Soul Bound

1        Soul Bound

1.3      Making a Splash

1.3.1    An Obligated Noble

1.3.1.7  Venerated books

When they entered Tori was scribbling on a sheet of paper, which she finished with a flourish then passed to Bungo, who held it up for everyone to see.

Tori: “Here you go. One handy dandy social events guide, as promised. I also added the tedious business stuff, so Herberto can’t moan at me.”

Lammas Carnivale Calendar, for the 1600th year after the founding of the 2nd Empire

Last month of Summer : KrevinBelember

14th day (Zerday full) - Visited House Landi, and were mean to poor Tori

15th day (Lunday wain) - Each business holds a meeting in preparation for guild meeting

16th day (Covday wain) - Villages select farmers to represent them at the Lammas Fair

17th day (Morday wain) - Each guild holds a meeting in preparation for inter-guild meeting

18th day (Krevday wain) - The Walking of the Bounds

19th day (Droday wain) - Start of the Lammas Fair (mainly farm produce)

- Quarterly inter-guild meeting

- Parties hosted by Houses Tertius

20th day (Racday wain) - Auspicious day for announcing new projects

- Parties hosted by Houses Secundus

- ** The Flight of Luna **

21st day (Zerday wain) - Last day of the Lammas Fair

- Parties hosted by embassies and Houses Primus

First month of Autumn : LuninCovember

1st day (Lunday wax) - "Day of Reconciliation"

Usually the day specified for the start or truces and peace treaties.

In theory, a day to forgive enemies. Mainly known by nobles for

** The Masked Ball ** ← it’s fun, go if you can!

2nd day (Covday wax) - "Day of Reflection"

The Carnivale Float Parade. ← mind your pockets don’t get picked

In theory, a day to think back on the past and learn from your mistakes

3rd day (Morday wax) - "Day of Gratitude"

In theory, we display gratitude for good harvests by holding feasts

In practice, the busiest day of the year for the Scorpioni

4th day (Krevday wax) - "Day of Judgement"

Anything involving picking a winner, from cheese rolling to horse racing

In theory, the day that those offending Cov face his justice

5th day (Droday wax) - "Day of Joining"

A popular day for holding weddings, but any form of alliance counts

6th day (Racday wax) - "Day of Direction"

In theory a day for solo meditation upon the course you wish to take in life

In practice, a day to nurse the hangover you got from attending weddings

7th day (Zerday wax) - "Day of Anticipation"

The last day of Carnivale before business as normal resumes

People welcome autumn in various ways, from **flying kites** to writing down

wishes then sealing them in bottles which they throw out to sea.

Tori: “I put stars by my recommended picks. The cheese rolling can be funny, but most of the nobles prefer the horse trials over at Alto.”

Bungo: “Tori, this is amazing. Thank you!”

He bowed to her and, perhaps thanks to his high DEX score, managed to make it look good. From a doorway behind him entered a long-limbed man with a narrow jaw and a high forehead surmounted by a shock of gravity-defying hair.

Wellington: “High Master Mage Camillo! It is good to see you again.”

Kafana hadn’t met him while at Villa Landi, but on the first day of the Wombles' adventures in Soul Bound he’d been a guest of the Lord, and his looks were familiar; he must have been present in the background at the feast, though her memories of that occasion were rather confused. She did remember that he was an expert at reality magic, and had spent time with Wellington in the Villa’s library.

Camillo nodded to Wellington in acknowledgement of his greeting, but turned to address the two Landi siblings first. She wondered why, then felt an intuition in her mind: =the siblings held social rank 3 just from being kindred of a House Primus, Camillo held social rank 2 from being a High Master, and the Wombles had no rank at all. Etiquette required Camillo to greet the siblings first.=

Was that from her Etiquette (noble) skill? It was a little scary that a game running on her tiara could insert a thought so well, that it was difficult to tell whether or not the thought had been her own. She blanked out Camillo’s exchange with Herberto, something to do with a vault, and sent a query to the expert system on her own tiara:

Kafana: {Minion, can you give thoughts the game sends me a different flavour, so I don’t mistake them for my own?}

Minion: [Nadine, one of issues addressed by Brain Shield patch you had Balthazar write is attempts to use thought insertion maliciously. I can certainly extend that to non-malicious insertions, however it may interfere with how real the game world feels to you.]

Kafana: {Hmm. Good to know. Leave it as is, for now. No, wait, if a thought insertion from a skill made me inclined to do something out of character like beating an NPC beggar, because Torello’s etiquette said to, that wouldn’t count as a malicious exploit, would it?}

Minion: [That is correct. The patch currently only treats things harming you in arlife or making you vulnerable to harm in arlife as malicious.]

