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Eternal Record (Scrivener's Folly): The Record appears to be a slim tome, often well-worn, sporting a cover of dense but unremarkable leather -- which, granted, is often dyed or stained in a deep colour or heavily ornamented -- of a compact size suitable to be carried as a girdle-book. (in fact, many Eternal Records have been bound as girdle-books.)
Inside the covers, the pages may be of nearly any material suitable for the purpose; rag paper, mulberry paper, fine vellum, papyrus, densely woven silk, all have been known. The pages may be stained or dyed, the inks of any kinds. Many Records have their inside covers slowly becoming dense with tiny notations of numbers or short two-or-three-word phrases, scribbled in many hands.
The reason is this.
To all visual signs, an Eternal Record has perhaps 80-100 pages to be filled. Once the last leaf in the Record is turned and its surface completed -- there is another, waiting. And another. And another. And another. And. And.
The Record never grows in size; the pages simply keep on coming, those earlier pages seeming to slip away as one works or writes or reads -- unless one turns back to them, knowing where to find the page one seeks. This is what the notations of numbers or phrases are for: think of a page number (one written onto a corner of a page; highly unlikely to be an accurate "page number") or a key phrase (perhaps a header, a very good habit to apply to an Eternal Record), and one can turn countless pages in an instant to find it. Good luck doing so after the first ~100 pages, otherwise.
As of yet no (known) sorcerer has risked the gamble of discovering whether spells can be recorded in an Eternal Record and what the consequences of such a thing might be.
Inside the covers, the pages may be of nearly any material suitable for the purpose; rag paper, mulberry paper, fine vellum, papyrus, densely woven silk, all have been known. The pages may be stained or dyed, the inks of any kinds. Many Records have their inside covers slowly becoming dense with tiny notations of numbers or short two-or-three-word phrases, scribbled in many hands.
The reason is this.
To all visual signs, an Eternal Record has perhaps 80-100 pages to be filled. Once the last leaf in the Record is turned and its surface completed -- there is another, waiting. And another. And another. And another. And. And.
The Record never grows in size; the pages simply keep on coming, those earlier pages seeming to slip away as one works or writes or reads -- unless one turns back to them, knowing where to find the page one seeks. This is what the notations of numbers or phrases are for: think of a page number (one written onto a corner of a page; highly unlikely to be an accurate "page number") or a key phrase (perhaps a header, a very good habit to apply to an Eternal Record), and one can turn countless pages in an instant to find it. Good luck doing so after the first ~100 pages, otherwise.
As of yet no (known) sorcerer has risked the gamble of discovering whether spells can be recorded in an Eternal Record and what the consequences of such a thing might be.
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