Libraries and books!

[Jubaris]

A quest in the name of the Red team! *points with his sword to the sky in the fashion of He-man*

 

So let's get this started!

There are four mainlands, for convenience sake I will name them (but in abbrevations since I am lazy): MB, NV, LR, GG. _{(Someone will probably mention that I would save more time writting the actual names than disclaimers about why I don't want to write them down...)}

 

Pick one of the lands to portray their land memory in the following way:

Identify a scene in that land that represents its memory/library, for instance Lore Manor in Loreroot, and portray your visualization of the place here. How do you imagine it to be, other than what you see in the scene?

Try to be a bit creative, what kind of books does the library hold, are the book covers of some special material, what are the book titles, etc. :)

 

There are no restrictions really, you can make a drawing, you can do whatever you want for us to understand your vision, the point is to have fun. Having fun with a combination of thinking about libraries and books equals lots of lots of lots of fun.

 

[lashtal]

Sounds awesome!

Any deadline?

[Jubaris]

A few weeks maybe, it might oscillate a bit but it will be active as long as there's interest in it, the deadline will be just a line that will stop everything in case people don't post.

If a few week pass and this manages to stay active, I'll just divide it into two parts and treat the "extra time" as a new quest, rather than delay things.

 

Also, if one of you guys like an entry of someone else and feel a great need to add something to it, feel free to comment and add suggestions, don't treat the topic as something stiff and entry-only/whatever. :)

 

Since this is a red team day, those that post an idea today get an imaginary cookie!

[Ary Endleg]

NV? :o

[Jubaris]

Yes, Necrovion=Necrovion, Necro is a known word, and vion is actually "avion" with an apostrophe, 'vion. "Avion"=aeroplane in Serbian :D

[dst]

 "Avion"=aeroplane in Serbian :D

Same in Romanian :P

[Ary Endleg]

Dead airplane jokes are dangerous in today's world :p

[lashtal]

Necrovion - House of the Tainted Times' Dark Hall

 

To be a library, it's dark indeed. 

In fact, it's so dark one may wonder how is it even possible to read while inside.

 

I guess not every book there is meant to be read, some could be mere speculations on things yet to come.

How to explain otherwise the detailed recipes to intoxicate unreleased creatures?

 

But I digress, let's proceed with order.

In the main hall, the greater part of the shells is occupied by the titanic "Encyclopedia of Necrovion".

Countless books (thousands? hundreds?), finely decorated, about the future history of Necrovion. 

Interesting to notice, these books diminish in number, night after night.

As if, whatever happens that was already foreseen caused the destruction of the correspondent volume…

Weird? Well, it certainly is. 

It seems this is no place for memory, but a place for things to forget…

 

Many books fall apart as soon as you touch them, others are created the very instant you walk away. 

Some of them have titles, others do not even have a cover. 

 

We have a tiny, but meaningful, child-section, 3 thick notebooks of infant-like drawings.

One of them has a signature on the last page, maybe it's just me but I think it says MARIND (I can't read well in the dark).

 

We also have a nice selection stolen from the seekers of enlightenment! 

153 books, 153 pages each, all of them blinding-blank. 

I tried to approach a candle to the paper, but no results. 

(Now that I think of it, they didn't smell of lemon juice)

 

One day I took one away, to expose it to direct sunlight.

As soon as I walked out, the volume turned to dust.

Few days after, the same exact volume was back in its place. 

 

I don't dare to make assumptions. 

I'm afraid the whole library could vanish, in case I'm right.

 

What can't vanish is the imaginary cookie I AM WINNING RIGHT NOW!!! 

Edited September 16, 2014 by lashtal

[Ary Endleg]

Nooo! You just told them we have their "missing" books. :ph34r:

Edited September 16, 2014 by Ary Endleg

[Jubaris]

It's no wonder Necrovion library is in such a poor state when one-eyed cats are responsible for its maintenance!

 

But back to real matters! *clap clap* Great image Lashtal, not only do you get an imaginary cookie, you get two!

