Note fading

[Lumin]

I know it's not the same as destroying paper, but as a form of recycling, one thing I do as an alternative to envelopes is rename useless notes to 'scrap paper'. Then whenever anyone needs to write a new one they just pick up a piece of scrap and edit it.

[SekoETC]

My character started such system in Plaekur forest east. Though usually you end up needing notes when you're inside and too lazy to run to the envelope which is outside, so it's best to carry a recycled note or a couple with you all the time. What does this remind of? Don't forget to bring a towel!

[Solfius]

I think that some kinda of indication of the age of the note would be nice, and the ideas about slowly deteriorating sound good, but the reason notes can't be destroyed is so that the history is maintained, whereas otherwise it all disapears fairly quickly, and it becomes all too easy to remove hours of typed notes in true n00b fashion

[wichita]

But the ability to destroy history would likely induce the motivation to actively roleplay historical preservation. Maybe someone could haul a bunch of old notes off to a remote location, later to be discovered by someone playing an archaeologist.

Maybe we could implement secret compartments to hide objects in. You could build it and then it wouldn't show up on the objects or locations menu unless you look for them by knocking on the wall or starting a search project.

[formerly known as hf]

NO
no
no no
no
no no no no no

no....

*shakes his head and looks very grim*

Organising notes as it is takes such a long time - and eats up minutes like nothing else... Imagine having to keep an eye on all the notes you keep in case they start to become scrambled...

If everywhere in Cantr was really active - then - maybe - people could become note copiers, keepers of ancient texts...

But what happens when they go to sleep and no one takes their place fast enough?
What happens it quiet areas?

It also means people will start keeping important things in real life form - in a file on a computer or something - which I don't think is allowed...

If everyon'es too lazy to keep unwanted notes in an envelope - who's going to be bothered to keep old notes from scrambling?

[wulf]

But what happens when they go to sleep and no one takes their place fast enough?
What happens it quiet areas?

It also means people will start keeping important things in real life form - in a file on a computer or something - which I don't think is allowed...

If everyon'es too lazy to keep unwanted notes in an envelope - who's going to be bothered to keep old notes from scrambling?

If you visit an area that is "quiet", why should there be a record of past history? Arguably, history only exists because the present generation keeps it alive. We undoubtably misunderstand a lot of the past even more than we misunderstand the present because we have limited "witnesses" (historical documents, archaeology, etc) to what went on.

If you want "history" you've got to have archivists to preserve the information and historians to piece it back together (otherwise, how will a new character understand that past age when, as I have heard, iron could be simply picked up off the floor rather than the complex chain of resources that is needed to produce it today). Add in the chance to destroy notes (perhaps also needing a firepit and some wood, so not such an easy task for a newspawn) and you also raise the possibility of a repressive regime deliberately trying to to hide the past by scorching away history, while a faithful remnant hide documents and try to promulgate them in neighbouring areas to keep the past alive.

Anyway, I'm not envisaging a fast rate of decay - just something like a 5% degradation rate for every 20 years the note is unedited (so all those locked notes will suffer more in the longterm).

Wulf

[Appleide]

Maybe You could put them in a box so the notes decay half as fast?

I like the jumbling words idea in a note.

For that, maybe 0.1% every 20 days? Or even less.... and Then after like 800 days a note on the ground outoors would disappear, so if you lock a note up in some room in a temple on a island thats 100% dead, the note still has quite a large chance of being rediscovered?
i guess most of this has already been said by everyone put together,

[Solfius]

I think, notes on the ground should decay, as said perhaps between 0% and 1%, but notes in buildings or inventories should barely decay at all: 0.001%, as paper in the right conditions lasts for a long long time (thinking of old scrolls etc)