#Lore24 – Entry #74 – Fantasy Month #14 – Bookish Bulwarks

From the journal of Angeliqua “Goldeneyes” Cartacustos:

If Mother thinks she’s getting a long entry on this topic today, she’s got another thing coming.  What can I really say to fill a page when it comes to bookish bulwarks?  Not that I have time to waste, of course; I will be tending to General Kormides within the hour and I overslept after all of the preparations I put forth yesterday.

Well, to put it quite simply, these are special frames, typically composed of forged iron or steel, which are built with a reinforced face that serves as a quickly accessible shield, thusly named because the frames themselves are meant to be secured around larger-sized books.  These bulwarks are generally employed by traveling scholars who frequently venture into hostile areas and may not have time nor inclination to properly store their tomes when a battle breaks out.  While a bit bulky and more awkward than a standard shield, with proper training, these bulwarks can be employed with the same effectiveness as a standard shield.

Variations on the design exist of course, and within the Order, it has become something of a custom for us to craft, or at least, to design, our own variation on such a thing, for when we venture out from the Great Library, we are expected to properly detail our journeys.  Some examples exist in which the bulwarks have been crafted from mythril to lighten the burden, while some of the more talented arcanists amongst us have adapted Rings of Shielding to work with the premise, instantly creating a shield of magical force that encompasses their tome with a negligible change in weight while offering equal, if not superior, protection, as a standard shield. 

I’ll finish by saying that I am at once fascinated and horrified by the concept of bookish bulwarks.  While they are certainly practical from a specialized usage standpoint, the idea of using a book as a shield just sits wrong with me.  Granted, there have been many instances on record in which a book, even small ones, have saved the life of an individual from a sudden dagger strike, or been used as a weapon of desperation, but still…to mistreat a tome in such a way?  It just seems counter to our goals, but, I suppose, pragmatism wins the day in the end.