Alchemical Slates

Avery moved to the room's single table. He leaned over it, picking up a damp rag to clean the blood from his knuckles. He tossed the rag back onto the table and picked up the flat gray alchemical slate. Carefully he scribed across the surface.

Reviviscent believed to be in Landing.

The words sank into the flat gray surface, slowly disappearing as though they were melting. A few moments later new words appeared, melting out of the grayness.

Locate Reviviscent. Use any means necessary.

Avery returned the slate to the table and began packing up the items scattered across it. He had a journey to prepare for.

— Excerpt from The Ones Who Leave by Leigh Janzen
 

Alchemical slates are one of the more useful inventions of the Guild of Alchemists, if not one of the cheapest.

 

The slates are produced in pairs, each slate being linked to the other through the alchemical process. The result produced by this pairing allows for a message to be scribed on one slate via the accompanying slate pencil, only to appear instantaneously on the other slate. The alchemy involved works over any distance, thus allowing the owners of a pair of slates to communicate instantaneously even if the entire breadth of the Feran Hegemony lies between them.

  Though expensive, these devices have become fairly common amongst the upper middle class and the wealthy. For those who cannot afford their own, the Guild of Alchemists has set up offices in every major city and many of the larger towns wherein, for a fee, one can send a message via slate to the appropriate city, which will then be copied out and delivered to its recipient.

Significance

The creation of alchemical slates has allowed for nearly instantaneous communication across the vast reaches of the Hegemony. This has produced great advantages not only to the government in their day to day management and military maneuvers, but also to the common citizen by providing access to current news and timely correspondence with both loved ones and business associates.
Item type
Communication
Related Technologies
Rarity
Common amongst the wealthy


Cover image: Steampunk Gears Pipes by Prettysleepy2

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