1 Soul Bound
1.3 Making a Splash
1.3.2 An Allotropic Realignment
1.3.2.18 Universal enkyklios paideia
Cardano: “Fairly answered. My turn. You wish to know of the great project being worked upon by myself and others, that I have persuaded the Aldine Press to gamble their profits and future upon?”
They all nodded.
Cardano: “Have you come across Valla’s advice on the things a man should seek or shun?”
They all turned to Bulgaria, but he looked as puzzled as the rest of them.
Cardano: “Valla was inspired by an earlier book, the Garden of Delights, and sought to expand it.”
She thought of the book they’d come across when touring the Arsenal, A Catalogue of the Principal and Most Honourable Courtesans of Torello.
Kafana: “Is that, err, a book of biological instruction?”
Cardano: “Yes. Biological, physical, alchemical. He sought to encompass every idea in Natural Philosophy that he deemed worthy of bringing to the attention of new learners.”
Kafana asked cautiously: “And you want to reprint it?”
Cardano: “No! I want to expand it. It is too limited in scope. I want a book that includes everything known in one city and not in another. Known to one guild, but not to another. All of the knowledge Rac has allowed us, divided according to its source. Enough for a truly well-rounded education, that will make a student in Basso the equal of any raised in Libri or Alto. An Enkyklios Paideia!”
Kafana felt a Skill prompting her about that last term, based on her conversation about ancient Hellenic with Giunti and pieced it together.
Kafana: “An encyclopedia?”
Cardano: “‘encyclopedia’? I’m not familiar with the word, but it will serve. Yes, it will serve very well. I thank you, Suor Kafana. The Great Encyclopedia project.”
Wellington: “What are your divisions?”
Cardano: “I envisage publishing it in multiple volumes, with the first volume containing the top level index and an introduction explaining and justifying the project - a call to arms in a war for knowledge, that recruits contributors from all walks of life: from farmers to picture framers, and from mages to midwives. The index’s first category contains things like geographic maps and catalogs of historic events, which are based upon memories of direct experience; memories that anyone with eyes or the relevant magic skill can accumulate and compare for accuracy with the memories of others.”
Bulgaria: “Start with non-controversial stuff that’s hard to dispute. Sensible.”
Cardano: “The second category contains things like music and poetry, that are based upon imagination or direct divine revelation of the sort that, externally, is indistinguishable from imagination.”
Kafana: “Also hard to dispute. You can say a particular tune is not to your taste, or not composed according to a particular set of rules. But you can’t say it is wrong, even if it doesn’t speak to you.”
Cardano: “The last, and by far the largest category, contains all the mental models our minds use to understand the corporeal world, and the crafting techniques with which we test the predictions of those models - everything that derives from reflection upon the first two categories.”
Kafana: {I’m twitching, here. He’s just begging us to provide him with better words for these concepts.}
Bungo: {When was the word “science” first used? Did it exist at the start of The Enlightenment?}
Kafana: {The word existed, but it just meant book-learning, or skillfulness that derives from it. They were on the cusp of creating a systematic method of increasing how much they knew of the world and how it worked. I know this is a game, sort of, but emotionally it feels like we’d be stealing their achievement if we just tossed them our method; taking from them the chance to be proud of doing it by themselves.}
Wellington: {How about we use the terminology that Grand Master Light used?}
Kafana remembered meeting Doctor Johannes, however his words were a blur in her mind and she had to ask Dinah, the expert system she’d created to help her track the game’s plot and skill system, to repeat Johannes words back to her twice before she felt confident enough to nod to Wellington then respond aloud to Cardano.
This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
Kafana: “Your three categories are what Grand Master Johannes would term noema (that which we perceive outside us), noesis (that which we perceive inside us), and qualia (the models bridging the two). Where do divine revelations that affect multiple people, such as Mor appearing before them and speaking the same words into all their minds, fit into your scheme?”
Cardano: “Do you know, I’m not sure. Has that ever happened? If, after the separate accounts were compared, no one could reasonably dispute the wording of the message, I suppose it should be included in my first category - a memory of a direct experience of the external, whose reliability can be increased by independent repetition.”
Bungo: “I get the impression deities don’t hang around long enough to be experimented upon. The number of repetitions possible would be limited, as with observation of a passing bird or exploding volcano.”
Kafana scowled at Bungo’s choice of what to compare her deities to, but Bulgaria changed directions before she could voice her complaint.
