A slab is, as might be expected based on the name, a rectangular object designed to contain the information of a anima infusion. A slab may contain a story, set of memories, instructions, or even a collection of ready-to-go infusions, like charges of anima bolts. For most slabs, the diffusion of anima is uncomplicated, requiring the user to do nothing more than to draw out the information when desired. A slab is Vanquera's equivalent of a book. While Vanquera does possess the means of creating books, and they do have their use cases, slabs are by far the more popular choice.

Slabwright

A slabwright is an individual who works with slabs, be it someone that crafts non-infused slabs to be infused, someone that infuses slabs, or someone that maintains slabs and their infusions.

Appearance

A slab can be made of any material that can be infused, allowing slabwrights to make them from a large variety of things. A slab may take on a wide range of appearances depending on the culture. Higher quality slabs may be more elaborately designed, where as lower quality or cheaper slabs may be simple, plain, and uninteresting in physical appearance. Simpler designs, however, have been found to last longer over great periods of time. Ancient slabs from times long past have shown that simplicity can pay off better than complexity.

Artistry

As slabs are capable of being made of any material, many more wealthy slabwrights may commission artists of various disciplines to craft slabs that the slabwright may infuse.

Usage

To make use of a slab, one must draw out the anima from within. Higher quality slabs might instead be accessible via other means that lessen the tarnishing of the anima within. For example, a slab might communicate semi-telepathically while the user is in contact with the slab, passively providing anima. Or they might communicate by emitting audible sounds only the individual engaging with the slab can hear and discern. Or it might even just display text, pictures, glyphs, or other symbols. Books can be turned into slabs, providing an additional means of communicating information.

Maintenance

Like all infused objects, the anima rarely remains permanently, especially when it is withdrawn regularly. Infusions naturally degrade over time. Maintaining slabs means more than just ensuring they do physically deteriorate (Rusting metal, rotting wood, decaying leather) but also ensuring the infused anima remains untarnished. Over time, extracting anima from a slab can cause the original infusion to become garbled and messed up. To keep the infusion in pristine condition, slabwrights are required to regularly infuse anima from the purest sources possible back into slabs to help ensure the original infusion remains intact. Lower quality slabs may need to be re-infused with each use, while higher quality slabs only need to be re-infused every month or so. Should the anima being re-infused into the slab be impure, or worse, infused with contradictory information, the slab's anima may become corrupted or even lost.

Lesser slabwrights might simply place their slabs into tubs of anima, which may then be soaked back in. Slabwrights who work in universities, in contrast, might place their slabs into whirring machines that are supplied with the purest possible anima supplied straight from the White Lady herself.

When a slab is sold, the recommended method to prolong its functionality is to only take a small portion of the anima at a time. Replenish it immediately with anima provided by the White Lady. Most slabs have different means of providing the necessary care information, including making drawing more anima than should be drawn difficult. Slabwrights might even set a threshold past which a slab starts to give off warnings, either visual, audible, or via the anima into the individual drawing it out. There's numerous means with which slabwrights can preserve the information present within for long periods of time.

Complexity vs Longevity

For every slab a slabwright creates, they must discern whether it favors complexity or longevity in its infusions. Complex infusions are harder to maintain, as they require more regular upkeep. Simpler infusions last longer, but they cannot convey the information as thoroughly as more complex infusions. Such is the balance of infusing. Slabwrights worth their salt must understand this balance well, permitting that re-infusing their slabs are easy as possible when they are complex, or greatly simplifying their infusions when longevity is necessary. For example, a slabwright with access to an infusion chamber can get away with a slab that is incredibly complex. Alternatively, a slabwright needing their slab to provide information to people in the wilderness, far from civilization, might sacrifice complexity so that it may last for long periods of time without needing to be re-infused.