Folio From The Archivum—Keeping Watch
Instructions for the Care & Keeping of Watch Dragons
Description: An instructional handbook for the care and keeping of watch dragons, issued in the late Tøl Mintzk artisan period. Its green cloth cover bears gilt botanical filigree and a central medallion: a diminutive dragon curled inside a pocket-watch frame. Though mass-produced for urban keepers, surviving copies are remarkably scarce—most perished through improper storage (iron dust, shadow contamination, or dragon-induced warping).
Provenance: “Recovered from the desk stores of the Orivar Sub-Wing, Archivum Ir Iliyt; catalog fragment 𝋁𝋆𝋄𝋁–D.”
Transcription (Front Cover Text):
Keeping Watch
Instructions for the
care & keeping of watch dragons
Marginalia (transcribed):
– A: “Surprisingly, the ancient ink retains its capacity for lumin re-infusion—in this case, a yellow glow, which—in its original pocketworld—would have been re-infused periodically with yellow moonglow which would have leaked into the Varabaru by design through one of three Varabaruvian moons which operate in orbital resonance with one another—more specifically, through the Varabaru’s nearest moon called Leith, which emitted a pure yellow moonglow.”
– B: “Note the medallion engraving—older style shows a hatchling with vestigial winghooks. Scholars disagree whether this represents an authentic period styling or what at the time would have been seen as a romantic vintage embellishment.”
– C: “Corners worn from use and carriage; manual likely belonged to a watch dragon owner or lamp-warden.”
Curator’s Note: Though intended as a practical guidebook, Keeping Watch remains one of the few surviving artifacts linking the domestication of dragons to Varabaruvian life. This archivist considers its persistence nothing short of a quiet miracle.
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