Armand’s First Letter. Amelia’s First Letter. Cathy’s First Letter.

1 October 1025, Bois-de-Bas

Dear Amelia,

I have sent this letter with Captain Grier on the Amelie, as of course you are well aware; and I have told him that he is at your disposal. I trust you will send him back to me as soon as maybe, and ideally with Dr. Tillotson as his chief cargo.

Madame Truc has recovered from her illness, bringing all of us joy, though she has lost weight and is in all ways more frail than before. I fear we will not have many more seasons with her, especially as the weather has been unseasonably chill this past month and I expect an especially frigid winter. At least as a former I have the means to keep her warm. I am making her a coat lined with small heating blocks: not enough to burn, or to warm a room, but enough to keep her warm in any room of the house.

This is a new product that Tuppenny Wagons might make and sell; I expect it to be quite popular with the drivers of our wagons. I must teach our apprentices how to make them, and of course that leads me back to the teaching of forming outside of the usual guild system. It is quite easy to form warming blocks; far harder to form them in a way that will not impinge on other formed objects in their vicinity. They must be constructed so as to balance greed and generosity, and that takes a knowledge of theory—or, at least, precise instructions, duly followed. Without that, disaster looms; and if disaster occurs that will reflect poorly on formers everywhere whether the guilty craftsman is a proper member of the guild or not.

The Masters of the Armorican Guild, gathered together, have concluded that the guild must indicate clearly those who have the knowledge and skill to form on their own, without direct supervision, and must have the power to censure those who do so poorly, with all the force of the law. And, of course, we already have these things: those allowed to work without direct supervision we call guild masters, and the power to censure we call guild law. 

I have met with M. Poincaré, our deputé in the Grande Parlement. He, worth man that he is, has advised me not to do anything that would alter the force and stature of guild law here in Armorica.

“En ce moment,” he said to me, “you have all the protections and powers you require. Guild law has the force of ages, n’est-ce pas? It is older than any of our modern codes of law, here or in the Old Lands, and has a special place. Should you choose to dispose of it, that special place, whoosh, it is gone, never to be regained. You would be in the hands of the Parlement, and may I say that the Parlement is blown by the winds of the moment. Anything might happen, and your position might be very much worse.”

We have taken his words to heart, and have resolved to make no change that will harm the authority of the Former’s Guild in this land.

But though we must have masters, that does not imply that we must have apprentices and journeymen; or, if we retain these positions, that they need retain the form they have had in the past. In particular, it is not clear that apprenticeship need involve a form of indentured servitude. Some form of legal articles will be required for those who study with us, to ensure repercussions should they abuse what they learn.

We have come to no firm conclusions in this area, but here is what we are thinking: we shall have students, apprentices, journeyman, and masters.

A student is one who has come to the guild here in Bois-de-Bas to learn the theory of forming. He must sign articles that he will follow guild law and will not betray the secrets of the craft to those not of the guild. 

An apprentice, then, will be a senior student, one who has been chosen to work with and to learn from a specific master. Apprentices will pursue the practical side of the craft in all seriousness, and especially how to put their theory into practice. Being chosen as an apprentice is a sign that the student has the qualities and habits of mind for which we are looking. 

A journeyman, then, is one who has learned both theory and practice and may pursue the craft as he chooses, though only under the direct supervision of one or more masters. 

And finally a master is, as before, one who has mastered the craft of forming and can work independently: can, for example, set up a former’s workshop in one town or another, possibly with the aid of a journeyman or two. As a special duty, masters will be encouraged to study aspects of the craft for which we as yet have no well-understood theory.

In short, we wish to teach theory before practice, and to provide all students with the same knowledge, not simply that of a particular master. Those who cannot learn the theory will not advance to apprentice, and so will not learn what they would need to practice forming on their own. Those who move on to journeyman will do so with a solid foundation.

There is more to it than that, but I believe we will adopt something along these lines. Indeed, Jérôme has already given his approval, and will be returning to Toulouse in company with Captain Grier and this letter. We have discussed the forming of my message arrows, and he believes that he can form the nodes for an Iturian Relay in pairs, so that the sending node and the destination node have a natural affinity that might replace the need for the wizard’s intent. He has also studied John Gamble’s whirligigs, and believes he may be able to incorporate those as well, to disperse any excess of magical force.

I do not know if it will be possible to test any of this before Dr. Tillotson is en route to Armorica, but Jérôme plans to work on the nodes during the voyage; and perhaps he and Dr. Tillotson can complete the relay with the new nodes, leaving one with Octie and bringing the other back to Toulouse. It would be grand if we could settle both the matter of intent and of sending packages across the Abyss in one go. I have instructed Captain Grier to assist this in any manner he can contrive.

Your excited and intrigued cousin,

Armand

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