In Mirror's Memory
Mirror Booklets are one the the newer publications in Sorcerer's Deep, expanding into the cities of the former Disputed Lands and beyond. In truth little more than hastily bound collections of the cheapest paper money can buy which can hold ink for at least a week which is all they need to do. They are broadly separated into
the funnies, short, often but not always humorous skits that for all their fine costumes and magic have more in common with shadow puppetry than long form plays,
the news, which is a flash of events from around the realm, interspersed with solid advice on all manner of practical matters, from new seed varieties to the right way to use and pay for the mail, and finally the serials.
The latter are the most lavishly advertised, episodic fiction ranging from the trials and tribulations of a city-trained healer moving into the dangerous hinterlands of Mantarys or of a Scholarum class where one is assured everyone is a genius yet they never seem to graduate, to the adventures of long suffering border guards who have to move every few months in their search for criminals and smugglers since the borders keep moving. Yet none of the old serials can begin to compete with the newly announced
Elder Crowns, which has its debut only three days after the Imperator's wedding, hoping to ride the tide all the way to the bank.
These booklets are fronted in carefully applied steel leaf and tin that might almost seem like silver to the unwary or the excited eye:
A Tale for the Ages
Blood, betrayal, and passion abound. Not merely a story, but History red in tooth and claw, the tale of Aegon the First. His great and lasting deeds, his failures, and his flaws. Come one come all to see the love that has cast some realms to ruin and raised others out. Delve into a dramatic reenactment of the doings of the first man who joined east and west, and the two women whom he loved.
Recorded on location in Dragonstone, the Red Keep, and more
See the Sunset Lands as you have never seen then before, where the men are girdled in steel yet beneath it hearts as sensitive as a flower may beat. Great vistas reveal themselves before the eye of silver and jade, in place and in time, and secrets never before spoken of are unveiled from the archives of the mysterious Citadel of Oldtown.
In a world of dying magic can the sparks of Greatness Endure?
Find out at fifteen hundred on the mark. No tale told can match one which was lived.
***
You turn the cheap little piece of folded paper, fading ink and already flaking metallic leaf with that odd combination of pride and bemusement you always feel when you consider the growing art form of Mirror shows that would not have even existed but for one idle thought on a rainy evening. The show is of course approved by the Ministry of Public information, for all that you would not call it perfectly historically informative, from what you had seen of the script for the first few episodes. Of course, it is not meant to present perfect information about the past. Instead it is meant to sell the narrative of Aegon the First, a great but flawed man whose vision was impeded by both the age he found himself living in and his own mercurial temper.
In another sense, it is supposed to sell Essos to the Westerosi, and vice versa, by presenting the other as just people trying to get by and get ahead, all of them magically speaking in whatever tongue the listener is comfortable with. The odd turn to melodrama is sure to capture quite a few hearts, even if it is not the most nuanced of experiences.
Turning the booklet over, you read the attached note, rather brazenly asking if you are willing to give the show a recommendation. To be fair, one is not likely to get very far in this business without being a bit brazen.
What do you reply?
[] Accept and give the recommendation
-[] Write in (optional)
[] Refuse to give a personal recommendation
OOC: I used a flash instead of a reel, since of course you guys do not use film reels, to the segments are named for the way the mirrors flash between segments. Also yes I know it is nonsensical to record a tale of Aegon in the Red Keep, but these people are not exactly going for historical accuracy. Not yet edited.
