Paper

Growing cities of humans are beginning to have shortages of parchment in many areas of Lorgaire. The sparks academies and scriptoriums are beginning to compete for limited supplies of writing materials, and the institutions investments in herds of sheep and goats to boost parchment supplies have brought down the prices of meat for the working classes in these centers of culture and commerce. Pressed to find a replacement for the carefully scraped and treated membranes of livestock, a variety of substitutes have been tested as alternatives, churned out by eerie manufactories staffed by magical minions and crude constructs. The leading substitute Paper is a pressed pulp of the tailings and rags of fabric treated by caustic minerals.   In denial of so called "rag-skin scrolls" many prestigious institutions remain suspicious of the capacity of these Paper substitutes to reliably carry the mystic properties inherent to magical writings of spell books or scrolls, or to deliver prayers to the gods, and continue to exclusively use parchment. They argue the superiority of ambulatory and communicative creatures for weaving magic makes their hides and other membranes superior conduits and vessels for storing and transmitting magical writings. Some have gone so far as to cite historical precedents of using the hides of slain enemies or heroes as the ultimate writing material, and have proposed sourcing more hides from the markets of Fehr Volgi.   Innovators and those with less disposable income have adopted Paper for many of their enterprises and arts with few reported complications. A lesser corresponding drop in the prices of magical services has also been seen in some markets, as well as an expansion of humble spellmongers and scribes shops serving urban centers with a growing Paper trade. As more sparks are able to formally train and offer services dependent on less expensive and more abundant writing materials, the standard of living for the population will rise as crops flourish, disease is controlled, and injuries are mended.   Additionally entrepreneurs have begun searching for and testing other sources of fiber in hopes of bringing down the cost of production even further, and the cultivation of a number of fibrous plant creatures with innate spell like abilities are being examined as middle-ground alternatives. Materials such as Frostburn Grass may prove advantageous not just as a spell component, but as Paper may serve advantageously as a fibrous conduit for storing a Blizzard or Cone of Cold spell on scrolls.