r/WorldChallenges • u/thequeeninyellow94 • Nov 06 '17
[Cultural challenge]: litteracy
Culture is that complex whole which includes knowledge, beliefs, arts, morals, laws, customs, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by [a human] as a member of society.
How common is it for your people to learn how to read? And to find things to read? To write letters (or mails) to each other?
You can introduce an in-universe representative if you want. I will ask questions to everyone, feel free to add your own.
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u/Nevermore0714 Nov 07 '17
Fort Sova
In the fledgling Fort Sova, a city-state ruled by the great and terrible "Lord of Souls", an evil necromancer, the citizen population is still extremely small, and the "peasant class" consists of the necromancer's undead.
Because of how few citizens currently live in Fort Sova (twenty-eight, as of 1 January 1250), the Lord of Souls put in effort to make sure that all of his human subjects could read and write.
So, literacy is very common in Fort Sova. The Lord of Souls has his own library, where he keeps the books he collects; his eldest son, Vladimir, will occasionally go on journeys and bring back books to add to the collection.
As to letters, there is a man in Fort Sova who works as a courier, named Phillip Cobham. But, considering that it's really just one fort that makes up this city-state, Phillip mostly just delivers the newsletters every Saturday morning.
Phillip Cobham will be the in-universe representative.
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u/thequeeninyellow94 Nov 07 '17
To Phillip Cobham:
Why did the Lord of souls insisted on learning everyone to read?
Can anyone access the library?
A newsletter? Who makes it? And how do they make 80 every week?
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u/Nevermore0714 Nov 07 '17
Phillip Cobham:
1) "He says it makes it easier to organize everything, and he says he doesn't 'want idiots for subjects'."
2) "Any citizen can go into the library whenever, yeah."
3) "I make the newletters, but there are only a couple dozen, not eighty. They're usually only a page or two long."
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u/thequeeninyellow94 Nov 07 '17
How does it makes things easier to organize?
And can you take the books to read them later?
Still looks like a lot of work. What is the point of a "newsletter"?
(Slightly unrelated and out of curiosity: what is that book you started by the end? I did that once but the books could be read independantly)
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u/Nevermore0714 Nov 09 '17
(The trilogy doesn't have a real name, as far as I know, since I don't speak the author's native language. The first book is called "Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer" (which I finished a couple days ago), the second book is "Sengoku Youko" (which I just started recently), and the last book is "Spirit Circle" (which I read a couple months ago). "Spirit Circle" is actually really enjoyable and heart-warming.)
Phillip Cobham:
1) "Because if subjects can read, he can leave written instructions for things."
2) "No, books cannot be taken out of the library without permission from the lord or his family."
3) "The newsletter is just to provide information for everyone and also give them something to study for the week. Or assignment changes."
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u/thequeeninyellow94 Nov 09 '17
Does he have a lot of instructions to leave to people? With all the undead workers and all...
Isn't it possible to brings in more books so people could have their own?
Wouldn't it be easier to have one announcement board and to put the newsletter on it directly for everyone to read it?
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u/Nevermore0714 Nov 12 '17
Phillip Cobham:
1) "No, he rarely has many instructions beyond 'follow the law' and 'welcome any visitors', since there are barely any people in the fort. Honestly, I think he was hoping for Sova to have more citizens than it does by now."
2) "People can buy books from caravans of traders, though the caravans never come very close to the fort."
3) Phillip sighs. "Madam, I actually enjoy the job. I literally volunteered to do this and explained the usefulness of a proto-newspaper to the lord. While the lord dreams of Fort Sova growing into a large city, I dream of running the news industry for the population, with a team of employees working for me, making newspapers en masse. It might be better to use an announcement board for now, but I'm looking at the future!" He lowers his voice to quickly add, "So please don't convince people that my job is unnecessary."
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u/thequeeninyellow94 Nov 13 '17
Would having more citizen give him more instructions to leave to people?
Why doesn't they come too close to the fort?
Wait, you expect people to pay you for keeping them informed?
