walking upon insideinside the library náturalis
8
infinite loops?
IWe hear the dull echo of footsteps of plastic velvet shoes on the warm softly bubbled carpeted library floor, the sheer dark black framework was imposing upon my sense, a metallic, concrete fictional paradise. the fiction was as evident as to me how fictional the contents of those books will assumingly always be to me. locked away in domed concrete walls, rare artifacts shown off after the fall, balanced on a mountain and, kept in safe space, hence perhaps a clue to ourselves could possibly be drawn on day from the brown books on our walls.
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) <searchtheeyes
across from the city of the upper-keep, there is the Library~
parts of the library are off-limits by the citywatch, or are hidden, or are private rooms
the sky-floor has a sky-barge,
and bridge-works scatter the
upper-towers of the library~Natural
~This is the the hodge podge, tower-city of the library academy Ero-Naturalis, kept in order by bottle-gnomes, mindlessly re-organised and catalogued by library-imps and green vault goblins. asplendour the top of Urza; castle in the gloom. the valley sways far beneath these upper walls of the library-towerkeep, ushunder the howls of far-off winds, but inside the keep, all is soft & quiet - just the soft sounds of footsteps and sounds of the interior of the castle rooms, papers being reshuffled,, murmurs, squeaks, mumbles, a cauldron bubbling away... doorknobs being turned, the everpresent faint howl of the corridor winds,
vetrigo inducing it might be,
but a strange chaotic synchronicity of peace,
resounds among these quiet walls,
a sanctuary to be cherished,
of learning and living,
This HighWorld of the Fane.
here, t be cultured! for some time
now the UpperLibrary-City
has been the forefront of
University accredentials.
After -theShift- they remade the
City. it floats on, awisp - afloat, up high,
on the wishes of the Council: the
SkyCanals and Zepplins pass through the sky-docks:
the~ Northern arch-viaduct , now
mended provides traders and unusual visits
from Lands Far . the folorn world - upon opening its dream-boundaries now must adapt, as minds from the Netherworlds
encroach upon our twilight zone.
you have entered: Zone: the Upper-Palace ( Library district ) (GloomTower)
The Library Naturalis of Eros & Earth is a vast storehouse of material from the ages and aeons,
kept in preserved condition tomes,library-rooms & bookshelves of knowledge of once-thought lost texts from a dimension of unknown times ororigin Are kept here within the Library Vaults.~this is the library of Junk. Gloon-Keep Tower
Meanwhile book-keepers are slowly but surely incorporating, folding and tracking records incesseciably. Library-gnome-helpersTotter about nilly-nally from Transcript room to corridor - ~, towards more useless junk! then re-bound,re-sorted,re-shelved by goblins, whilst book-trolls,roam the halls, cleaning the impure clutter,away.. messy homes,for Bookgnomes, Yet still space for a contemplation garden, a reading realm, a walled sanctuary-garden of peace, before eventually making the descent into the E'eroziah shrouded valley beyond...ahh-yes, the upper-palace has it all ! Hence why it is the most beloved known citadel in all of Inner-Ee'rozi'ah, Library Naturalis is here! we all need: a library~ we need books:information,codex's-codicies.to learn, to browse...] well: there are many libraries in this realm. and This is the Towering, Library Naturalis~ perched among the upper-spiralling, twisted towes of G|oomKeep - this is the vertical getaway zone, to escape the bustle and hustle of gloomcity.. watch out for the kobolds that live in the rockfaces and inside the mountain, they might take on a blue appearence, or travel in pairs, the Upper township into gloomcity is here too, not just the skycanal~ the palace gardens, and
library, both here- the lower city & crypts are down here too, further beyond - past the canalworks & library crypts and dungeons are the library-side gates, and the forestworld, below..
scattered into the arcane horizon - are the demi-wastes,
where this part of the gloomkeep plummets into sheer vertice,
and finally until the twisted valley below swallows the clifftop - tower,
but up here, all is swell! too swell! glory & luxury abound, height,
the finest lodgings in most of gloomcity! the Wizard's getaway, spiralling, ever downwards, strange mystified Tolaris lib & gloomkeep..
books made from magic inks are
created by master & apprentice
mages. They work dilligently here
on the upperfloors to use the sunlight
to cast runes onto the books.
