Photography, Printing, and Publishing

While magical forms of communication exist in Vita through Clairvoyant Conversation and Seer Stones, the invention of the printing press several hundred years ago and the use of moveable type revolutionized the creation of books, pamphlets, and serial publications forever.

Images

The camera spectra is a picture-taking machine that operates via a combination of magic and technology. It was developed only 20 years ago, but already it has revitalized journalism and historical documentation. Pictures produced by camera spectra are known as spectragrams (or "specs") and it has become a popular, though expensive, hobby. These machines rely on a burst of magically-produced light to capture their images onto plates. They have a steep learning curve, and can only be used by a magic-user (galdor or wick).

With the invention of the camera spectra, it is now possible to capture images for use in journalism; these images are reproduced by means of lithography.

Printing Technology

The most standard form of printing is with the use of the printing press, whether a personal tabletop press, a free-standing treadle-operated press, or a room full of steam-powered, belt-run motorized printing presses, these are still inked by hand and maintained by a master printer and his or her apprentices.

Text

Movable type printing has been around in Vita for many centuries; steam-powered rotary presses are the current preferred method for mass-producing texts. Personal typewriters are common among the humans as well as the galdori.

All grimoires are written in Monite, and the most successful ones are mass-produced by means of lithography. Not surprisingly given the complexity of the language, Monite "typewriters" are incredibly rare. There are only two in the entire land of Anaxas, in Brunnhold and Vienda. They are enormous, impressive machines the size of whole rooms. Most galdori consider it a kind of sacrilege to print Monite, considering how many thousands of symbols there are and how many variables go into transcribing the language. Indeed, these printers are far from useful or practical when it comes to more complex spells and spell notation.