Universal Translator Pen & Ink

The Multiverse uses thousands of languages, many of whom share literally no vocabulary or structures. Earth alone has tens of thousands, and Dreandril has even more, not to mention the dozens in use on Endaman, Orkanis and Renath. Sharing magical knowledge would be nearly impossible then, were it not for the invention of two very important pieces of magical technology: the Universal Translation Spell to permit sophont species to communicate between each other orally, and the Universal Translator Pen and its Ink so they could communicate similarly in writing. 

Invention

The creation of the Sunless City and its various academics made the need for translated written communications vital for cross-cultural information exchange. Before the invention of the Universal Translator Pen and its Ink, translation corps for each language had to take writings from famous magical scholars and current students and translate it by hand. This was a time consuming process that slowed down communications terribly and led to more than a few arguments. 
Thankfully for modern mages, a small collection of these translation professionals were working on a solution. Translation charms had been the staple of intercultural communication on Renath in particular, but one translator, a Gerdha Priklath, wondered if it were possible to do contain such a charm within a written page so anyone could read the work. She worked tirelessly on the project for many months and then finally created the Universal Translator Pen, although not without being forced to create an equally-potent Ink for it to be used with.

Usage & Construction

Each Pen is made of a brass-like metal, with a traditional nib-like tip and a repository for the Ink inside. The Ink itself is plain looking enough, with a slight purplish colour due to its ingredients which are kept a Priklath Communications Inc. secret. If it wasn't for the expensive price and the Priklath clanmark carved into the metal, they look remarkably like a normal pen and ink.
To use it, the person writing uses them like normal, except they must leave a little dot at the end of each word. This dot indicates to the charm in the Pen that this is a singular word. A similar pair of dots is used at the end of a sentence to indicate a complete thought. At the end of a sentence, the charm then stores the meaning of the sentence, which is then translated when someone begins to read it in another language.

Item type

Tool

Base Price

Expensive

Related Item

Universally Translated Books

Where to Obtain

Only stores that sell Priklath Communications Inc.-branded Pens and Ink are to be trusted, as most knock-offs tend to only work for a few pages or have a more limited scope of languages. However, many have attempted to reinvent their own version of the Pen to try and make the item more inexpensive or, in the case of Jarnei pe Klaani, in an attempt to undermine Priklath's monopoly on the technology.

Concerns and Complaints

Most complaints about them are that, despite Priklath's insistence on "knowledge for all," the cost of the Pens and the Ink are very high. Also, some languages don't fit neatly into words/sentences, so those languages often are difficult to translate. Finally, the Pen only works if the lettering and spelling is done perfectly, otherwise the charm breaks down.

All images in this article were created by me, EmperorCharlesII, unless otherwise credited.