Marind likes cookies (especially imaginary ones! pun intended), so we've developed great culinary skills by natural selection, I'm sure you'll enjoy them!

 

Really interesting post, hoping for various more ^_^

[Ungod]

This was kept a secret for a long time and I think it is time for it to be revealed. I am talking about the secret library in Winds Sanctuary.

 

Many of you probably dont know that in Marind Bell there are a few such libraries or lore collections. Their locations are hidden so well that citizens go through the scene without suspecting anything. I will be talking about the library at the capitol, the one that most citizens of MB have seen and that I had the honor of seeing myself. 

 

You know the shop? Well, a secret password told to the shopkeeper will grant you acces to a hidden door. Behind it is the famous library of Marind, which has many interesting items, although not the most powerful. As you walk in, all you see is a huge spiral staircase going up to infinity. The stairs and the hand rails are translucent and you have the feeling you are walking in aether. Climbing a few steps gets you into the first section: books are surrounding you from all sides and are placed so that you can take them with great ease. After finishing with one section, you go up to the next one. I have only gotten through a few and I want to tell you about it.

 

The first section is the historical section. It is a huge one, spawning hundreds of books that I would need days *cough* decades to go through. You can read everything about the land since it was formed, the wars being fought, the famous citizens and many other things. Some very interesting things about alliances, seals and symbols can be found there. I was so excited when I found them that I started yawning. I stretched a little and went up one section.

 

The next one was the section on fighting and war, that kind of thing. I was really impressed with it. Descriptions of weapons and their use, biographies of famous fighters from all lands, techniques of castle-building and means of defense, it was all there. I have never seen such an extensive collection in my life! But as I was going forward, I started to notice something very strange - all those books about war were slowly being changed by books on love, cheating your husband/wife, seducing married women, ways to convince a lover and so on. The ration began to rise alarmingly in favor of such books and I didnt know what was going on. Then everything made sense when I found a book called ”Love is a battlefield”. I cite from memory right now: ”You dont know what the art of fighting is until you master the art of love. Fitghing is easy, but unsheating your sword and jumping from the 3rd floor because her husband has come home sooner is hard. Fighting you wife when she hears about your escapades is hard. Training a few angiens is easy. But dont despair. Love and do what you want.” I had a revelation reading that - I realized my approach to fighting was wrong all along. In order to become a great figher - for the sake of my land - I had to find myself a hot married woman and seduce her. Then, I would know true power. Sun tzu has laid the principles of war marvellously in his book, but what a young man needs is raw experience to toughen him up. Yes, I had to change my view on what it means to be a strong warrior. Oh, how noble it is to sacrifice yourself for the greater good!

 

The next section was a bit...meh. It contained scrapbooks with people while in the land of Marind. It was...well, I found myself in there, picking my nose at MDP. I dont know what kind of people would do something like this (spying on others), but I understand everyone does. And some even have high-tech equipment to do that. Pervs. Anyway, what I realized is that privacy is an important thing. I mean, thats why papparazzis gets beaten, right? CUZ its important. Privacy, I mean. 

 

Totally disgusted by the previous section, with a few exceptions (too small to count - women bathing at Willows walk and stuff), I climbed to the next section. In here, the books were just  a few, but each of them was a rara avis (in translation, ”rare as hell”). I found a nice book with jokes and funny episodes with necrovians, also containing caricatures. It was called ”Scary doodles or The Fluffy Evil” - a pretty good title, imo. Another book - fantastic book, really - was the mirror-book. It sound interesting, right? And it is - it has no pages, just the cover. As soon as you open it, you read yourself. I mean, you can see your thoughts in there; but not your thoughts thoughts, but your inner thoughs, your subconscious thoughts. I saw a villa with naked girls doing chores. Lots of brunettes, sensual blondes, redheads and I even spotted a japanese girl slicing pizza. They were all working for me - cleaning and dusting, cooking, doing laundry or ironing my shirts, while I was (I remember this vividly) standing in fron of the window thinking that life has no meaning, that we are just products of circumstances and that our choices are only illusions; that we have no control over anything and life is but a dream. I realized at that moment that I might be a misogynist buddhist of some sort. 

