The Errant Scribe [Dark Comedy, Strategy, Sci-Fi Fantasy]

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

The universe is governed by the Scriptorium, an institution outside time and space entrusted with the power to write new worlds into existence and to edit what doesn't seem to be going as fated. Cassian Quilljack knows this because he used to be a scribe there. Then he got demoted to field editor, which is a glamorous title meaning “go fix reality somewhere horrible and try not to die.” His tool is red ink, the only thing that can rewrite existence quickly enough to matter. But red ink only comes from one place: space dragon blood. So, the Scriptorium does what any moral bureaucracy would do. It lures dragons out of their meteor den, lets cosmic radiation kill them, harvests the blood, and calls it “necessary.” Until the year the dragons stop coming out. Cassian gets sent. Because he’s expendable.He makes one edit. Because he’s Cassian.And the universe reacts the way it always does to bureaucracy: it completely breaks in the funniest possible way.Will he fix the mess he started? Chapters are paused until the editor finishes the book and I revise. (I'm currently writing book 2 of Shatterpoint.) _____________________________What to expect:-Cosmic bureaucracy-Space dragons-Portal hops, timeline weirdness, and causality rules that bite back-A smart, arrogant protagonist who keeps making everything worse-Comedy with teeth, plus occasional existential dread-Fast pacing and frequent cliffhangers ____________Who is this story for?If you enjoy smart protagonists, space, time-travel, multiple realities, or reading Douglas Adams’The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxyor Terry Pratchett’s playful writing style, this story is for you. Give it a try.

Information

Status: Ongoing
Year: 2026
Author: D.P. Gurbalov

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.9/ 5.0
Followers: 40
Views: 4,863

Chapters(26 total)

What readers say about The Errant Scribe [Dark Comedy, Strategy, Sci-Fi Fantasy]

“Great start with some really wild ideas and solid energy! Quilljack is an absolute standout name and made me grin right away. Loved the dragon movement and the in-universe explanation; it feels fresh and ties into the world nicely without feeling forced. Th…”
CRReillyRoyal Road5.0 / 5
“The character of Quilljack is compelling and memorable, though I do question the wisdom of his supervisors for granting him such vast cosmic powers. The setting is excellent and feels carefully thought out, especially the concept of the Scriptorium, an esta…”
Eru DitRoyal Road5.0 / 5

Reviews

No reviews yet. Be the first to share your thoughts!

Community Reviews(10)

CRReillyRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Great start with some really wild ideas and solid energy!
Quilljack is an absolute standout name and made me grin right away. Loved the dragon movement and the in-universe explanation; it feels fresh and ties into the world nicely without feeling forced.
The future-AI angle is hilarious and spot-on—nailed what that kind of tech might actually look like in a funny, grounded way. Ink usage as a core mechanic is super interesting too; it gives the whole scribe/reality-editing thing a unique twist that keeps you curious.
Chapter 1, ending with cause and effect, was an outrageously strong hook that made me want to keep reading.
Only thing I'd love more of is fleshing out the Scriptorium a bit. A little extra feel for their structure, hierarchy, and overall mission would help ground the chaos even more and make the stakes hit harder. Right now it feels a tad surface-level, but the potential is huge, which I feel is still to come down the line.
Really enjoyed the momentum and imagination here, looking forward to more. Keep it coming!
Eru DitRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
The character of Quilljack is compelling and memorable, though I do question the wisdom of his supervisors for granting him such vast cosmic powers.
The setting is excellent and feels carefully thought out, especially the concept of the Scriptorium, an establishment existing outside time and space, yet not entirely immune to their machinations.
The story takes a completely unexpected direction, capped by a strong hook at the end of Chapter 1 that effectively make me want to read more.
My only lingering concern is the apparent lack of fail-safes on the Scriptorium’s side, which allowed for the ensuing chaos to unfold.
Eternauta86Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
The first thing that strikes me with The Errant Scribe (apart from comet starships and space dragons) is the confident writing of the author, who avoids the very common mistake of overexplaining lore and setting in the opening of a book, and instead plunges us straight into the story, and we get immersed immediately in a world where scribes use magic inks to create and edit reality, dragons fly through space with the power of radiation, and the characters are apparently older the the whole span of human civilization.
Other writers would have put the action on hold to deliver ponderous exposition, but the author clearly trusts the reader and themselves enough to insert all this seamlessly as the main hook is established and as we meet the main characters, Quilljack and Cassian.
So, in conclusion you have lots of cool stuff in the story and it's in the hands of a skilled and confident writer. Definitely one to recommend!
HoroshaRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
As the title said, I believe this story has interesting ideas, and plenty of potential. Space travel and dragons are rarely something that can become intertwined in fiction. And their existence being integral to the way reality as a whole functions is interesting, I find the idea of casually rewriting reality really funny. However, I do have some issues with it. The first and most glaring is that the protagonist, Quilljack, has almost no personality in chapter 1. The only thing we know about him is that he is considered expendable by his organization. He never does anything that tells me about him. The other is that some of the exposition is handled a little clunkily. Particularly, "Instead, they relied on a strange twist of evolution known as radiation thrust..." and "J’moola had become quite popular in this part of the galaxy over the past few centuries..." Those two instances of exposition took me out of the story. Though I do have other issues, they're minor in comparison to those two, but Quilljack's blandness and the occasional heavy-handed exposition wasn't enough to actually make me hold the story in any form of disregard. As I said in the beginning, it has interesting ideas that I'd like to see them fulfilled, and as I don't have any issues with the plot or story itself, I'll give it 5 *'s.
JazalhRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This chapter opens with a killer idea and executes it with confidence: a universe edited by scribes, fueled by dragon blood, where cosmic horror collides with petty bureaucracy. The worldbuilding is swift and elegant, the tone walks a precise line between dark comedy and genuine awe, and the zero-gravity sequence inside the Dragon’s Den is both clear and imaginative. The ending twist lands hard, reframing the entire success as the first step toward catastrophe, and promises a story driven not by heroism but by unintended consequences.
If there is a weakness, it lies in how smooth everything is. The prose is highly readable, sometimes almost frictionless, and Cassian, while effective and likable, still feels close to an archetype at this early stage. A touch more strangeness, risk, or stylistic abrasion could give the voice even more bite.
Still, as an opening chapter, it is sharp, memorable, and confidently above the genre’s average.
LoreLandRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Quilljack messed up big time, literally. He changed the course of events of the universe for better or for worse remains to be seen. He is humorous and playful in some ways but does not give off a naive impression. He's the type of MC you'd root for.Dragons, a fan favorite always, is a central point in this story. From what I have seen so far, the dragons are not like what you'd usually expect in terms of appearance.The style of writing easily grabs you in. It is detailed enough for you to imagine all that is happening but stays safely away from being purple prose. All what is written matters with no fluff in sight. It’s safe to assume that the writer is a seasoned one from their craft. There is no info-dumping, and everything is introduced to us through the character’s actions.I’m not sure where the story will go from this point, but it is a journey worth keeping up with. The pace is fast but not overwhelming. Since it is a comedy (albeit a dark one), you can expect a more light hearted tone, although I suspect the story will explore deeper themes if I am spotting the foreshadowing correctly.The grammar is perfect with no faults thus far.Looking forward to seeing more of Quill’s adventures!
MistboundRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I liked how creative the setup of chapter one is. The script editing reality with blood is such a cool idea. The scene with cassian riding the dragon is my favorite. It felt tense but also kind of emotional cause of the hatchling. Cassian feels like a a normal person trying to survive a bad job in a dangerous place. I also like how the worldbuilding comes through actions instead of long explanations. Overall great chapter.
OmnipenneRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
"Words can be tricky, though. Sometimes a single word can mean the world. Or a single letter."Style:This story has been a pleasant read so far. The writing style is clean, easy to follow and manages to balance irreverent humour with fridge horror. The descriptions paint vivid scenes without overstaying, and the action scenes are well-paced.One suggestion I would like to raise would be for the Author to really push the concept even further. There is an opportunity here to really play with language, structure, editing or even the web novel format. So far, there are some hints of this in these early chapters, so I'm looking forward to seeing how far the Author goes.Story:The universe(s) is at the mercy of the Script, and Scribes can impose their will upon the Script with the stroke of a pen (or finger).It is very easy for things to go extremely wrong with a concept like this. The very universe could implode with many contradictions and plot holes, but the Author manages to prevent such a catastrophe by establishing clear rules and restrictions.Every edit a Scribe makes has consequences. Mostly unpredictable ones. Every author familiar with the editing process knows how even a small change can make or break the entire narrative, and here its played on the cosmic level.The worldbuilding presents a multi-layered world that spans across space, time and someplace outside that. Right off the bat, we get some really cool drops like "Red Ink for editing comes from the blood of Space Dragons" (which sounds like something out of a dark fantasy story). The Scriptorium, with all its rules and often un-knowable edit requests has likely committed countless OSHA violations (all conveniently rewritten out of memory). Lore is revealed organically in a way that doesn't overwhelm, rather it often hits like a punchline.Characters:Cassian Quilljack (cool name btw) is your morally grey everyman, equal parts reckless and clever; a great MC candidate for this kind of story. As much as I want
adriansnowRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
That ending was brutal 😂 I genuinely didn’t expect it to spiral that hard, but it worked perfectly. The way everything keeps going wrong feels intentional without being forced, which is honestly impressive. I’m writing something with a similar “everything goes wrong” vibe, so this hit especially well for me. It’s the kind of chaos that keeps you reading because you need to see how much worse it can get. The tension builds in a really satisfying way, and the payoff lands. Definitely curious where you take this next, because if this is the baseline, it’s only going to get crazier from here.
falsknamnRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This is one of the best stories I’ve read on Royal Road up to this point. I was a bit skeptical reading the synopsis but the story did a great job hooking me in and has been a great read so far.I’m not a big fan of stories that break the fourth wall, but despite that the story is intriguing. The red and blue in are great plot instruments that keep the story moving in an unexpected ways.The story moves rather quickly which I like. Despite that it’s pretty easy to understand what’s happening. Overall I’ve really enjoyed this story.