3.11.1 Writing Commands

Whether you are an aspiring author, a bard who needs a place to preserve your rhyme for the future, or a novice who wants to make a shopping list for those many promotion requirements, at some time in your life you will most likely have the need to write something down. Fortunately, you have a number of readily available options!                             

The first thing you will need is something to write on. You have your choice of several items. Here is a list, along with some notes on their particulars.                                                            


Journals
--------
A journal may only be written in by the person who owns it, though it may be read by anyone. Journals have 50 pages upon which to write. Each page can hold a limited (though still fairly large) amount of text. Journals can also be titled whatever you like.

The biggest advantage a journal holds over other media for writing is that a journal never decays.                                            

If you lose your journal (or if you want additional journals), you can purchase a new one in various shops across Sapience, but they have a hefty price.                                                            


Books
-----
Books can be created by woodcrafters, who can then sell them at whatever price they desire. Like journals, books have 50 pages that you can write on, and they can also be titled. Anyone can write in a new book; however, once it has been written in, only that person may write in it again.                                                                  

A difference between books and journals is that books will decay eventually unless preserved in a library.                               


Scrolls
-------
Scrolls work a bit differently. A scroll is only one page, and it cannot be titled. Also, a scroll can only be written in once, after which it contracts to fit the text and will not allow any future writing. As it is only one page, bookmarks (see below) have no effect on it.


Letters
-------
You can also write and send letters. They work like scrolls, except that after being written, they can be sent via the mail from any mailroom or post office in the realm to any other player. For more information about their particulars, see HELP LETTERS.

The following commands can be used to interact with all of the above mentioned items.

TITLE <journal/book> <title>     : Title your journal or book.

BOOKMARK <journal/book> PAGE <#> : Place the bookmark on whatever page 
                                   you wish. Doing so will cause the 
                                   READ and WRITE commands to operate on                                   
                                   that page, if no page number is 
                                   specified. By default, the bookmark 
                                   is placed on page 1.

READ <object> [PAGE <#>]         : This would allow you to read the 
                                   specified page in the specified item.
                                   If you omit the PAGE <#>, then it 
                                   will read, by default, the page that 
                                   the bookmark is on. Remember that
                                   scrolls and letters are only one
                                   page, thus do not need the PAGE
                                   specified.

WRITE <object> [PAGE <#>]        : This would open the composer (see 
                                   HELP COMPOSER) and allow you to 
                                   write on the specified page of the 
                                   specified item. If you omit the PAGE 
                                   <#>, then it will write on, by 
                                   default, the page that the bookmark 
                                   is on. Remember that scrolls and 
                                   letters are only one page, thus do 
                                   not need the PAGE specified.

PUBLISH <book/journal>           : Publishes your book, preventing any
                                   further modifications and allowing
                                   it to be placed within a library

TRANSCRIPTION
-------------


You can also transcribe the contents of a letter into another letter, a journal, or a book, for ease of recordkeeping.

This requires and costs balance and adheres to other reading/writing restrictions.

Simply TRANSCRIBE <letter> ONTO <book/letter> [PAGE <page>]

Note: This appends to the page, it does NOT overwrite.


See also: COMPOSER, LETTERS, LIBRARIES, NEWS, WOODCRAFT