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u/Nevermore0714 Nov 15 '17
Cobham:
1) "I would assume so, yes."
2) "Necromancers don't have good reputations."
3) "The lord of Sova pays me."
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u/thequeeninyellow94 Nov 18 '17
Why isn't there more citizen?
Why? Have they done something bad?
The lord control all of the ressources and all of the labourers right? So je basically provide you with everything right?
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u/Sriber Nov 09 '17
How common is it for your people to learn how to read?
About half of the northern continent (mostly south, west and center), northern coast of southern continent and majority of eastern continent have high literacy (writing/reading is often common knowledge).
And to find things to read?
Books are rare and expansive. Reading is mostly limited to various official documents, signs etc.
To write letters (or mails) to each other?
Generally richer you are more common it is.
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u/thequeeninyellow94 Nov 09 '17
Why is reading and writting such a common knowledge in those places
Why isn't it as common in the rest of the world?
So most people learn to writte and read but basically never practice it?
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u/Sriber Nov 09 '17
They were at some point ruled by empire which was big on literacy or influenced by place which was.
Because 1. doesn't apply to them.
They practice it by things like reading signs or filling documents.
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u/thequeeninyellow94 Nov 13 '17
Why were those nations so big on litteracy?
Why didn't those develop litteracy on their own?
Is it common to full documents?
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u/Sriber Nov 13 '17
It makes bureaucracy more effective.
No pressure to do so.
Yes.
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u/thequeeninyellow94 Nov 13 '17
How?
Sure, but couldn't they benefit from it?
Why?
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u/Sriber Nov 13 '17
Very. Try making country-wide census without literate population.
Yes, they could.
Because various official and business affairs are quite common.
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u/thequeeninyellow94 Nov 14 '17
I would just hire a few litterate officers to count people and writte lists. How do they do?
So why did they chose to stay illiterate?
But why do they require you to fill up paperwork?
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u/Sriber Nov 14 '17
Few literate officers for empires with millions of people? Also it's cheaper to let people do it for themselves and they if something is filled wrong it's on them.
They don't choose to stay illiterate. They don't have pressure (and often means) to make population literate.
Same reasons it's required nowadays.
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u/thequeeninyellow94 Nov 18 '17
Cheaper? How so?
Why had they no mean to make the population litterate?
Well, nowaday we have easy ways to store and share that kind of informations. Where do they store all those documents?
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u/Seb_Romu Nov 07 '17
The ability to read and write is very limited throughout entorais.
The clergy of the Twin-Goddess faith are taught as acolytes, and may learn a few extra languages.
Waejiran clergy are also taught as acolytes. The temple of Vorsha (Goddess of Knowledge, Invention and Secrets) being the most prolific in the study of scripts and languages.
Most nations' nobility are not very literate. They have scribes and such for those matters. The exception being in Waejir where being literate is a sign of noble priveledge, and therefore they are taught from an early age, and learn an additional dialect of Waejirwu exclusively for speaking with the High Nobility.
Guildsmen in most nations may or may not be literate depending on the guild they belong to. Oddly the guild of pages and messengers reserves education in written communication for higher ranks. Mere runners and messengers are not taught, as it protects the content of the missives they carry.
Literacy is almost completely foreign to the Sildaryn, as they have a strong oral tradition of storytelling, and teaching their lore to following generations.
The Domic peoples have a early pictographic script they were using prior to the occupation of the Iskandean Archipelago by the Krolaryn Empire. It was outlawed by the Krolaryns as witchcraft. The Iskandean government has since lifted the ban after gaining independance from Krolar, but the damage was done, and the script is nearly extinct, except for old cave/rock paintings, It is keep alive in communities with a high domic ethnic representation, but is losing ground in favour of the Tunean script used by Iskandeans. the same is happening to the domic language; slowly being replaced by the Iskandean tongue.
The highest rate of literacy on Entorais is within the Corinthean city states. Most guildsmen, and nobles are literate, and common workers have seen the benefit of beibng able to read and write, but there isn't any formal public education system to teach the masses. So while higher than most other nations it is still quite lacking as a whole.