to record our oral traditions.
‘Thus began the Written Word, which changed everything, including ourselves, absolutely and forever.’
Haloch paused from his work to change nibs on his stylus, and to gather his thoughts. The false Adjunct used this opportunity to flex his cramped muscles as he waited for the old Scribe to speak once more.
Finally continuing, Haloch said, ‘The early Scribes thus began writing everything down to better preserve their records and their knowledge. But this simple act altered everything in two ways. Once the Lore became Written Knowledge, it ceased to change, and took on a character that was completely different from that of our lesser Faerie kindred. It was no longer purely a thing of Nature. Rather, it became a thing of Power and of Control, becoming rigid and inflexible.
‘Undeterred, generations of scholars began adding their own knowledge and experience to the Elven Lore, and it grew until it seemed to possess a life all its own. Indeed, the knowledge contained therein soon passed beyond the scope or ken of any one individual, being far too potent for any being, mortal or otherwise, to wield without grave risk.