Herald

Introduction:
Since all children are taught to read from age six for six patterns and then five more, basically any citizen of the Aelyrian Empire can read the best source of news – The Herald. No matter if a person lives in a small village or in the biggest city, he’ll know about the Herald and will be able to read it, since the Government of the Empire makes sure that its citizens are well educated and informed of the happenings in the Empire. From the farthest times this has been the Imperial Newspaper that functions perfectly till now and has always been strictly controlled by the Herald Community.

History:
The first Herald sheets are impossible to find now. If they still exist then the historians do not know of their location. However it is believed that the first Herald article was published around a thousand Eras from the Aetherfracture. A few hundred patterns later the Herald began to be published more commonly till it reached our brightenings, when a new article is published every cycle and presented to the people with new news. In the beginning the Printing Press was located in Aelyria Prime, where a large community worked to publish the newspaper to the Empire, however more cities and more people required it and another was established in Medonia. These two Printing Presses are the only official ones that are supported by the Emperors and supply the whole Empire.

During Era X Aelyria Prime was not only closed to all citizens, but Ancient Aelyrians also took it over without a warning, without letting anyone in or out. For that reason the main Printing Press was forced to be closed for the time being. Later that same Era Ancient Aelyrians also landed in Medonia’s Printing Press buildings, which they also took under their control. Fortunately though the Medonian Printing Press still functions and double the time it did before the Prime’s was put out of action. Workers were forced to work brightening and darkening in order to supply the Empire with the news, before Prime is opened again.

The Printing Press:
While when talking about the Printing Press it is mentioned as a single object, it is far from a single machine. Even in Medonia there are exactly one hundred machines – printing presses – constructed by master gadgeteers, who keep the secret of such a machine well hidden. One machine makes one copy a minute and there are two workers standing by it every moment, putting new sheets of papyrus in, taking them out, filling ink and all other things. That alone makes the community an immensely large one, not to mention that people have to shift to take breaks. Other people are responsible for gathering information and putting it in a neat format ready for the next printing. They also determine the size of the new Herald. While the width is always the same of about three feet, the length can vary with every new printing, depending on the information quantity. A lot of editors and redactors also make sure that the articles fit and aren’t against the law.

There are also reporters, people that gather the news from the Empire and present them to the redactors. These people are always sent into the place where large events such as wars, rebellions and the like occur. About five of these people are adept sorcerers who have the Teleport spell and can get to any location in time, gather the news as quickly and bring them back in time for the Herald. The Herald also closely works with Arakmat and Lauryl Provinces, which supply it with parchment made from papyrus type reeds. The noble Jenapples family of Cheetari have been working with the Herald Community for a very long time, supporting it with funds and helping it run smoothly especially in Southern and Western provinces.

The Herald supplies only a very small percentage of the whole Aelyrian population of 100,000,000 people. All first news go only to the cities and towns larger that 5,000 people. That leaves around 20,000,000 people who constantly live in such cities. However, most of the times the Herald is read in Squares, stickied on governmental building boards, discussed in taverns and so on, which eliminates the need of each citizen buying it. Even more so, not every citizen is interested enough in the news to spend crowns and time for the newspaper, which he’ll have to throw away in a cycle or so anyway, especially when he can still borrow it from a neighbour or listen to it being read by some orator. Even if the Herald costs just 1 crown in Medonia and Aelyria Prime (ranging to 5 in other cities) and is quite available for purchasing, only around 10% of citizens who live in cities bother to buy it.

However while 20% of the whole population, and just 10% of that seems like a small number, it still comes to 2,000,000 people who buy the Herald each cycle. One hundred machines working 29 candlemarks in a cycle of ten brightenings fulfil exactly that number. When both Printing Presses are working there is a need for a full time work brightening and the work is split in between. The citizens who buy the Herald are usually noble people and consider it an honour to have each copy of the Herald in their houses and take great pride in having old Herald Copies. Merchants buy the Herald for business opportunities, politicians for news of the political stuff, Church for religious ideas and simple citizens for their own interesting needs.