Bottle-gnomes are used to enscriube
magic delirium Ink from the Squirts of
insects;
they collect the Inks inside
the bottle-compartments inside the golum-gnomes;
furthermore; the wizards that study up here are looking for more ways to make magic inks;
sca
magic-ink can be used for many things. such as
iinvisible or
translusent script;
many layers of books
are collected and
then MiSsHapen , then
scryed into , by Library-Seer's ;
to see into the books -
much like an astrtonomer looks into the stars.~
we see the world through writing and books.
Just remember, the Library Naturalis, flys high in the sky! The Library Tower of Gloomkeep! this is a real place, to learn to study, take your time, and coalesce a seat for yourself with the council, book a room, come stay at he library quarter! You can reside, learn, your merit goes back into the city-council of 'Ureb'er'd_ Urza castle officals, or replacement goblin workers will assist you and ~
well, we can go from there, handy inns are build into the library-labyrinth, the residential district is technically everywhere, but further down in lower parts of the tower are
there. is are gateway , or perhaps secret gateway being built to the Upper-Palace.
joluna, the shifting shapesmage, found a rare emerald crystal mine -
far-off to the borders and reachs of the E'erozia wastes,
and the lavish palace gateways are finally under constriction,
in the Palace-quarter.
The wharf-houses, tipple and are toppled precariously in the Upper city. a a weatherstation and astrolab sit at the rooves of the palace quarter. the sky-city vertical-world houses denizens of claustrophobic hot rooms of dense activity, kitchens & storerooms, entertainment parlours, , dining suites; its all serving the palace-city ~
and such faceless invisible
dwellers of the city
incarnate are they who dwell
up here. in
The labyrinth of the mountain-face and spires of the city. The library-tower hides, more than it shows,hiding away a million clusters of books; intentionally hidden stairwells... the library kitchens swelter in the afternoon heat -many must be catered for ! it is no easy task!
you can try to sneak in to the palace through this dark corridor here
\the library-world is quite different of course. Being the center of all exquisite and strange learning for the Students, higher-masters, teacher, scholars, Mages & Wizards's alike whom visit the Library-Tower-World. Life here is suited for something else. the pace is slow & arduous & adepts make a good learning ofit. All types of unusual things are devoted to study here. This canal is the Palace levels barge that loops around the castle-world, rather than meandering into Bargelanes meant for cargo traffic & more unscrupulous merchants.
the Spirelands around here house tthe nobility, but also many of the stranger mroe eccentric wizards live here, in the misty-heights of the swirling giddy Towers of the SpireLands.
there are psassages through these winding halls & spiral-staircases into Greater worlds, lost-for decades doors, with unkempt rooms,
lost objects & odd artifices buried away under dust-covers;
And so, there was a princess whom lived in the Tower,
she dwelt all her days in longing for someone
and waited all the while in solace.
It was here, in the Land of UrZa's Domain
that she learnt her spells ,when Jaou~
the visiting scholar visited ;
the castle had experienced trans-
formative energies in its culture;
the Sages Library engarnished in
its own splendour -proceeded
to bring about the enhanced
precision ofthe Higher
Mathmatice fields of study, But
Gear & Cog sciences,
the Arcane steamworks
of the city sump, now ... hmm
"overseen by smart ",
embellished,
"what's it referring to?
expertise fromday?
the Higher,M'lackey?
learned
Mages &
Wizards of
the Gloom
Tower
Spire..
But someone's Altered this
life is nonsense, being a living lifeform can have its nice side, but once you read enough books you will know for sure that life is nonsense, just make your own rules and enjoy yourself and be kind to others, lifes most problem is not enough kindness, so you should be kind.
~The SkyBarge pulls into -the Aerostation- and the air-pistons hiss SsSssSSs, as the door's hydrolics open up and you step out onto the velvet carpets and suspended hallways of the UpperAcademy,
Gloomkeep, the Library of Naturalos.Tolaris. ]/] To board the skybarge back to the UpperPalace [[
]__ please board at the station here __[
This is Gloomkeep, ~the Academy of Tolaris, Velurune.
The Runelands and Shelterlands are not far away to the east, out of the Academy and Library gates. But now the focus is on the chambers & tower-rooms of the library ward.
Gloomkeep is like the vast Tower on the edge of Gloomcity, it is here that the vast metropolis library of the Aeon lies, cool and waiting...hovering in memory and eternity....
dark winding
staircases, musty old tomes, A cobwebbed vast library of half-lost, half-forgotten knowledge
walk on, through its walls, many eyes see you.....
