Notes on Gloranthan Writing Technologies (Long)

From: Peter Larsen <plarsen_at_mail.utexas.edu>
Date: Fri, 6 Oct 2000 18:43:22 -0700

        I'm studying writing technologies this semester, so to completely avoid my graduate studies, I've been thinking about how different Gloranthan cultures would write. This is very much a work in progress, so any comments would be very helpful.

        In the West, the literate arts are highly advanced, although no doubt limited by caste. The writing surface of choice is parchment, although other materials may occasionally be used. The hides of goats and sheep are preferred, although cow skin may be used for common documents. Iron gall ink is the preferred medium, although a wide range of pigments appear in illuminations. Writing instruments are quill pens or sharpened reeds. The codex (book of leaves) is the most common written artifact, although short legal documents are presented as scrolls or loose sheets. The Western system dominates the surrounding lands, so both Fronela and Ralios (mostly) use parchment and codicies.

        Rational: The West is like Medieval Europe. With paper unavailable, parchment is a very good second choice (a good first choice, too). If parchment is the primary surface, iron gall ink (or something like it) is necessary. Iron gall ink burns into the parchment, rendering itself indelible, and the only real drawback is the damage caused by excessively acid ink (the acid is added to clarify the ink, something which could easily be done with sorcery).

        Peloria also has an advanced literary society, although literacy is more likely determined by career than caste. Since ancient times, the Buserian Priest-Bureaucrats have recorded religious and governmental records on clay tablets and papyrus scrolls, using sacred ideograms (I suspect there are at least two sets of symbols, one for clay and one for papyrus). Tablets, of course, don't require ink, but the papyrus is written on with coal black ink and thin red ochre paint. Other colors would be possible, especially for fancy documents, but red and black would be the standard. The wood stylus and reed pen are the tools of the scribe and priest. Tablets are kept in piles or boxes and papyrus forms rolls of standard lengths. Important public announcements are written on stele which are illustrated for the benefit of the illiterate Many.

        Rational: Again, based on the most common images of Peloria, the ancient Middle East with a little Egypt thrown in (it is a river culture, after all). I suppose the reed used for papyrus can't be papyrus (which probably wouldn't grow in an area with harsh winters), but something similar. Coal black (or lamp black) is a very simple ink which works well on porous surfaces (i.e. not parchment).

        Pelanda is a cypher to me at the moment. I suppose the ancient Greek model would work, but its been largely bulldozed by the Carmanians.

        Esrolia (and the rest of the Holy Country) is considerably less literate than either of the above cultures. The priestesses of the various Earth goddesses carve symbols in clay and rock, possibly using only their fingers. Papyrus, earth pigments, and pens are used for less sacred and permanent communication. Other cultures in the area use different techniques; in Calandraland, stone carvings serve the needs of the fire-obsessed inhabitants. The Orlanthi of the area are as illiterate as other Orlanthi.

        Rational: the ancient Mediterranean, with perhaps too much reliance on Egypt. If it's desirable to separate Pelorian and Esrolian "papyrus," one culture could slice the pith finely and create a more latticed surface, while the other could "unroll" the pith and laminate the resulting sheets together.

        The Orlanthi, wherever they are found, are mostly illiterate; they have an oral culture. What writing is done by the Lawspeakers who carve runes into stone and wood. Sheets of barks painted with relatively simple ink (probably lamp black) and paints would serve the modest "transportable" document needs of early Orlanthi society. Knives and brushes seem likely as the most common tools. Multiple sheets of bark could be strung on thongs.

        Rational: Drawing on Celtic and Germanic models, I also feel that a "windy" culture would put more store on words than symbols.

        Prax and Pent are both largely illiterate. The "knot-writing" of the Praxians is too crude to be a real written medium, although it serves its relatively modest aims admirably. I don't really know enough about Pent -- I suspect they draw on both Peloria and Kraloria for inspiration, although they almost certainly use parchment or hide as the surface. Lamp black would be fairly easy to come by, and both the Pentians and Praxians could have traditions of "picture hides" -- simple pictorial messages painted on leather (no doubt used as tents and other useful items).

        Rational: Inspirations are the Scythians, the Plains Indians, Huns, Mongols, and other steppes peoples. None are famous for being literate, although they all seemed to have had rich pictorial art.

        Kraloria is the only place where true paper is found. They use many varieties of carbon black ink, carefully formulated for various uses. Karlorian paper is made from fibers drawn from the bark of several bushes. Silk (and other cloth) is occasionally used as a writing surface. Various formulations of paper and ink are the secrets of families who have been making paper since before the Dawn. The writing instrument is the brush; many varieties exist. Although the ideograms remain constant (or relatively so), changes in calligraphy styles render early documents potentially illegible to non-scholars. Despite this, literacy is fairly high, with even many peasants able to read important characters. Public proclamations are common. Scrolls are common, but Teshnan "leaf strings" and Western codices are also known.

