Publication in the Domains of Dread

[IanFordam]

Over in the "What I would like for QtR#30" thread, a discussion has arisen about what articles and books which various darklords might have written. As part of that thread, Manofevil wrote:

In doing all of this, we should also clarify the publication situation in the demiplane. Writing things is great but unless they're published they just sit in a drawer someplace....

Who's the printer? Where is he located? How did they become the printer of all these things? There can be more than one, too.

In the interest of pursuing this question without completely hijacking the original purpose of the original thread (and making the discussion easier to find in the future, if anyone should care to do so), I've started this new thread.

As for how these various manuscripts are published: The Survey on the Zherisian Expedition (p.41) contains an entire description of the history of "The Press" in Paridon. Curiously, the same section also asserts that "the modern printing press emerged from the inventive workshops of Chateaufaux less that two decades ago". So we have a netbook-canonical indication that the printing press not only exists within the Last of Mists but within the Core.

(Also, even if the Lamordians did not invent the printing press in the Core, can you really see them leaving the concept alone once they hear of it?)

However, even in places where new technologies face painfully slow adoption, there is always the possibility of manual copying. In my campaign, for example, there is a scriptorium in Armeikos dedicated to such work. Although its clerks started off making copies of sheet music, they now copy a considerable amount of material for the University of Liffe. Similarly, the most junior priests of the Mind of Zhakata spend hours copying and recopying the Law of Zhakata as recorded in the Words of the Prophet. There isn't much demand for these writings outside of the Zhukar Library of Enlightment, but the Library is ready if the need should arise.

So. Although we have established printing presses and the feasibility of manual copying, the question remains: Who, exactly, does publish all of the "Dead Travel Fast" romances?

[Mephisto of the FoS]

Don't forget that Domain Cultural Levels were created to answer questions like these. Gutenberg's printing press was invented in 1440 so any domain of Chivalric and Renaissance CL are supposed to have printing presses.

But woodblock printing existed even before that era in China. Woodblock print flower patterns applied to silk in three colours have been found dated from the Han dynasty, before AD 220.

[IanFordam]

Excellent point!

[The Lesser Evil]

Gaz III (p. 30) mentions a haunted printing press in Chateaufaux as of 746 BC, printing perverse messages in the dead of night to make its owner Jules D'Aubigne abandon and brick up his home where it was held.

The appropriately if uncreatively named Printer's Shop is a print shop in Paridon and also where its newspaper, the Newsbill is printed. (Hour of the Knife p. 32.)

Vecna had a scriptorium operated by several zombie scribes in Cavitius (Die Vecna Die p. 77)

In netbook canon, the Anchors of Faith article in the Book of Secrets (p. 30) states that the Dementlieuse sect recently obtained a printing press. They can thus create more Ezran holy texts in but a fraction of the time and cost than they could otherwise and provides valuable service to the rest of the sects. The Divinity of Mankind might have their own printing press for the spread of knowledge and such. I would imagine the other major religions of Ravenloft would have their own dedicated scribes responsible for producing scriptures and the like as well as other relevant tomes of lore.

[Speedwagon]

Vecna had a scriptorium operated by several zombie scribes in Cavitius (Die Vecna Die p. 77)

He does?! Checks copy of Die Vecna Die oh wow he really does! That has soooo many opportunities. Vecna could publish so many foul texts or debilitating secrets with that, all he needs is a courier service to deliver messages across the Mists. I’m definitely using this for my upcoming Burning Peaks gazetteer. Thanks for bringing this up!

[The Lesser Evil]

Vecna had a scriptorium operated by several zombie scribes in Cavitius (Die Vecna Die p. 77)

He does?! Checks copy of Die Vecna Die oh wow he really does! That has soooo many opportunities. Vecna could publish so many foul texts or debilitating secrets with that, all he needs is a courier service to deliver messages across the Mists. I’m definitely using this for my upcoming Burning Peaks gazetteer. Thanks for bringing this up!

His cult could always been a possibility. If you want to be a little bit whimsical, perhaps they publish books like the Dead Travel Fast series as a cover?