The library floor seems to emit a dank slightly foul odour, subtle wall-light scatter the pillars and cast a
soft amber light upon the books~ ~ a salt-churn smell
from the arches and windows lets us know the ocean is near,. strange mechanisms and passageways lead up
blind-alleys and odd precarious ladders seem to lead
Upwards, to hermit-caves and lost-scholar dwellings,
The Mechanists build alot of this tower back in the Yondays, but the plasma-sunder and Yo-wiz force
moved the entire palace under a beautiful magic now.
As gloomkeep spiralls evermore downwards,
the steep vertice of the citywalls threaten any mortal mind. The city wasn't built like that. Certaintly not the library quarter.
billows of river-air spout forth through the yawnings and arches where the castle takes a breathe of fresh air, these are the very
foundations of the castle, all the vaults and library storages are kept over here, higgeldy all over
the artifacts are the priority, the riverway and canworks are a vital lifeline for the library naturalis
stock, books, food, commerce, research, material needs ~ And this place, inbetween cities, both - GLoomCIty, and the Edge of the city, both the library naturalis (gloomkeep) and the Mechanists disctrict further down, Is the SpireLands,
not Sigil itself, which is further hidden,
inbetween all of these environs.
~The SpireLands ^-^-^-^_
We are in the CanalWorks district of the Tower. the book-keeps of the library, are still scribing away, tirelessly always at work, studiously, all nooks & crannies used for something or other to further the cause of the Library of gloomtower, this zone is where many of the city-mages and librarians have residence and sleep, also the canal-port runs through here, giving access to other parts of the gloomcity & the undercity canalworks
"Well,, this is the gloompalace"
"yeah, wha'lll otbe ?"
- "who are you, whaddy'a want?"
"these gates lead directly into the palace."
"but you can't come through here."
"sorry. It's on the City'd Orders."
This place is like a coalesence of many parts of the city, the UpperPalace is high above, whilst not he palace proper; this level of the tower-city serves as its aqueducts, and anteways, chambers and crypts, storerooms, library-codex catalogue-rooms, the shadowcity lurks here, hidden from complete assumption.
stony, dark, dusty hallways and doorways, staircases, lay forgotten amongst a spiral of vertical or steep passageways leading to other parts of the gloomcity.
This place a broken forgotten mess of confusing corridors, hidden reading-rooms, - some rooms and passages, flooded, decrepid, scribes & monks, sit, reading and praying by candlelight, a swollen zone of the city, aglut with fog & pollution, but still strange arcanic and scribal experiments go on past and inside of these walls. There is rumour of otherworldly devices designed and practissed behind here in secrts, ways into the CyberCity and ways into the Old City too - - is the subterrenean district here?
the old quarter might lend us access to
other forgotten layers of the gloomworks.
Bram Stoker, Dracula
The first thing to note is that a lot of horror classics like Dracula,Frankenstein, and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are way weirder (and better!) than you might expect. Dracula is a genuine page-turner, although there were several parts where I couldn’t help but think of Richard Pryor.
Dracula is, in a way, a tale of paper trails: since he’s slippery as a ghost, Van Helsing and the gang finally track the vampire down through deeds, receipts, etc. And they, in turn, leave their own paper trails through diaries, letters, and other record keeping.
Writing, in Dracula, is a way of keeping the mind straight and not descending into madness:
Up to now I never quite knew what Shakespeare meant when he made Hamlet say—
“My tablets! quick, my tablets!
‘Tis meet that I put it down,” etc.
for now, feeling as though my own brain were unhinged or as if the shock had come which must end its undoing, I turn to my diary for repose. The habit of entering accurately must help to soothe me.
Later on, writing becomes a way of transmitting a story that is too insane to believe. The characters share information by cobbling together their letters and memos and diaries. Mina spends a great deal of time copying handwriting (and wax cylinders!) by typing on her typewriter. She remarks on Dr. Seward’s audio diary:
That is a wonderful machine, but it is cruelly true. It told me, in its very toes, the anguish of your heart. It was like a soul crying out to Almighty God. No one must hear them spoken ever again! See, I have tried to be helpful. I have copied out the words on my typewriter, and none other need now hear your heart beat, as I did.
And a good thing, too, because later on, Dracula burns all their originals. (Luckily, they kept a copy in their safe.) At the very end of the book, Harker writes:
We were struck with the fact, that in all the mass of material of which the record is composed, there is hardly one authentic document, nothing but a mass of typewriting, except the later note-books of Mina and Seward and myself, and Van Helsing’s memorandum. We could hardly ask any one, even did we wish to, to accept these as proofs of so wild a story.
