This is a very brief summary - the full version appears in Hermes Portal #1:
There are also rules on Glossing and Commentating, and Authorities, and modified Virtues and Flaws (replacing Strong/Weak Writer, Book Learner/Poor Reader and Incomprehensible), but I will not repeat those here.
For most purposes Scribe covers the Alphabet, and all languages that use that Alphabet. It focuses on calligraphy and composition skills. If you possess Scribe Latin you can read, write or copy text in any of the main languages of Mythic Europe.
You do however, need to Speak the language in order to read it, or to compose anew. (You can copy text without understanding, but cannot easily check mistakes). [And further, to proof-read texts concerning magic you need Magic Theory - only a fool would trust a magical text copied by one who could not comprehend the significance of occult marks and such.]
You need a skill (including specialisation) of 5 in a language to read it or write it to full effect. Skill 4 is "competence", 5 is "fluent".
If your skill falls below 5, then the Pyramid Cost of the shortfall is counted against the Quality of the text:
| Language skill | Quality penalty |
| 0 | not possible |
| 1 | -10 |
| 2 | -6 |
| 3 | -3 |
| 4 | -1 |
| 5+ | 0 |
Any properly trained Magus has a Speak Latin 5. A Companion reading a note in the vulgar tongue (speak 5), or a grog reading in their own vernacular (speak 4+specialisation), will also have no problem, but will need educating to cope with serious textbooks.
While simple Copying of a text can, in principle, be accomplished by an illiterate Scribe (one with calligraphy only), we feel that Translation is more complex. We also note that, in real life, much is often lost "in translation"; these rules help achieve that.
To translate properly, one must first have read the text - one Season reading is sufficient preparation for a work which permits repeated study.
To translate between languages, you need to be able to Read (the source) and Write (the target) languages: you thus need the Speak Language skills for both. If the languages are written in different scripts, you are limited to the minimum of the two Scribe skills.
The Quality of the translated work is the minimum of the Book's Quality, and the Translators Quality if they had written the book (Com+Scribe+book type).
If a Magus with average communication skills, speaks (5) and writes (4) good Latin, but barely speaks (2) or writes (1) Greek, then they will produce a very poor translation of an Ancient Greek text:
Translator's Quality = Com (0) +Scribe(min[4,1]) -Pyramid(5-2) = 0 +1 -6 = -5
The translated work will have a Quality of min[-5, book Quality]
This magus had better improve their skills before tackling such a work! If he returns when he Speaks Greek 3 (Ancient Texts), and has Scribe Greek 3 (Ancient Texts):
Translator's Quality = Com (0) +Scribe(min[4,3+1]) -Pyramid(5-(3+1)) = 0 +4 -1 = +3
The text still won't be a masterpiece of clarity, but is now much more worth studying.
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