        Rational: Kraloria is very similar to China, obviously, although the fiber sources are drawn from Japan. I'm unclear on whether the Kralorians use rag-fiber paper or not, although it doesn't make much difference either way.

        Teshnos has a fairly large literate population, although it does not approach Kraloria. Their main writing surfaces are "rice paper," the wood of a particular tree peeled off the trunk to make a beautiful smooth surface that takes pigment wonderfully. They mostly use carbon black ink and various pigments. Sacred scriptures are written on thin wooden "leaves" in the shape of a long oblong which are pierced several times along the long meridian and laced shut to form packages for storing. These are inscribed with sharp styli dipped in ink. There is some importation of Kralori paper, but it doesn't last well in the humidity.

        Rational: India and South East Asia are the inspirations here.

        Vithela uses many different methods, although most cultures make some use of lamp black for ink. The most common writing surfaces are bark cloth (hammered bark) and "rice paper," although the trees used are different than those in Teshnos. Some cultures use broad leaves, some rely on carvings (stone and wood) or tattoos, while some are wholly illiterate. More northerly islands may have access to paper technology, if they have contact with Kraloria. Reed pen, wooden styli, and brushes are used as tools.

        Rational: South East Asia and Oceania are the models for Vithela. The various islands are fragmented enough that I suspect each island or chain is pretty different in how they approach record keeping.

        Pamaltela is pretty opaque to me. Fonrit probably has a well-developed literary tradition. The various Agimori cultures have different needs, but I suspect they have more oral cultures, much like the Praxians and Pentians.

        The non-humans are mostly illiterate, having little use for written language (Aldryami) or senses ill-suited for it (Uz). The Mostali might have a written language, but then again, they may just orally transmit the extremely limited data each individual needs to do their job. Heaven alone knows what the Dragonewts do.

        I have described what I think the native writing technologies might be for each area. Of course, migrations have occurred. The Carmanians brought Western ideas to Pelanda and likely suppressed or destroyed native skills. When the Carmanians conquered Peloria, they brought their ideas on literacy with them. The Lunars have adopted many of these ideas and spread them further. Practically speaking, I suspect that the codex, parchment, and iron gall ink has become common all through Genertela, at least as far east as Pavis. Iron gall ink is the stickler in the less iron-rich Peloria. Perhaps magic can make traditional inks work with parchment, perhaps bronze works in the formula in Glorantha (Gloranthan Bronze seems a lot more like RW iron), or perhaps copperas (Iron Sulfate) which is a component in most iron gall recipes from the Middle Ages is really Gloranthan copper. Besides the Carmanian-Lunar route, Western influences spread by merchant prince into Maniria, and the Middle Sea Empire could have introduced Western writing technology to any coastal peoples. Similarly, both the Bright Empire and the EWF had potential to introduce literacy to the Orlanthi, and the Pharaoh could have easily brought a single alphabet/character set to Kelthia. So, while formal presentations from the Busarii of Yuthuppa come to the Emperor in sacred ideograms written with traditional reed pens on papyrus, most business in the Empire uses the more efficient parchment/quill/codex system.

        This probably applies to alphabets, too. In the RW, writing is nearly ubiquitous, but alphabets (a symbol equals a sound) appeared only in the Middle East/Europe and they all seem to radiate out from a starting point. While Peter Metcalfe has fairly well defended the idea of a Malkoni alphabet , most other Gloranthan "alphabets" are probably characters representing words and complex sounds instead. Now, these character sets have several disadvantages compared to alphabets (difficulty of learning, for one), and I suspect that there have been many "Saint Cyrils" from the West (especially Godlearners) designing alphabets for various languages. Similarly, New Pelorian probably uses a lettered alphabet based on Carmanian. So the well rounded Busarian scribe would be able to write the extremely holy and complex hieroglyphics of the Sacred Language, the derivative and simplified ideographs of Tax and Legal Language, perhaps a further simplified Common Language used for communications between normal people, the alphabetical New Pelorian and Carmanian (are they the same alphabet or merely similar?), and maybe the debased syllabaries used by the Darjiinians (are they literate?), the Alkothi, etc.. Most, obviously, would not be up to this standard.

        One last point: I don't think Glorantha should have printing; it is very un-bronze age. Furthermore, it seems to me that Kraloria is the only place where it is likely that even a significant minority of the population is more than slightly literate.

Peter Larsen


End of The Glorantha Digest V8 #65


Powered by hypermail