Bram Stoker, by the way, did not make his living from writing. When he died, he was best known as the theater manager for a famous actor. Years later, his wife sold the Dracula rights to Universal Pictures, thereby ensuring that the novel would endure. (Peter Straub presents a fascinating history of the book and Stoker’s life in the intro to the Modern Library Edition.)
If you don’t feel like reading the book, Francis Ford Coppola’s BRAM STOKER’S DRACULA is a pretty wild adaptation. (Here’s a nice appreciation.) Not so much faithful to the novel (Dracula is given a dead wife and a sympathetic backstory which turns it into a romantic tale), but it’s a cool piece of filmmaking, as evidenced by its IMDB trivia page.
The city-sewer system is much like a network that feeds & connects the majority of the unseen-layers within the gloom. Here <hrough the Narrow vertical Arch, you may pass up the stairs and through over to the other side of the canal-system.
On this level we are still in the UpperCity ~the Tower of the library upshot like a nightmare construct, emerging from so far below clouds form - ~ the uppercity - characterized by its precarious staircases, overhanging archways , everything compacted together, as it spiralls upwards, ramshod- packed for space -. whole levels delicately balanced, yet masterfully crossed together, an atrium, swallows down the middle, faint dust flitters in the light, footsteps echo, echoes softened by the foilage matte, soft enough to damped sounds.
Ah! so this is the library of the Sages? Ero? said to be guarded by and Angel.
It essme some type of party space, guests are being entertained left and centre,
This is also the CityPalace; two guards stand
at ither side ofthe door.
sign to the side reads:
' Nätaralis Library,
PalacePlaza level.
the Dark library halls of the tower need no explanation, the library society huddles in dark corners, torch-lit passageways blaze from the walls.
providing both warmth and warm-light to the corridors.
Box-rooms hide lost library rooms, hiden doors, whose entrances have been lost for decades, behind secret bookshelves,
endless winding corridors, vertical narrow perilous walkways,
no scholar dared to cross in recent times.
But here, in this libraryUndercroft, a Whistling
furry-orange Cat is garnering for your ettention!
"AErrrrhhhhYYY puuuuurrrrrrrrr, yes, it is you,
this is the way, this Doorway is unique,
You person, you know who i am,
the magic~society made this place special,
yes....puurrrrr,mMm. A coelescence of magical
spells keep this Divine doorway Open, continuously.
I am just here to tell you that.
this Portal will lead to the ¬UrMA~PortaLands_
you may travel with it, buuuTT i wouldn't take thee risk myself!
You remember me Dear? You know me. Arcanists' Tower GuildMaster. I have a Chore for you, if you have time. Completion of the task, is...well, beneficial to your social standing... shall we say...
Yes,mmm... i will need you to collect various plants of various species from the land beyond and teh Night Forest Domain. We need to explore these lands more, as they hide a strange mystery. not enough to known for certain and we must scout the region.
I need you to find for me: Psychotria viridis leaves, they grow near the Waterfalls in the NightDomain; I will also need fresh Opium poppies, i believe you can find them at the land at the edge of the Tower. Finally i need you to collect for me, one Flowering lotus flower, from the Lilypads that grow in the Waters in the night domain, or the swamp...
come back to dear auridene when you are done, She has more task for you.
If the Palace, was indeed just that, then the library of gloomkeep and naturalis' would indeed be the getaway quarter, - the eccentric escape
built as a storehouse of
knowledge, tomes, books, it is a higgeldy-piggedly, criss-crossing winding maze of intertwined passageways, but a quiet air,a flat aroma of~dry leaves, stone...
the keep-library-tower has its own unique microclimate,
Often buffered, moreso, from the howling storms above by its solid Stonewalls & halls. And in one such room a BlueCastleImp is rushedly scrambling through notes of mage texts, under guidance of the Artifcers council.
the Catalogued Domain, lists
a plethora of documents &
Arcane Mage texts on the
entirety of subjects familiar to
Էhe fбrlժrռ ẃбrld.
the Glossary
is available as a Core must-read
(or perhaps advanced read, as it may be spoiler-intensive.)~
You may access the glossary / codex from here.
