Somewhere, I don't remember where, I read a description of the edge chronicles that described sky-scholarship as essentially producing heap amounts of useless knowledge.
And I'm not really sure if that was an accurate description of sky-scholarship but then again, it sounds kinda true. I don't really remember when we hear of sky-scholar knowledge being put into practical use other than when they predict the coming of Great Storms which is knowledge solely used to obtain stormphrax to weight down Sanctaphrax despite earth-scholars believing that this could be avoided if they studied the rock itself.
This does kinda make it seem like sky-scholarship only helps to replenish itself. Earth-scholarship on the other hand we see being usable in breeding and caring for prowlgrins and in medicine just to mention some things. I guess I probably have missed something (reading the pages of this wiki I realize I have forgotten a lot of things).
But do you believe that this assumption is wrong somehow?
Some other questions I have is about the viaduct schools of Sanctaphrax.
First one: what is the deal with the School of Potions and Poisons?
A school that sells mixtures and things, including animals, from the Deepwoods? I don't really get how it is different from earth-scholarship, especially considering how some people living in the Deepwoods (like Celestia Helmstoft) were "fluent" in medicine made from remedies found there, because they studied the flora of the forest.
So what is the difference?
Also, I guess this one is difficult to answer, but how many people went to each school in Sanctaphrax? The School of Colour and Light Studies is a viaduct school and is concerned with painting which, at least in our world around the renaissance, was a huge deal.
So if the people attending this school are among the only people on the whole edge who are capable of painting pictures, and we consider the number of painters per capita to be similar to the one we find in 16th century Europe. Then, taking into account that they probably only created commissions for a few inhabitants in Sanctaphrax and Undertown (both of which probably does not even hold a million citizens combined) do the numbers then add up as there only are a handful of painters in the whole edge? Or do each of the Viaduct Schools actually hold dozens of students while the greater schools hold several hundreds?
I got a bit off course there on a question that probably no one can answer but if you have an idea, please tell me.
My last question is the easiest to answer I guess: what was the true nature of Sanctaphrax as a nation/city/city part?
For as long as I can remember I thought of Sanctaphrax as some sort of university part of Undertown, where the educational facilities where located, but reading the page of Sanctaphrax just days ago I guess it's a city state now?
And they looked down a scholars who had risen from Undertown? I guess it makes sense that some scholars lived and died in Sanctaphrax but what did they feed themselves with? In a throwback to my first question about the usefulness of sky-scholarship, did their knowledge contribute in any way to the economy of Sanctaphrax? Or was the great rock purely sustained by its monopoly on flight rocks? And if so, what upheld this monopoly? The Knight Academics? Against the Leagues? How!?
Thanks for reading!