Bulgaria: “Won’t the guilds object to your publishing their secrets? You have not yet met our friend, Alderney, but she’s a skilled crafter and the new techniques she’s demonstrated have already resulted in calls by the guilds to restrict knowledge of them to Torello’s own guild-certified masters.”
Cardano: “Certainly they’ll try. The quarterly meeting of guild leaders is next week, on Droday wain. I believe they’ll be discussing the Encyclopedia Project, as well as Grand Master Nafaro’s motion that apprentices with exceptionally high potential should be eligible for sponsorship and that candidates for such grants should be tested free of charge no matter what their wealth or background.”
Bulgaria: “You don’t sound worried.”
Cardano: “The Aldine Press does not stand alone. The project is under the formal protection of Lord Enzo Zeno, Count of Libri, Chancellor of the University and the world’s greatest living bibliomancer. He’s taken a personal interest and, though he can’t be seen to supply funding or financial guarantees to a company in Basso, he’s made it clear that any academic or craft master based on Libri, who spends time contributing articles good enough to win inclusion, will gain in academic standing or business reputation.”
Bungo sounded a little awed himself.
Bungo: “You’re going to change the world. What can we do to help you?”
Cardano: “What can you do to help? What will Cov allow? I’m grateful for Cov’s hospitality on this world, and his guidance that protects our orderly lives, but there are some dangers I could wish a little less protection from. The greatest advantage in gambling lies in not playing at all, but sometimes you must take a chance if you wish to win; and under those circumstances the advantage I most desire is not a pair of lucky dice blessed to increase their chances of rolling high.”
Wellington completed the thought, as though the two of them were of one mind.
Wellington: “You want knowledge. You want not to alter the odds but to know them with exactitude, even when they do not favour you.”
Cardano: “Better a short life making rational decisions under desperate conditions, master of my own fate, than to live as a cow grazing inside the protections of a farmer’s field, no better than a machine that converts fodder into flatulence. Even if knowing would endanger me, I dare to know!”
Bungo: {Thoughts? There’s obviously a quest to be created here, but it looks like it is up to use to shape the amount and type of involvement.}
Bulgaria: {If my play gets published it would be nice, but that isn’t the real reason I brought you here. I’d heard gossip of what was going on, and the social empowerment aspect of his Encyclopedia Project is a perfect match for the message we want to send, via the Burrow and to our audience.}
Tomsk: {Free the minds and you change the world. How far do you want to take it? Do we want the project to alter Covob as much as possible, to demonstrate change can occur simply by people taking control of their own information and learning? What of those harmed by the revolution happening faster than it can be stabilised?}
Kafana: {I don’t think we give them mathematics, science or devices they don’t already know. I think we aid them at gathering and organising the knowledge they already have, and we work towards making the impact positive and seem easy and inevitable, rather than just dramatically large. Concentrate upon the effect it has upon the lives people lead.}
Wellington: {I can work with that. I’ll set Robin to listing areas of knowledge they have, sorted by ease of improving the availability of what’s known in that area, and net positive impact of improvement, then search for targeted funding opportunities.}
Where was Alderney when she needed her?
Kafana: {Dinah, a translation?}
Dinah: [If spreading Dottore’s specialist knowledge of healing potions will help reduce misery in Torello more than telling farmers the recipe for the fertiliser that Arcadio uses to grow crops in the Botanic Gardens, then Wellington will spend some of your money paying Dottore for the time it will take him to write an article about it.]
Bungo: “We can spread word of your project among other Questing Spirits. Many of them are seeking apprenticeships, and are in a good position to mention to potential masters that what they seek is guidance from a truly respected authority, such as one honoured with the responsibility of writing the definitive guide to their craft or profession.”
Bulgaria: “We might also, if it would be useful, provide enough funds for you to hire editors and assistant type setters to aid you, so that you can concentrate upon organising the project and controlling the quality of the resulting articles. Say, provisionally, 3 people for the next 3 months?”
Tomsk: “Have you put any thought into the security of this building and your staff? If the guilds decide you are a threat, it would be better not to appear so weak that they get tempted by a direct physical solution to their problems.”
Kafana: “I cannot provide you a permanent blessing, but I offer to call you to the attention of the deities, that they may choose to make manifest their opinion of your project, and perhaps speed you towards your goal.”
[Faction Quest gained: “The People’s Encyclopedia” - Aid the Aldine Press in heralding an age of mass enlightenment. Difficulty variable. Risks variable. Rewards variable. Repeatable. Shareable.]