The Journeyman's Journal

“It’s all false! Gams. Gams! I’ve noticed that Journeymen, well the heroic ones anyway, always take the same paths to success. Same ones!I’ve started a chart, even. They can’t all have saved the maiden and saved the town and then saved the Aerth. How many times can you save the whole Aerth? Really. I just don’t know which scrolls are true anymore.”
Gamma muttered something appropriate over the stew she wrestled at the potbellied stove.
Appet, her lanky Scribe of a grandaughter, continued, “It’s just that in all the Journeyman Journals they don’t seem to have any new journeys.”
Gamma continued to mumble.
Appet continued to rave, beginning to pace the tiny kitchen. Two steps to the door. Twist. Two steps to the hall. Twist and continue. “As I said I know all the Journeyman Scrolls, Gams. All their stories. I’ve copied them. Well, I copy the original ones anyway. Most of them just jabber on about the same things! Like I said! I don’t know why the Scribes copy them for each generation…. Oh! And about that. Some of those doubles actually say different things!”
“What do you mean, dear?”
“Well, like Journeyman Kow’s story. You know how he saved the farmer’s orphans from the evil kidnapper by leaping atop his roof and plugging the chimney. That evil kidnapper then had to flee the smoky cottage, with the children and-”
“Oh! That’s an old tale. That horrid kidnapper was gobbled up by a draco, I know. Then Kow brought the kids home.”
“Right. Yes. That’s my point. A few of the older versions don’t mention a draco at all. One mentioned a wolf. Another went on and on about some old woman. And anyway where would he have found a draco? I read that the draco were banished with Magna Nuget in the third century. Journeyman Kow was fourth century. I think that draco story is false anyway. There never were any.”
Gamma sniffed her stew without responding but Appet continued anyway, “I have read another account that said Journeyman Kow lured the kidnapper out by making little whiney child noises, then sliced the man’s head off at the doorway.”
This did get Gamma to look at her granddaughter, “Oh no, dear. That was Journeyman Sanwich. He thought the cottage was filled with,” Gamma cleared her throat and a little color bled into her pale cheeks, “improperly gowned maidens.”
Appet looked down with all the proper modesty her Gamma had managed to teach her, “Yes. I have read that one as well. It’s the newest version. You see my point, though? Journeymen are frequently copying each other’s heroic feats. Who knows what they actually did. I’m not sure what to think when I read scrolls anymore. Except for Da’s journals, of course.”
Then Appet and Gamma debated the truth of Appet’s father’s words, even the truth of his person, for a long while. He was the Journeyman who stole the heart of Gamma’s daughter. Fool man. Her daughter deserved a Senator! Not that addled Fae-crazed twit.
Recently, he had been following a tribe of the flighty Fae about the mountains and according to his Journals he had also found the fabled Mountain of Time. Gamma thought the man had been drinking too much of the Fae wines. Again. It could be the only reason he had left his daughter to be raised by Gamma and Gramps after Trulla died. Appet was so like her mother. Her entire world was shelved in those dusty Archives. Appet didn’t even spend her time in the newer scrolls there. Only the ancient ones. The older Journeyman Journals.
Gamma sighed over her stew and tried to focus again on the present. Appet was stumbling over her words again. “Sorry, dear? What were you saying?”
“I was saying that I-you’ll have to forgive me for this- but I really do think Journeymen are afraid of telling the truth of their journeys. Those scrolls are not the truth, I’m certain of this. I think they fabricate their stories, knowing what the Senators want to hear, and thereby they ensure a steady interest and sponsorship.”
“Excellent reading though. Where’s the harm in that? Here now, pass me the cinnaid. This stew needs some spark.”

Purpose

The Journeyman Journal is a common document copied and taken to the various archives about the land. Soon after the phenomenon of Journeyman Journals caught on it was used to bring the land together.
When there's a common knowledge nothing is uncommon, as they say.
It was a valiant attempt at bringing the country together, and still is. Kings and Mayors employ Journeymen to write Journals about travel through their own land in an attempt to advertise it or themselves.

Document Structure

Publication Status

Public (As long as you can read, you can read it.)

Historical Details

Background

The first Journal came from a lowly Scribe who fled the city after his application to the High Scribes was denied. Scribe Bobber was his name, though no one remembers that now. He journeyed into the mountains, met the Fae and when they terrified him with their Wandering ways he escaped into a cave. There he was attacked by the Trolls and their Traveling ways so he escaped into an underground lake. There he was nearly drowned by the Seakin and their luminescent ways.
Scribe Bobber decided a lowly life filled with copying the writings of higher scribes in a cool Archive cavern was highly preferable. So he returned home and wrote his journey down for anyone who cared to see it.
It was seen by his cousin, a far more enthusiastically social person, who yammered the story off to his fellows, exaggerating gruesome details. The cousin was asked for a copy of this journal and he begged Bobber for one. Bobber gladly copied his journal and handed it over, happy that his cousin was so interested.
Copies of the first Journeyman Journal swirled about the lower wetland slopes for a while. Then a giant wave took out the town and the archives and the Journal was lost. Some say there are a few of the copies hiding in the deep historical text caverns of the mountain archives. But the story of his journal continued. The cousin attempted writing his own. Other adventurous folk wrote a few. It became the newest fad.
Society craved the Journeymans Journal.

Public Reaction

The people love the Journeyman Journals! Well, they love some of them. You can tell which ones were loved by how many different versions of it you can find in the historical shelves.

Legacy

The Journals unfortunately give prospective Journeymen a flawed interpretation about what being a Journeyman really entails. Some Journals may be accurate, however these have been swamped by the inaccurate versions. It must be said, the inaccurate ones are far more interesting to read. These Journals have created the precedent of lying about one's Journey.

Type

Journal, Personal

Medium

Canvas