The Sarkic empire was the superpower of the ancient world, spanning the globe across multiple continents and subjecting their people to their benevolent rule. Although they were an authoritarian nation that is involved in the slave trade, they also embraced the free market principles of capitalism and private enterprise. Their influence extends from technological advances combined with magic to create arcano-tech. This technology is infused with mana, a form of energy used to perform rituals. This combination gives technology their magical properties and attributes, increasing its power and dexterity. This forms the base of their power and has made them the most dominant empire in the world. The creation of magical texts is a different matter. The Sarkics use a process called Anthropodermic bibliopegy, the practice of binding books with human skin. This rather macabre practice is used to make parchment to store rituals and instructions for spells, such as the Necronomicon. When a book or scroll is needed, a slave, often a prisoner of war, is killed and their remains are used as material to create the parchment. These are then sold to mages for their personal and private use.
The most important aspect of a free market system is maximizing efficiency. Increasing output while reducing costs is the goal of any corporation, as it helps them to remain competitive with other businesses. The advent of arcano-tech has led to many advances in knowledge, new kinds of products, such as E-books. Information can be downloaded or uploaded with a click, increasing access to information. The amount of money and power that stems from this to the wealthy is usually enough to override foolish traditions and excuses such as " We have always done it this way ". However, the process of bibliopegy is very inefficient, as it wastes valuable resources and is time consuming. Maintaining a slave population is also expensive, especially when the benefits of arcano-tech is on display to all, and would make a suitable replacement as opposed to this ancient practice.
What would make this form of storing texts more preferable to more efficient methods?
The most important aspect of a free market system is maximizing efficiency. Increasing output while reducing costs is the goal of any corporation, as it helps them to remain competitive with other businesses. The advent of arcano-tech has led to many advances in knowledge, new kinds of products, such as E-books. Information can be downloaded or uploaded with a click, increasing access to information. The amount of money and power that stems from this to the wealthy is usually enough to override foolish traditions and excuses such as " We have always done it this way ". However, the process of bibliopegy is very inefficient, as it wastes valuable resources and is time consuming. Maintaining a slave population is also expensive, especially when the benefits of arcano-tech is on display to all, and would make a suitable replacement as opposed to this ancient practice.
What would make this form of storing texts more preferable to more efficient methods?