Scribe Order

Scribe Order
Order
Origins	City of Regalia

The Scribe Order sometimes also referred to as the Order of Scribes or Scribarium, is a Guild that has been around since the founding of the Regalian Empire, and was primarily created by the Solvaan Elves as a means to preserve history in an Empire that was ruled by Ailor, who are comparatively short-living and easy to forget history passing from generation to generation. The Scribe Order has silently recorded the events of Regalian history, albeit with a Regalian bias, and can in many ways be considered the quintessential source for historical nuance and information that is often lost in the history books. The Scribe Order also expanded to include scholars who use their libraries as a resource, historians who use it to debate historical context, and bureaucrats who use historical precedent for legislation and paperwork. The Scribe Order is in general seen as the quintessential education Guild, which also manages the majority of the public and private schools in Regalia, and also offers tutoring lessons for those who are illiterate.

Design

There are no design limitations on the Scribe Order's Guild members. The Scribe Order prides itself in being a neutral common ground, even for purists and the Occult, who have a common interest in the correct interpretation of history and fact. While the individual ideologies of the members might violently conflict outside of their work, there is a general rule that internally, none of the members may commit violence or verbal assault on any other member, even if they can do so at people outside the Guild. Any person of any age, heritage, gender, affliction, affinity, occult or purist, social class, religion etc is permitted to join, and the Guild does not discriminate even against Vampires, with their Guild headquarters being neutral ground where even Knights cannot arrest the Occult or criminals, though how they get in and out of the Guild Headquarters without being caught may be a problem for another time. Those who violate the sanctity of the Guild's HQ and internal neutrality and peace are expelled from the Guild. The Scribe Guild does not currently have a formal headquarters in Regalia as it is under renovation, however the Order has temporarily assigned the Regalian Lecture Hall (next to the Conference Hall close to /tp Regalia, white building surrounded by water), as their Guild HQ, which is where the neutrality truce applies.

Recommended Jobs

Recommended Jobs is not strictly a required set of Jobs like it is for the Knight Orders, but just a general recommendation towards the players where best to apply this particular Guild Membership in Roleplay.

• Historian: Progressions and Events can sometimes come across as overwhelmingly difficult to understand, or fail to explain the nuance of what happens. Many groups in roleplay benefit from that one person who has read all the important progressions and understands the sequence of events in the server's 10+ years of history. These people may provide invaluable input to prevent mistakes from being made during pivotal moments, but requires a love for reading.
• Fact Checker: Player Characters, and especially Event Characters, can lie and be duplicitous. A Fact Checker or some kind of Noble Scribe is invaluable to any group that attempts to engage in politics on the global or local stage, because having all the wrong facts results in all the wrong decisions. A Fact Checker needs to be quick on their feet to know where to look for specific information on the Wiki, cross reference, and Ticket where necessary for unmentioned info.
• High Advisor: Naturally Scribe Guild members are intellectuals, and as such might have a wealth of insight and knowledge about day to day ongoings that makes them have a very important input on decisions made by those in higher positions of power. Scribe Guild Advisors are particularly useful to those who do not yet fully grasp the nuances of social interactions between the various guilds, or can warn for legal, royal, economic or historical complications.

Mechanics

Guild Mechanics facilitate certain interactions that might not normally possible for people outside of Guild membership who do not have the Guild's resources. Guild Mechanics are always Mundane and do not make a Character Occult, and are contingent on being a Guild Member. Some Guilds have special rules which are required for the Mechanic. This means that membership is not contingent on these requirements, but that unlocking the Mechanic is, so that these strict guidelines don't needlessly block membership, but still gate-keep the actual Mechanic behind conforming to a Character design.

Scribe Order Mechanics

• Scribe Order Members may appeal to Scholarly research during Staff Events that may give them more historical insight to see through an Event NPC lying about the facts (consult with Event DM).
• Scribe Order Members may request additional research material after Staff Events or Progression Events in Staff Ticket, which may or may not be provided depending availability and Staff input.
• Note: Both mechanics must be used shortly after the events or Progressions in question. If these Mechanics are used on events that have been "done" for weeks/a month, we may decline their usage.

History

Many groups have risen across history to record the words, deeds, and thoughts of people great, terrible, and ordinary, both in life or after they died. In most tribal societies, this role was carried out by village elders, who taught younger members certain stories and arts to carry on, including the telling of histories, or the drawing or writing of them upon animal skins or cave walls. But as the ages wore on and formal states rose, so too did the importance of such figures and their modern descendent, the scribe. The art of the written word became their greatest weapon, and they could help enact great sweeping changes for the benefit of all by writing and helping proliferate decrees or damn a king to ruin after his death by retelling his life in a way to suit those who overthrew him. The Scribe Guild, one the largest organizations in this tradition of keeping histories, owes its existence to the cold, calculating, and blunt opinion of the Solvaan Elves.

After the beginning of the Five Family Rebellion, several Solvaan mercenaries saw with their own eyes how the rewriting of history took place in real-time among the many Ailor and Eronidas levies surrounding them. From not trusting the soldiers in the next camp over, to calling them brothers, to finally calling them part of the same unofficial nation, the Solvaan surmised that the short memory of the Ailor would doom them and the state the Five Families were already beginning to plan on creating in the future. When the Regalian Empire was declared soon after, a Solvaan delegation approached Emperor Theomar with this opinion, and rather than be offended by their words, he agreed with their assessment. He thus drafted one of the first Imperial charters, for what became the Scribe Guild, and laid its creation at the feet of three individuals. The first was a Solvaan scribe and part-time mercenary, Seilliri Vilisaal Bel-Callaï, who became an expert on the history of warfare, politics, and nations. The second was a Narim named David, and he became an expert in the Occult and brought to light much of the baseline knowledge modern Aloria has on the horrors that lurked under the capital city. The last figure was an orphaned Anglian Ailor, Beyrend van Boek, and he devoted himself to the study of the natural world, geography, and the early Alorian sciences.

These three founders, often called The Three Chartered Scribes by the Guild’s members today, were rapidly joined by dozens of other literate people from across the fledgling Regalian Empire. However, for many years, the organization’s base remained a core of Solvaan scholars who helped to guide the group and set its policies. Eronidas philosophy was quickly added to the knowledge base of the group, followed by the mythic tales of the Breizh people, then the theologies of the new realm’s many faiths, and this accumulation of knowledge carried on for decades to come. The Guild worked to establish libraries in the capitals of many provinces across the early Empire to collect this knowledge. As Regalia’s armies marched across Corontium and the Emperors decreed and politicked, the Scribe Order watched on and recorded. They helped to reinforce the impartial view of Emperors after their passing by writing unbiased histories of the men’s lives, just as they helped collect, store, and catalog the world across the Empire. At times, this neutral stance was threatened, such as during the reign of Arch Chancellor Morgan Kade given the expansion of Ithanian power in the Imperial Court.

While inevitably more biased towards Regalian events, the Order does not allow broader biases to impact their transcripts. Even at the height of the Skagger Wars, Scribe Order members were engaging in explorations of the Fornoss faith and sought to understand Velheim kingdoms old and new. This dedication to larger perspectives remains today, even in the charged climate of opinions on affairs involving the Occult, the Empire’s stumbling politics, and the desire for the scholarly community to better understand the Ordial realm, newly recognized by the Scribe Order in 311 AC. Legislation on education has expanded over time, and the Order’s members are now as ubiquitous as ever, found in both urban centers, and more rural environments, teaching, learning, writing, or investigating.