 

Going up, I had the pleasure of seeing lots of books on cooking. Cooking fish, that is. I never knew so many fish existed - I always liked pork and chicken and as for fish, I loved whale. Those greenpeace guys always deliver the best whale. But here they were, all kinds of books on cooking fish and I was dumbfounded by this, because I have never seen fish in the realm. No fisherman, no fishing pole, no fish at all. My whole diet since I have been here was made up of candy, cake and beer. I am on the verge of becoming a sweets-addicted alcoholic. At that moment, I realised that MD needs more variety, it needs something different, like...muffins. Or pies. With cheese.Or something.

 

My stomach started to growl and I decided I cannot spend more time in the library (although there were still many sections to see!). I rushed down the stairs - thank Princ they were only 213 and went straight to the canteen. I sighted at the sight of the sign which read ”We are out of apple strudel and vodka”. That sign has been there since I remember...

[Ary Endleg]

Rhaegar, those are very bold words coming from a feathery species as yourself who end up as my breakfast :))

 

I like those books. Lash why haven't we stolen any from that collection? :))

[Eara Meraia]

this little story about the House of Tainted times, Necrovion library was inspired by my real working place. Many things I describe in there are real experiences, altered and adapted to MD. So all thanks to my beloved library :) Apologies to all those who dislike long posts and to those who are into perfect english grammar. As for the rest - I hope you will have fun with it.

 

[spoiler]

     You turn the key in an old heavy iron door. You hear a squeaking sound when you try to make a turn, so that you start doubting that you can even open it. You push the key a little more and it turns with a click. You make one step behind and push the huge door with your both hands. The door obeys, opens with a loud sound and you do your best to see something in that complete darkness of the room in front of you. Nothing. You feel  heavy dark and dry air coming out of the House of Tainted Times on your cheeks, you can smell a weird odour  of old paper, leather and something else, yet intangible in your nostrils and you decide to come in. Yes, this place is truly a part of Necrovion. You are getting more and more curious and decide to step in, ignoring  your fear.  You light a lantern, take a deep breath and step inside. Suddenly the heavy door swiftly closes behind you with a loud noise. Your lantern light vanishes. “Great”, you think, trying to get used to the darkness instead of being taken away by panic which grows somewhere inside of your soul.

 

     After a while your eyes get used to the darkness of the place and you make a few steps, bumping into a low table standing just in front of you. Instinctively you start searching for matches on the table and oh, happiness you find a little flashlight! You turn it on immediately and breathe out with relief. You look around and can’t help being impressed by the view. Hundreds and hundreds of book shelves, full of books big and small surround you. You smile; realizing how stupid was that to hope to find candles or matches here. Fire is its place biggest enemy, it’s obvious.

 

    There are no windows in this place and you wonder how the air stays relatively fresh. You raise your head and see little holes in the  stone ceiling made…yes…deliberately made for ventilation, a creation of some very smart architect, or, maybe, magic? Oh yes, one can easily believe that this place is full of magic. This is strikingly silent, just as it is strikingly dark and yet… you hear voices, like whispers coming from each and every corner. You freak out realizing that fact, but calm down thinking “if they wanted to kill me, they would have done it long time ago”.  Maybe there is some mechanic device that produces all those whispers or maybe you’re just overwhelmed and they are solely produced by your brain. You decide to take a closer look at the books. In the end there’s not much else to see in here…

 

