The Great Library of FaeThere is little written history of the Great Library of Fae shared with the wider Realms. Though information may be kept in private collections, much of the information about this Library is kept in the oral tradition. I (Fern Eberhardt) and others have goals to do the following:The currently known history of the Library, or at least a summary of such, is as follows. There were once ten Unchanging Places in Fae. It is unknown if all were present during the First Era, but there were certainly ten in the beginning of the Third Era. Some of these places were made by Deep Fae, though it is not known if all were. One of these Places was the Great Library of Fae. The Duke of Knowledge was the caretaker of this place, at least until his death. During the war of Bedlam, the Unchanging Places were guarded by wards of light, but these were sabotaged and fell. The Places were overrun and destroyed, and the Palace of Fae fell shortly after. Before the threat of Bedlam was known across Realms and while Cuchulain was still gathering power in 1005, adventurers of the Realms went to the Great Library of Fae. Their mission was to awaken the Librarian, the Duke of Knowledge. He had been put into a magical sleep by Cuculhain in the First Era to protect him from the coming coup. The Duke was found in a glass coffin, similar to how the other Dukes and Duchesses were found. The adventurers discovered that in order to awaken the Duke, they had to relive the memories present in the Library�s �books�. These books were flowers of often-massive proportions. Once one sniffs one of these flowers, they are transported into the memory that flower contains. When the adventurers played out the stories incorrectly, the vision would fail and they would find themselves in the positions they had ended the memory in. When played correctly, the adventurers would find themselves near the flower they had sniffed to access the memory. For example, if the memory had failed while people were running away from something, they might find themselves a distance away from the flower. However, if the memory succeeded, they would �wake up� in the same place they had �fallen asleep�. One of the challenges the adventurers faced in choosing and playing out these stories was that the names were present on the stems, but spelled in Ogham. These stories appeared to be a mix of significant events of Fae and Realms history, as well as the individual recollections of adventurers present. It is possible that Fae Belief Magic brought the stories the group would be most invested in close together. After enough memories were properly played out, the adventurers made their way to the Duke. He was guarded by Bedlam Bois, a strange foe at the time. The adventurers prevailed, but the Duke remained weakened from his time asleep. I have seen two different spellings of his name so far, and will note that he has been alternately called both Holophonese or Holofernes. He died relatively soon after waking. When Paris� forces successfully besieged the Library during the Rites of War, the Duke of Knowledge was apparently sacrificed to hell. It is possible that the weakened state of the Library and no caretaker at the time lead to its fall against Bedlam. Near the end of the war against Bedlam, some people were able to go back into the Library and collect seeds of Knowledge. One of these people was Tara. She planted a seed, and a single flower grew after a year. Tara and others were able to gain information from it before it died. It seemed like it grew similarly to a regular flower, with soil, water, and sunlight, though Tara does not know if this would hold true for all memory flowers. From what I gather, the flowers of the Great Library of Fae were not seen for ten years. That is, until some appeared in the woods of the Black and White masquerade of 1023. A good handful of adventurers sniffed the flowers and experienced the memories, while others found pollen which may be related. These flowers and pollen sound as if they differ from previous experiences. I smelled two of these flowers myself, and rather than play out memories I was more of a passive observer in memories. Myself and the companions I was with were frozen still while we experienced these. We were not literally frozen, but rather quite still as if asleep or in deep thought. The pollen made people physically reenact memories with each other. The memories from these flowers at Black and White were not pleasant ones. Personally, I saw one of a Fae man presenting an inflammatory speech to incite war against Wayland. All seemed to follow themes of fear, betrayal, loss, and war. Across them all was at least the lurking threat of Bedlam. The pollen seemed to be more of a mixed bag, with some of my friends acting out scenes of family shaming younger members, or chasing down people they would not harm in their waking minds. Others were more neutral experiences, with some re-enacting a meeting between Magus Bright Oakfellow and Duchess Ophelia, and others singing songs. I made the mistake of picking two of these flowers in the afternoon. I was not aware at the time of the significance and rarity of these flowers, and had thought that as we were smelling the pollen that the effect would stay. This was not the case, and in hindsight they should have stayed. That evening I learned a portion of the history of the Great Library. Unchanging Places and Library Ruins Deep Fae could potentially make new Unchanging Places. When the Risen Kingdom put down the Iron Road, that became an Unchanging Place. However, it was unnatural and painful to the lands of Fae. Unchanging Places can be changed in the way that mortal places can be - furniture can be moved, for example - but it seems that they revert back to some base state. This does beg the question; how did the Library change and grow new memories and installations if it was �Unchanging�? It is possible the Library ruins could still exist somewhere in Fae. No one seems to have looked for it a great deal, based on some conversations, but I am not able to prove a negative. It is unknown if it is able to be found, but I and others may try to seek the ruins out soon. Bringing or attempting to bring the Library back, or a library serving the same function could draw attention from denizens of the Fae Wilds and beyond. Sources Princess Captain Dame Cimone Count Ser Kovaks Sir Magus Rosetta Lord Sir Tara Fae-Eternal Omri Azar |
Created by Fern Eberhardt (Kelly Perfetto)
at 12-12-23 11:37 PM
Last Modified by Fern Eberhardt (Kelly Perfetto) at 12-13-23 10:27 AM
Last Modified by Fern Eberhardt (Kelly Perfetto) at 12-13-23 10:27 AM