Iron Hold Guidelines: Gifts - Printed Material
Important Note: It is not permitted to loan items to the fae. Materials which the fae have touched may not be removed from the Hold. This prohibition extends to all printed materials, art and photographs, so do not bring items of sentimental value into any of the cells.
Ascalain has a very broad base of interest and is not difficult to please with reading material. History is his favourite subject, especially works covering the Fae Age of Evening and the Age of Iron, though his interest in events at the turn of the ages is somewhat lower (cited reason for this is saturation of such material). Accounts of daily life are of particular interest to him, fictional and factual, as are biographies and autobiographies. He also enjoys poetry.
Fiannas does not read as often as most other fae (see Music and Clothes for other suggested materials). Books on natural photography are by far her favourites, but she also enjoys mystery novels and romantic fiction. Fae history and modern archaeology in known fae sites are of tremendous interest to her, though complicated scholarly texts are not recommended. She is also fond of ladies' pictorials and weeklies.
Ilinme has a notoriously short attention span and a tendency to throw books she does not care for, so thick/heavy works are not generally recommended. She does read a great deal, however, and is fondest of poetry and various anthologies, poetic and fictional. If an adventure novel is good, she will even read longer stories to the end. She very much enjoys reading stories set in Corruth.
Arathalian's favourite subject matter includes biology, chemistry, metallurgy, medicine, structural and civil engineering, modern architecture, anthropology, armaments and munitions, demographics, census studies, foreign and domestic law, Age of Iron history and biographies of famous Ferrean individuals. He has little or no interest in fiction in general, but seems to enjoy occasional mystery/crime novels.
Culundar is the easiest of all the fae to please with books and other printed material, and has been known to read very unusual and unexpected works in the past, fiction and non-fiction alike. In general, if a book concerns a topic he has not previously encountered, he will almost invariably read it. He does tend to favour books with colour plates over others. The works of naturalists such as Illam Rabers are his favourite.
Nebeshanin reads very little. She prefers art and photography to printed material, which naturally excludes almost the entire Talton publishing corpus besides artbooks.
Cochalyon only reads in the winter months, for obvious reasons. Latter-age history constitutes much of his reading, and he reads a great deal of Censor-approved material about the Iron Hold and its inmates - even fictionalised accounts. He also reads about domestic law and current affairs (censored newspapers are by far the most common). Never give him works containing illustrations or colour plates of natural scenes.