    First shelves seem to contain books which are relatively new. You wonder – how can it be? This place hasn’t been entered for years it seems! Years…you notice this word doesn’t mean much in the place like this, just as other time relations. Time stopped. You notice that some shelves have been left empty at the end of the row and you smile realizing that it is meant for books that are still to be written. You pick one of the books from the shelf which is closest to you, reading aloud “H.P.Lovecraft…Necronomicon”. The whispers suddenly getting louder and you realize they come out of the book. Instinctively you shut the book. Whispers disappear…you feel relieved. The name of the book’s author doesn’t say much to you, but the name seems fitting. You smile and continue going deeper and deeper, occasionally reading names on the books, not daring to touch them anymore.  Jung, Freud, Nitzsche, Mesmer, Kardec…names names and more names and you wonder who all those people are. You keep on walking deeper and you notice that books appearance changes – they are getting thicker and thicker. Their cover is no more paper but some kind of brownish-grey and sometimes colorless leather. Names of those books are written with ink, with nice handwriting and can barely be seen in the light of your flashlight. You slowly overcome your fear. You stop and pick one of those books. You open it a little bit and take a pick inside. Suddenly the book opens widely and whispers fill your head repeating “Voynich”. You don’t close the book this time but continue looking inside while the pages slowly turn on their own, letting you see beautiful pictures of various plants and symbols, made by some skilled hand. Though you fail to read the text, since the language looks unknown…The book closes and you put it back to the shelf. You are impressed. All those pictures are still wandering around your head and cannot get rid of them…and don’t want to. But you start moving again. You notice that after some time books change into scrolls of paper and leather, looking so ancient that you don’t dare to touch them, since you think they fall apart into dust immediately.  You wonder what is in the end of this long row of books…

 

    You keep walking and walking and you don’t really know how much time passed already – hours, weeks, years? Suddenly your flashlight starts to flicker. You curse. No, please, not now! But it’s too late. The little lamp gives away the tiny little ray of light and dies.  You stand in a complete darkness. What now? You decide to keep going the same direction following book shelves, hoping that there is some kind of door in the end. Wait book shelves?  You feel around for books hoping to use the shelf as a guide or maybe even take one of those books with you to study it later, but you find nothing. No books, no shelves, only a bare stone wall, darkness and silence. You scream, but the next moment, you realize that screaming is absolutely useless in the place like this. Your echo screams back at you and you continue walking. After some time you suddenly see the ray of light in the end of the tunnel, full of joy and happiness you run to it and with all your strength you push the door, which is surprisingly not closed. It opens widely and you fall out of the tunnel into a soft grass. Blinded by a striking sunlight, overwhelmed by the amount of oxygen streaming into your lungs you faint. The last thing you remember is the sound of a door shutting behind your back.

[/spoiler]

Edited September 17, 2014 by Eara Meraia

[Jubaris]

You raise your head and see little holes in the  stone ceiling made…yes…deliberately made for ventilation

.......

 you hear voices, like whispers coming from each and every corner.

 

 

There was a similar thing in a book called "Name of the Rose", revolving around a library maze, where the ventilation produced sounds that scared new (unwanted) visitors. :)

[Eara Meraia]

strangely, the modern air ventilation system in the underground library archives works similarly, also producing spooky sounds and whispers from time to time. Freaked me out first time I had to work there. The other interesting thing - the absence of any mobile and internet connection, thats why it is only allowed to go in there when are people are still in house (old fashioned phone is available in case of emergency). If you don't show up for a couple of hours they are suppossed to go down and check if you are still alive. But thats completely OFFTOPIC :D :P

[Jubaris]

Don't Golemian and Lorerootian libraries give inspiration? 

[Ary Endleg]

Golemians are barely aware of theirs.

[Rophs]

Golemians are barely aware of theirs.

Golemians are barely existent, but the ones that do exist are fully aware of their libraries and simply have not written about them yet.

[Ary Endleg]

I was implying that it's well hidden :D

[Soothing Sands]

I just rushed right into this one, didn't know what to expect. My default is usually poetry, but i went with no rhymes this time, which is a bit different.

LR- Lore Manor

---------------------

 

The wooden door slowly swings open..

The rusty hinges moan quietly

 

Imprints of bare feet in the patches of moss, patches of dirt

The first shelf extends down the wall, rows and rows of books, varying in sizes and colors

Their bindings sorted by careful hands, old leather bound with fraying strings

 

Dust falls off the cover, and upon opening, the yellowed pages flow in order like a river of gold

Pausing a moment for a deep breath...

