a place of bells & trees

Katsushika Hokusai 葛飾 北斎, Two bats flying, c. 1830-50

Stratt was a historian. She wasn't just pirating for the sake of entertainment for the astronauts, she was doing a full historical backup of the planet. Who knows how much knowledge and communications ability, how much art and culture and history, how much niche knowledge of how to make specific pieces of modern technology or modern medicines, was lost as the wars for resources isolated everyone, as the death tolls led to the deaths of specialized trade workers and scientists, as the power grids failing across the planet (or cut off, potentially) led to all the cloud servers going dark. Stratt was facing methods of combating extinction and she did her best to ensure that if/when the Hail Mary worked, it would send back not just the hope of the future in the solution to the astrophage, but the restoration of history and culture and knowledge.

you are in the medieval era and you have this role!

A lovely little find I picked up from my friend Oliver at Collinge & Clark Books in London. Before he became one of England's greatest printers and type designers, John Baskerville (1706-1775) earned his living in Birmingham as a writing master and letter cutter. This inscription, known as Baskerville's Slate, originally hung in the window of his workshop, advertising: "Grave Stones Cut in any of the Hands By John Baskervill Writing Master." It is one of the earliest surviving examples of his work and foreshadows the precision and elegance that would later define his famous typeface. This is a rare, high-quality cast resin reproduction from the 1960s, formerly in the collection of renowned typographic historian James Mosley. A wonderful little addition to my collection.

Parade Shield from Florence, Italy dated between 1380 - 1450 from Florence on display at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, England

This rare shield would have been used for ceremonial purposes only. It boldly declares the identity of the Villani Family, who were wool merchants in Florence. Their arms dominate the surface, and when not in use the shield would have been put on display in their home.

OP: Why couldn’t traditional Chinese Yinpiao银票/silver drafts be forged if they were merely slips of paper? (cr大明宝钞，渐越)

Traditional Chinese yinpiao/silver drafts were paper vouchers issued by private banks starting from the Song Dynasty(960–1279). People could exchange these slips for physical silver at bank branches across the country.

Silver drafts were made in multiple copies with matching serrated seal edges. One copy went to the customer and others stayed at the bank. All edges had to fit perfectly together to withdraw silver. The unique split edge marks were almost impossible to copy.

This mechanism is known as qifeng骑缝 (split-joint seal) in China. It first originated in the Western Zhou Dynasty (1046–771 BC). The Rites of Zhou records that contracts were written on bamboo or wooden slips in duplicate. Notches and marks were carved in the middle before splitting the slips, with each party keeping one half. The two halves would be matched by their notches for verification.

During the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods (770–221 BC), this idea evolved into hufu虎符/tiger tally tokens. A military tally was split into two pieces with identical inscriptions carved along the split edge. Troops could only be deployed if the patterns and characters on both halves perfectly aligned, serving as a metal version of the split-joint anti-counterfeiting system.

The technology matured in the Tang Dynasty (618–907). Government documents and private contracts commonly used split-joint seals stamped across the dividing line. The Chinese character "hetong合同" (contract) was written across the middle before the paper was torn apart, so the complete characters would only appear when the two halves were put together. This split-coupon system was later adopted for Song Dynasty (960–1279) jiaozi paper money and yinpiao/silver drafts of the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368–1912).

Official Song dynasty paper money (Jiaozi交子) was abolished in 1107. Private silver drafts issued by Qing-era piaohao票行 (ancient exchange banks) vanished completely in 1951, hit hard by modern banks and currency reforms. Nowadays silver drafts no longer circulate as currency. Their collectible value depends on their rarity and physical condition.

this literally is not an exaggeration

It’s also worth noting that Leon’s VA for dbd Riley McShane knew exactly what he was doing.