Delivery:
Since the only places which have the Herald Printing Presses are located in Medonia and Aelyria Prime, the paper can not get that fast to distant cities and news which would be late by a cycle or a month in big cities is something that must be avoided. For that reason in addition to just a few reporter sorcerers, around 10 more adept sorcerers are hired who are responsible for delivering the Herald to towns and cities larger than 5,000 residents. At least half of the cities are supplied with the first hundreds of copies in the first brightening, all are supplied in the second brightening and more copies are delivered in the next eight brightenings to satisfy all those who want to buy the paper and not only hear or see it somewhere in town.

Smaller towns or villagers get their news delayed. Messengers on horses are sent to villages with the Herald copies after they are no longer needed in the city or if the city got more than enough in a certain cycle. In some other places businessmen see an opportunity to get rich even here so they buy herald copies from those who deliver it to the cities and sell them to villages for a higher price. Usually these towns or villagers get their news a cycle or more after the first copy of the new Herald is delivered to a city. Smaller or more isolated villagers may not get the Herald at all and only passing travellers spread the news once in a while. Just as well places that are under a war, might not get the Herald either, since it can be considered too dangerous to deliver it. Villagers usually pay less for the herald than people from cities which get the news faster.

Local:
There are also local reporters who work in the cities they live, who are in charge of gathering news from their town or city. If there is a Cardinal, Thane, or a simple citizen who wishes something of his to be published, he will present his sheet to that reporter, then the sheet will be reviewed and possibly given to the official Herald staff to look at and hopefully will be published if it is accepted and has enough of worthy information. However all works that are given to the Herald not by the official, fulltime employees need to be paid for in order to be published. The sum ranges drastically. Depending on who wants the news to be published, the price can be zero or a couple of thousands of crowns. In most cases the Church pays less, Government officials pay the middle sum and simple citizens, merchants and military pays the most.

In rare cases people who want their articles to be published are even rewarded. Such can be when someone reports valuable news of a hidden city, a war rising, a cure to a disease or anything else that would be considered as a very interesting or valuable information for which the Herald is famous and purchased. In all cases for advertisements a person or a city has to pay, while other information is a negotiable price. Just as well for advertisements the sum is usually quite high, which helps to stop masses wanting their ordinary shops or any other services advertised to the whole Empire, since the paper after all is not too spacious. For such cases though a city sometimes has its own paper or town crier. Such as Demios Orator’s Square or Tirisfal’s Newspaper the ‘Voice’, or Abestat Gazette. However, the Herald was, until the regency of Rothchild, the only printing press of any kind.

News:
The Herald is the source of news and while the news vary in each article, there are a few things that always go to the Herald. Such are the newly elected Thane in a town larger than 5,000 and of any city, Governor, Justicar, Cardinal, Province Commander, Exchequer, Prelate, Archprelate, Emperor and a few other high ranked people. News of wars, larger rebellions or revolts ends up extremely fast in the Herald. While floods, earthquakes and other natural disasters are also things that are bound to end up in the next printing. Arcane users that go under law are always advertised as ‘wanted’ in the herald, while other evildoers get there for a price, unless they are also of mass importance. Most of the times there is also an article from the church on its views and morals at least once in two cycles to keep the Aelyrians as much religious people as possible.

Advertisements usually take the bigger part of the Herald, however at least one important piece of news shall always be found there, which is what attracts the customers. Sometimes advertisers have to wait for the next printing if there is too much vitally important news in one time. Quite often people who want to advertise have to also stand in line to have their article published, since there are many wise and rich merchants who see this as a great way to raise even more money. There is usually a culture section as well, which gets articles not as often as the other parts, but quite stably as well. There announcements of Tournaments, newly opened Universities, science and arcanic discoveries can be located. The Imperial Observatory is one of the most famous publishers in the Culture section. They bring such news as the completed research of the whole Kalendryas Device.

The crowns that are paid for the Herald help a lot as well, however even that does not cover the full price. The advertisements help just a bit to pay the wages of all the workers of the Herald Community, while the bigger part of the crowns that are needed to keep the Herald running is paid by the government and taxes in order for the Herald to educate in addition to Grammaticus and Schola. Now it is hard to imagine the Empire without the Herald since it became a vital part of all cities. Without it communication would be much harder and attacks to the Empire would be much more deadly if there would be no way of a fast warning of masses. For that reason the Herald Community does its best to keep the Herald running smoothly and interesting.