Re: Lhankhor Mhy book protection

From: themalum <rmv1_at_...>
Date: Tue, 12 Mar 2002 16:02:03 -0000


> A few further points -- none of these systems will have
> anything like a card catalog. At best, the various
> "volumes" will be recorded on shelf lists, which are
> more inventories than finding aids. Indexing and cross-
> referencing seems pretty much unlikely. You find about
> specific title through friends and mentions in other
> sources; bibliographies are limited to the minds of the
> scholars (and Thanatari heads, I suppose, for the
> unsqueamish).

Respectfully, I must disagree. While a *modern* classification system is fabulously unlikely (even given the magical reality of Glorantha), there are classic indexing methods that will be in use. If we are going by medieval examples, then colored inks and illumination are used to indicate "chapters", "subject content" and otherwise make it possible to navigate a manuscript without rereading the whole thing. If we are talking more ancient sources, then they have likely been rebound -- different sections likely have been pirated from different scrolls, thus having different paper, inks, etc. While not really intentional, it does make it possible to skip to what you want, if you know it. Marginalia are also fairly common in non-religious tracts. I'm not saying they'll be well-organized by any means, but each sage should be able to navigate his own "library" with reasonable speed.

> Jane Average Gloranthan, even if literate (making her
> not average), will need to go to a B, LM, or OI to find
> anything. Besides, no one is going to let a non-initiate
> browse in the stacks -- you ask for something by topic,
> author, or title, and you take what the cultist gives you.

I believe LM regards literacy as a cult secret; it would be incredibly unlikely to find a non-LM who is literate (not counting the ubiquitous Issaries "tally" or the common runic designations). Only initiates of LM are going to be literate (i.e., have the Literacy affinity), and remember how difficult it is to initiate to LM.

Roland

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