Kafana: {OK. New directive: please also highlight thought insertions that Melchior judges to be incompatible with my personal ethics. I want to be able to recognise them as not coming from me.}

Minion had already been part of the tiara created by Alderney and Wellington when they’d gifted it to her, but Balthazar and Melchior were some of the new expert systems that she’d specified. Unlike the other Wombles, she was still very new to using this technology, and didn’t really know which system she should be asking to do what - she relied upon them being like a well-intentioned close-knit family, and working nicely together. So far they had. She put the matter out of her mind, and returned to the online conversation.

Camillo: “Tori Landi, putting quill to paper - an unusual day indeed. Have you forsaken your sword at last, and taken up the ways of a scholar?”

Tori: “Is beating an achlis over the head with a book more effective than using a sword?” She shook her head. “No, Master. The day I abandon the blade, all Covob will be Seth-shatter, Nahas will freeze deeper than the Cradle of Wastes, and the High King shall return once more.”

Camillo: “Adventurer Wellington Fiducia, well met. What brings you here? I trust you and your friends are in good health?”

Wellington paused a moment, as though he were listening to a cue, and then replied: “Good health indeed, and we are brought hither by friendship, curiosity and a need for books and wise advice upon magic. But, come, let me first introduce them.” which he proceeded to do, so smoothly that even Bartola could not have faulted his manners, naming the teachers they were under for each of their professions.

Camillo didn’t react to Kafana being Columbina’s journeyman in cooking or Suor Isabella’s journeyman in serving the deities, but he did blink at mention of her being a spell-singer under Captain Nafaro who was Torello’s Grand Master Water, and Wellington’s journeymanship under Johannes who was Torello’s Grand Master Light. Bulgaria being a mage under Ruffiana and Bungo being a mage under Flavio and Olga just got a nod.

After the introductions were concluded, Wellington mentioned his decision not to apprentice as a bibliomancer under Lord Zeno, the Count of Libri, on the grounds that Bungo was already a seer and duplicating skills seemed inefficient.

Camillo: “One can never have too many bibliomancers. They’re rare because it requires talent in both seeing and reality magic. Familiarity with runes, gestalts and mind magic also combine well with it. And they are very much in demand. After all, books are repositories of wisdom, the great leveller that each benefits from in measure to the effort they put in, the very heart of civilisation.”

Tori: “If you can find those pearls of wisdom, among the rants about whether toenail clippings should be destroyed so they don’t get used for curses.”

Camillo: “A high level bibliomancer can find the exact tome or even the precise page and line, that bears upon a seeker’s intent.”

Herberto: “At Samhain, just before the seas become dangerously stormy, Pentapolis hosts a great Book Fair in honour of Rac. I was there a few years ago, bidding on behalf of my father at an Antiquities Auction, and got to wander around it. Teams of mages jostled for position before the door like hounds before a hunt. When the doors opened each team raced in, led by a bibliomancer, determined to lay claim to the pick of the new treasures. Three academics from the history department were trampled in the crush, and one had to be sent to the healers still clutching a slim vellum folio with his broken arm.”

Tori: “Foolishness!”

Camillo: “In his life, a man may meet and converse with a thousand people and, if he is lucky, a handful of those thousand will spend a few minutes sharing wisdom that inspires and improves him. But with a library, ah, in a library such as this one you can get hours of attention from not just the brightest minds alive today in one city, but from the greatest minds in all of history and from every corner of the world.”

Tori: “A book can’t teach you the way another person can, a person who can answer your questions and see where you’re going wrong. Who says that someone has to write books in order to be great? Some of the best and bravest people I ever met, the ones who taught me the most and inspired me the most, couldn’t even write their own name.”

Alderney stepped in, and drew Tori off.

Alderney: “Hey Tori, can you show me where Domatore’s breeding notes are shelved? Also, would it be possible for my Vessel to visit some time? She likes libraries. Is she a Guest of House Landi too? How does that work? What if...”

The deluge of ideas and questions didn’t stop, but faded into the background, as they sped up a ladder straight through a hole in the ceiling, faster than a pair of greased weasels.

Tomsk: {I’ll go with them. Meet at the music room?}

Bungo: {Go ahead. I’ll arrange it with Herberto and catch up with you. Divide and conquer.}

A minute later, Kafana found herself in a more relaxed room, with just Herberto, Camillo, Wellington and Bulgaria. Being able to multitask was nice, but it was a bit exhausting. Did it have a stamina cost rather than a mana cost? She’d have to check later, and talk with Alderney to find out what it felt like to someone viewing the sense recording her tiara made for later broadcast.

Camillo: “Ah, well, perhaps that’s enough upon the virtues of the written word. Herberto said you have less than a bell before you’re due to meet Lord Landi in the auditorium. What questions are you curious about today, that I can help you with?”