 

A-Choo!, sneezing loudly

Birds chirp from their nests in the trees outside

The sun illuminates the room in a warm glow

 

The book shuts with a satisfying thud

It is returned to its spot, content with its place

The dust slowly settles as you leave

[AmberRune]

I came up with some weird ideas I thought would be interesting for the GG collection of information in the Drach Lair. This is by no means accurate since I don't know what is already in the GG library (but it would still be kinda cool)

 

[spoiler]

Out in the front, a guardian watches over the hallways. It provides a deterrent and a distraction from the multitude of knowledge down the tunnels.

 

Of course there’s the known section of library space with books on how to raise your drachorns, how to make a colony of natives do your bidding, and symptoms and remedies for problems associated with drinking too much sea water. There is what looks like a copy of Akasha’s book of principles. But that’s the safer, more displayed area.

 

Down another hallway we pass more books or possibly copies of the other books but this time with sprinklings of “How to find Lorerootian Spies”, “Where have all the sandcastles gone”, and Festival of War logs. The banner on the back wall says “History and Land.” The walls between bookshelves show maps with different colored yarn or pins pointing at different locations. Notepads in the bookshelves occasionally have matching yarn on their covers as well as names of people, places, or events. This shelf over here by the map with lots of red is dedicated to folders labeled “The Dynasty.” Over here is a map covered in many colors of yarn. This one connects different parts of Loreroot. These pieces of yarn over here have been tied together and connect different parts of Marind Bell to Necrovion. Its bookshelf is labeled “Land Weaponry.” A bit further in, there is a map and bookshelf entirely dedicated to the Festival of War and Remembrance with pins and notebooks showing numbers. The corner nearest to the banner is just labeled “Guilds and alliances” and holds binders and journals on shelves dedicated to each alliance with their logos pasted on the top.

 

Down another tunnel, there are muffled sounds echoing. If you were to walk in further you could find the pens and cages of creatures for study. Tables abound with dissection equipment and pickling jars. There looks to be a section of wall dedicated to jars of pickled organs for comparison between creature parts. A couple tables further down hold what look like knators cut into thumb width slices and encased in glass. Some of the organs are flagged across multiple slices. Next to all of these displays are small bookshelves with folders and notebooks holding the thoughts and findings of whoever spent time studying that particular display. Up on the ceiling in the center of this collection is a banner stating “Creature Research.”

 

Another tunnel and the contents seem even stranger. There is no sign up at the top but along the path seem to be offshoot tunnels for specific people. Some of these offshoots have interesting locking mechanisms and pictures on their doors. They probably indicate who owns the offshoot and whatever notes are actively hidden inside them. One offshoot is dark with light flooding down onto items on pedestals. Among these pedestals are one that seems to have the helm of an aramor, what looks like the corner of a large stone cube, what appears to be an exact replica of Lifeline’s plushie, a cup of water, and a pedestal that is merely the place for a floating fragment of something solid to hover over. Books and pamphlets strewn about the floor in a circle with titles like “Item reading for the non-magical,” “Item reading for magical,” “Psychology in dolls,” and “They have ears and watch your every move.”

 

There are still a few tunnels left to look down but if the trend of strange continues, it might be easier to sleep without looking down them.

[/spoiler]

[Muratus del Mur]

I received a list of rewards for this, I wanted to say here i find them very nice, quite awesome. Some are a bit over the border of what i would normaly allow as gift, but the people they are for deserve this "over the edge" bit not necessarily for this particular contest, but just so in general, so i agreed to all of them.

 

The items will be created shortly

 

:)

[Jubaris]

Thank you Mur, I knew you would be fond of those, I'm pretty sure so will the receivers :)

[rikstar]

Is it still possible to put a submission up? If yes, what is the end date?

Edited October 1, 2014 by rikstar

[lashtal]

I think you still have time, this is what Rhaegar said about deadlines:

 

A few weeks maybe, it might oscillate a bit but it will be active as long as there's interest in it, the deadline will be just a line that will stop everything in case people don't post.

If a few week pass and this manages to stay active, I'll just divide it into two parts and treat the "extra time" as a new quest, rather than delay things.