Signal Tome
Wondrous item, uncommon
Many beings across the realms have heard of magical books in which a message quilled in one copy of the book, will appear, stroke for stroke, in the brother copy of the book. These books are a rather pedestrian invention, undoubtedly invented by some boring material world wizard who doesn't have a creative bone in his body. Everyone has heard of them so I'm not going to waste any time writing about them.
Signal Tomes, also known as Sig-Tomes or S.T. are much more interesting. No prime worlder is going to think of something like this. This was invented right here in Outland, in Sigil of course, where else? Whereas the common variety magic tomes allow communication in both directions of a grouped pair, Sig-Tomes are a distinctly one-way dialogue.
The way these Signal Tomes work is pretty simple. Every book has a unique crest on the front, a small stamp fashioned in the shape of this crest can be fashioned, when this stamp is used on the top of a page in another's book, that page will forever be listening for the broadcast of the crest's original book. Your eyes just glazed over there for a bit, you don't get it do you? Alright, so you can go pay certain merchants, planewalkers, wizards and information dealers to stamp your book with the crest of broadcasters from the area. From them on, no matter your location in the multiverse, any broadcast made will show up in your book. It's a great way to stay informed on the goings on in the realms. Some broadcasters even make a fortune in royalties from the sale of their stamp if they get popular enough.
In my own book I've got the first few pages reserved for gossip amongst the different traders in sigil, a newsman by the name of z'ofdun runs that channel. Then I've got assorted pages for market price updates for rare books, spotlights on famous magic dealers (gotta keep up with the competition), and a very humorous djinni who's broadcast keeps me up to date with the latest news from the elemental planes.
These books have been popular for eons in the planes, but they've recently started appearing in the material realm. Some enterprising cragger has done what I should have done ages ago, brought a caravan to the prime and started hawkin' them to any soft-body with silver in his pocket and the ability to read (a disturbingly uncommon combination on many spheres of the material plane).
Since they've appeared on the prime I've heard tell of new broadcasters from powerful wizards, warlocks, retired planewalkers and the like. I've even heard tell of a rich king broadcasting from his castle to keep peasants, soldiers, and expatriates in the loop about the goings on of his royal court.
The books, although commonplace in the outer planes aren't yet well-known on the material plane. If you can get your hands on one I'd highly recommend it, not only is it a great way to stay informed on the latest news, magical advances and gossip, but it can be a great way for adventurers to find leads to, well adventures or whatever the Abyss you craggers do.
Loug'wa
Proprietor of Loug'wa's Magical Curiosities, Rare Books, and Coffee
Sigil, Outland.
Near the gate to Limbo
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