More seriously, in the Tales of Ravenloft short story "The Briar at the Window" (discussed on p 88-90), it's stated that Lord Godefroy receives mail at his manor from some unknown, unseen force once per week (though he doesn't really care to understand how.) He seems to get mail from all sorts of unsavory characters, evil wizards who meddle in the affairs of darklords and a vile vivisectionist named Narvis that actually sounds a lot like Frantisek Markov. So it's not too much of a stretch that there might be the work of the Dark Powers or some other unseen dread presence delivering stuff throughout the demiplane. (Even if this was a special power of only Godefroy, he could act as an go between for various evils in Ravenloft this way).

Another option might be the Red Vardo Trading Company- In To Sleep With Evil, Montarri has this haunted or magical black carriage that can navigate the Mists. I could also see the Gentleman Caller doing this once in a while, he's got his fingers in all sorts of evils these days. He taught Madame Radanavich how to summon and bind spirits, for example.

[Speedwagon]

Vecna had a scriptorium operated by several zombie scribes in Cavitius (Die Vecna Die p. 77)

He does?! Checks copy of Die Vecna Die oh wow he really does! That has soooo many opportunities. Vecna could publish so many foul texts or debilitating secrets with that, all he needs is a courier service to deliver messages across the Mists. I’m definitely using this for my upcoming Burning Peaks gazetteer. Thanks for bringing this up!

His cult could always been a possibility. If you want to be a little bit whimsical, perhaps they publish books like the Dead Travel Fast series as a cover?

More seriously, in the Tales of Ravenloft short story "The Briar at the Window" (discussed on p 88-90), it's stated that Lord Godefroy receives mail at his manor from some unknown, unseen force once per week (though he doesn't really care to understand how.) He seems to get mail from all sorts of unsavory characters, evil wizards who meddle in the affairs of darklords and a vile vivisectionist named Narvis that actually sounds a lot like Frantisek Markov. So it's not too much of a stretch that there might be the work of the Dark Powers or some other unseen dread presence delivering stuff throughout the demiplane. (Even if this was a special power of only Godefroy, he could act as an go between for various evils in Ravenloft this way).

Another option might be the Red Vardo Trading Company- In To Sleep With Evil, Montarri has this haunted or magical black carriage that can navigate the Mists. I could also see the Gentleman Caller doing this once in a while, he's got his fingers in all sorts of evils these days. He taught Madame Radanavich how to summon and bind spirits, for example.

Those are all definitely good options! I'm also reminded of something I found in the Fraternity of Shadows site but I don't really remember where it was stored (definitely not the library). It was a Dread Possibility called the Guild of the White Pigeon, that served to answer the question of the whereabouts of some high-profile Fiends (Inajira, the Black Duke, and Drigor) while also giving the Core and other domains a courier servicer. From what I remember, the three of them decided to team up to get out of Ravenloft somehow, and made a mailing service as a front to that end, using their Reality Wrinkles to let mail-riders pass through domain borders regardless of whether they were opened or closed. They also managed to strong-arm/threaten Godefroy into letting them base their guild in Mordent, and they also managed to recruit other fiends to their cause, like Elsepeth. I thought it was a really interesting idea and that could certainly tie into the theme of publication in the Domains of Dread.

But I most definitely will be use the idea of the Cult of Vecna publishing things, though maybe not them publishing the Dead Travel Fast series (as cringeworthy as it may be, the lands in the Mists have to have at least something that isn't secretly evil in some fashion). I wouldn't be surprised if the Cult of Vecna tried to approach various Darklords with the offer of getting their thoughts and works out into the world via publications in exchange for a favor or something like that. For the very lonely or isolated Darklords that have only their thoughts (and by extension their writings) to serve them as company, this could be too good a deal to pass up...

[Mephisto of the FoS]

https://www.fraternityofshadows.com/The ... igeon.html

Although I am not a fan of this idea...

[IanFordam]

Faber and Bertaldo, a publishing house out of Borca, has striven to cash in on the success of the "Romance Beyond the Grave" series of romance novels. However, except for reprints of Mrs. Felicia Henry's "The Sorcerer and the Succubus", its imitations found little success. Recently, though, Faber and Bertaldo has done reasonably well by taking the risky step of publishing novels which claim to be autobiographies of the rulers of various lands of the Core and beyond. (Nobody thinks that they are ACTUALLY autobiographies, though. Clearly they're not.)

Also worth noting is that Faber and Bertaldo have not published one of these "autobiographies" about either Ivana Boritsi or Ivan Dilisnya. The publishers are desperate, but not that desperate. Or that foolish.