Overview

Despite the implications of their moniker, the books themselves are neither alive nor sentient - rather, "living" refers to the continued "life" of its text, which changes, updates, alters with the will of those to whom they they are bonded. These books are books formed through a combination of magical and elemental energies which convey text and information to one another across seemingly infinite distances. Depending on the subvariety of living book, this can be one-way or two-way communication, but books can only be altered by those using a book that has been paired with it. This relatively simple enchantment has been used to truly revolutionize communication and entertainment in Emprica Sin, though like all things the books do have some limitations.    

General Information

 

Description

Living Books appear as hardbound books with a cover color and illustrations that convey the requirements to activate the specific book. They may be anything from simple, clothbound books (which are more affordable) to elaborate leatherbound volumes embossed with precious metals. The most expensive books come with locks or enchantments to prevent tampering, and may have 3-dimensional aspects to the covers, such multilayered illustrations or moving images.    

Circumstance Restricted

Each Living Book is attuned to a specific element, or some specific external factor such as the time of day; any book can only be used by a person with access to that element either through affinity or magic, or when conditions meet the external condition requirement. This means a person with an affinity for water must purchase (or construct) a living book that is also attuned to the water element. If that person is also able to use fire magic, then they have the option of either water or fire. A person with an aether affinity can choose any element. Any person can use a book specific to an outside person condition, but a person with neither an elemental affinity nor magic must choose a book with an outside factor requirement. A book that is opened without meeting the requirements will appear blank.
 

Paired with Specific Other Books

Living Books can update other Living Books, but those books must be paired by placing a torn scrap of a page from one book into the book that is meant to be updated. The book from which the scrap was taken can update the book the scrap has been placed into, so for two books to affect one another, each must hold a scrap of the other. There is no type restriction on which book can affect which books. A book can be paired with an infinite number of books, if one can find a place for an infinite number of scraps. If the scrap is lost, so is the associated one-way connection between two books.
 

Finite Length

Living Books only have as many pages as they have. Therefore, when a book has run out of pages, a new book must be purchased. This is worth noting because there is no indication for the other paired book that this has happened, which can result in lost information. The same scrap of paper can be reused.
 

No Guaranteed Privacy

Any person who meets the criteria to use a book can use the book. This means that owners must still take care to secure their privacy if there is sensitive information in the book. There is also no way to determine which paired books any added material goes to - a book that can update three other books cannot decide to only update one. Futhermore, if someone can get ahold of a living book and take a scrap from it, they can then place the scrap into their own book and receive everything written there - the bane of adulterers everywhere. This can be circumvented through applying things like magical locks or an additional enchantment to protect the book from tampering.
 

"Anonymous"

There is no obvious way to determine what book is updating a book without prior knowledge. That said, there is also no way to disguise one's handwriting aside from physically writing differently.
 

Use Cases

Living Books are extremely versatile and can be used to create an endless variety of communication webs by determining which books affect which books. However, as with all things, there are always more and less common uses for them. The most common use cases are as follows:

Mutual Pairing

A circle of 2+ books that are used to communicate with one another from afar. In this case, every book in the circle will have a scrap of every other book in the circle. This is usefal for:
  • keeping in touch if someone is on a trip or moves away. Given the physical limitations of the books, if someone is permanently relocating and wants to keep in touch with a friend, family, etc, they will often purchase multiple living books at the same time in preparation.
  • Intra-Organization communication. Organizations may also find it convenient to convey orders, concerns, suggestions, plans, etc to one another quickly and easily via a Living Book. This can be intraorganization, such as the staff of a specific shop, or inter-organization, such as various shops that have been hired to provide entertainment and decoration for a specific event.
 

Mass One-Way Communication

One-Way non-reciprocal communication from a small number of books to a larger number of books. This may be done by hand, for example if an organization wants a way for the leader to issue orders one-way, they might buy many books and distribute scraps to those books or any new ones for recruits that come into the organization. It may also be done from construction, such as books being sold with scraps of another book already sewn into the binding or cover. By far the most common use of Living Books, due to their use within organizations and for mass-entertainment or information. Examples include:
  • Serialized Fiction. An author's book scraps are presewn into different living books which are then used to keep up with an ongoing fictional saga.
  • Orders. Leadership issuing orders to subordinates of any kind.
  • Ongoing Distribution of Non-Fiction. This can involve quite serious material (e.g. important news), academic information (e.g. a historical record on a specific topic that updates as new events or discoveries are made), practical (e.g. an updating cookbook created by a master chef) or frivolity (e.g. gossip).
 

History

Living Books were created approximately 800 years ago by The Order of the Silver Tree, initially as a way to communicate with its members across Realms. They chose to release their methods into the world approximately 670 years ago, and the books quickly became integrated into the lives and entertainment of many wealthy individuals. Since then the books have become more accessible, though receptive one-way books are far more accessible than the more versatile personal variety.   They are most common in Incaendium, where the magical-leanings of demons makes it more likely that any given person can freely use one of the more convenient element-based books.