On the matter of the library

Thank you Squire Silverbow for the voice of reason.  We will attend to your grammar in the future, but I understand the haste of your penning a response.

Goodness, are we still on about this? Doesn't anyone have any work to do?

Squire Silverbow, your allegiance to your friend is commendable. I am sorry that I offended you by disagreeing with Father Brax, but I will not change my stance based solely on your friendship with him. Furthermore, after I agreed with Father Brax that his statements were cerebrally obtuse, I had nothing further to say to him. Perhaps as his friend you can inform him as to the actual meaning of the phrase he used to describe his arguments?

Everything else I wrote was more of a general address to those following the debate. As no one had come back with any real counterpoints - beyond Brax himself, who did nothing except directly contradict what he wrote earlier - I thought that either no one had any major disagreements, or that no one particularly cared about the matter any longer.

There is one point that I will make with additional emphasis, however. Books cost money. Quite a bit, in fact. Yes, we can all wax philosophical about the importance and value of information, but the simple truth is a tome of, for instance, the complete path of the scholar can cost up to 85 gold in materials alone. This is not including the countless hours of work put into it. Manuscripts are much cheaper, of course, but they still take time and most scholars are unlikely to create more than seven or eight of them in a year.

No one has argued that information in general should not be made available to the people of Travance, as it is useful and important. No one has argued that the physical defence of the town is not equally important. Yet, no one stands up and demands that smiths hand over all their materials and work hour upon hour by the forge without compensation. We return, then, to the original question: why is it so terrible to try and recoup some of the losses incurred when making books? Why did the people of Travance pour forth with such an outcry? Could it truly be that the people of Travance believe that everyone has an equal say, and information should be freely and equally accessible to all? I would welcome further debate on the matter in person, perhaps at the upcoming festival.

However, if you feel I have been "unclearly stating" that I am more intelligent than others, let me clearly state that if I wanted to make such a proclamation, I would do so outright and not simply imply it. Also, if I was scolding someone, I would use my yardstick. What I will say, in no uncertain terms, is that in general scholars are more qualified to deal with issues concerning libraries, and warriors are more qualified to deal with infestations of forest trolls. Though - if I may be allowed a small joke at my expense - I might become adept at dealing with forest trolls if it was not currently illegal for we Londwynians to wield axes.

-Lois

It is true that all works in the library, save those I looted from Roonfax Manor, cost money.  Even those had an associated cost.  I am fortunate in that I have been blessed with the ability to earn gold, and thus have no need to worry about the cost of the books I donate to the librry.  For those to whom the expense must be weighed, it should be realized that the Count recognizes such service and will duly note it.  In his absence I will inform him of all donations and make certain the service to the Count and Barony is duly noted.  It might not be coin, but it is just as valuable in its own way.

Old Romani Proverb "One fool tangles and ten wise men cannot untangle."

                  Lois, I'm sorry. I thought about you wrote and I wanted to apologize. I didn't realize a book could cost so much. I thought that the price was based on the quality of the knowledge preserved inside. I do humbly apologize if I caused some harsh feelings in the statements of my missive. I just don't want any negative feelings lingering about us for the remainder of our lives. Thank you for explaining, more in detail, what you meant.

The typical library book costs between  10 and 29 gold for materials, plus the time tken to produce.  Codices and tomes cost considerably more.  The Schjolar's Tome is currently the most expensive book in the collection.