Paper

Date view Thread view Subject view Author view

From: Carlson, Pam (carlsonp@wdni.com)
Date: Thu 12 Dec 1996 - 21:57:00 EET

Martin Crim writes -

>I loved the Judge Dee stories, and second the notion of using them as a
basis for Kralorela. Note that Judge Dee would be executed if the
prisoner
died under torture...

I think this was a common theme in Hammurabi's laws, too. If a judge
ruled wrongly or made a poor decision, he incurred large personal
penalties. The laws left me wondering who would want to be a judge!

I think the Dara Happan/solar sytem would not have such a strong judge
penalty. By definition, a judge, who walks the path of Yelm, Keeper and
Source of all Justice, CANNOT make an error.
(Comments?)

>In order to transfer a parcel of land, the buyer and the seller have to
travel to the land in question, gather witnesses, and conduct a
ceremony.

Nice example!

>To try and get a Gloranthan line from this, how do the Lunar Empire spread
>propoganda from Glamour central - do they use broadsheets (given that most
>Orlanthi/Praxians can't read) or Gim Gim type people.

I hate to be a party-pooper, but did ancient empires really bother with
populist propoganda? Isn't it a more modern thing? (Maybe they did -
I'm open to examples.)

I can see local Lunar commanders/administrators using skalds, criers or
priests or their equivalents to get information THEY think is important,
(new taxes, curfews, or bounties), out to the locals. But does Galmour
reather bother with spin control? The rest of Glorantha's communication
moves little faster than the speed of a mule, so why should Glamour
bother to manage information for distant, illiterate, non-voting
populace?

Peter Metcalfe -

>In any case, the practice is the same. Written Documents
drafted at the highest levels are sent to all offices
detailing the truth...

Are we assuming ther LE knows how to make paper? If so, the process is
still delicate and laborious, and paper is expensive. My guess is that
cheap paper is made of reeds, or at least contains a lot of reed
fibers. Cotton, flax, silk and wool fibers would make a higher grade of
paper. (Wood pulping is pretty much beyond them, I think - unless maybe
they heat wood chips in giant kettles with gorp?) I don't see them
wasting a lot of paper printing broadsheets.

I imagine that the relative values of writing surfaces are:

slate/clay & chalk (erasesable)
clay tablets
wax tablets (eraseable)
papyrus/reed mats or scrolls
paper (made with the "slurry, screen & press" method)
vellum (sheepskin)
copper or other metal
stone

Did I miss any?

MOB:
>Hammurabi formed a surprisingly workable legal code.

yup - and it even goes into the fair prices for a goat, a donkey, a
bull, fares for boat dreyage, etc. The prices are in sheckels and gold
minas, but the relative values are all there.

Pam
(Slave to the Paper Barons)

------------------------------

Date view Thread view Subject view Author view

This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.7 : Fri 13 Jun 2003 - 16:55:33 EEST