-
This part of the library-Es.Naturalis Tower, is like the upper-balcony gardens. If you felt the library was built for no real reason, then reconsider,,, the library houses not just many of the mythical denizens of gloom, but houses the needy and helps them learn too,
the Library tower channels strange and mysterious energies from the Folorn World into its psy-charged statue,gods, -. This layer of the GloomTower, comproses of more specifically Tower, than City, itself ~ this initial MoatLand is known as the SpireLands, and essentially circles
all parts of the Upper &gloomCity, acting to shore up defenses, any use worthy, its both a plant-maze, an inner-city labyrinth garden, it doubles up as both part of the cistern sewerworks and a Dam.
secret library tunnels and doors connect the library through insafety, as the torrents of the folorn world, and elements of the twilight zone are studied for their magical properties.
this area of the library is much like an overgrown barrier, with only one official passage to the lower
reaches of the libraries;
don't get lost!
You pull up outside a red-bricked wall..The Hot clamour of the kitchens is all too nearby ~ reluctant alleyway vibes splendour the tower-walls with a myriad of unusual decanted odours. the sallow churn of the city always-at-rest. hollows your very soul - damp-dank corridors of cold and dripping wet sinkholes of purtruce and lankor, It is a long way down. stone steps, spiralle down narrow arched winding corridors. Well-stepped cobbleways disguise perilous falls across many narrow bridges; restplace for the many, asuhjet bends of the sideworld that connect various interchanges and archetectural vaults of the city connect together and form vinettes that are travvelled down.from up here, you seem to see it all. Strange towering-monsters stride past, - the library wizards inside barely seeming to notice ~ non-flustered by their arcane arts they carry on reading and studying, undisturbed - , the way of life is different here, as the Tower-World looks after itself; residents often stay and live & study for their lifetimes, in the -/gloom~library-tower city.
the tower originally was
made or - formed out of
a natural occurence; which
was the SpireLands, which were naturally occuring geological
fornations of rockspires- that sprouted out of the volcano
lands eras prior. Now in the 4th era they were taken and
re-shapen for construction of various Castle-Spires;
now part of the SpireLands.
and so the tale
continused,
always out of
- innovation ~
the rumours of
the master wizards
spread around
the altitude plateau
lands - and
many came to stay and work and study,
the old SpireCity, thus
bacame a city
of its own,
the Gloom.
built upon dark marshes,
with wood & tinder,
it raised itself
above, into
a glooming
metropolis,
that it is as
we near the 7th era.
The library revolts against itself, toppled, steeped, one thing above another - if you found yourself lost, in one place, how could you get to another? narrow passages, even narrower walkways, sheer walls, everything is remade, and things squirrel themselves away inside of nooks and crannies, hermits themselves away insides of dusty choke-filled rooms - of contraption - and city pleasure. dusty, musty, rusted, dim-lit, brick-faced, lost autroch keepsafe, a secret place - a place to escape to if you know how, or know the secret passasges,
- there is something else here - like industry, the mid-level floors of gloomcity meet with the streets and
urbane walk-paths,
gutters, sewer-drops.
fetid walls made of crumbling stone,
smells like rats, like filth, like wet odour,
aplace to shy away from,
a place to escape the light,
quiet from the storm,
the tower spiralls downwards,
one would wonder why it is here?
maybe someone would know
maybe no-one is meant to know...
a secret defense? a crumbled citadel? too messy to invade,
Aha! You've reutned. Just in time. I haeve anothe rerrand for you.
You must follow the Tower, out pas the south Gate,
to the land beyond the tower; where the poppies grow, -
that i ask you to find,down there you will find the Elf
Elvira, the Lady-Mage.
She is a wise, powerrful Elf. I believe she is wearing a Pale-Blue Robe
She has a Magical Pearl Elven Amulet on her.
I need it for my research.
please be quick to fetch it for me.
[click the pencil
Intelligence combined with the arts helps. Intelligence alone is usually not enough, meditation is practically, physically, mentally and spiritually useful, but to get into the right mindset to be able to meditate in the first place takes something else. Rain heals, and nature is easy. Yet, nature can overrun, confuse and can be difficult to be a peace with, yet usually it does not ask too much. Stupid art is not beautiful. That which deliberately lacks beauty and harmony cannot be healthy. Bad arts damages our world and hurts other species and other people on our planet. Opinion is valid. Not all opinion is on the same level. Voting is a necessity. We [the good ones] want the truly bad ones out of the power to influence our lives; therefore voting for the right thing is a social obligation towards not just yourself and your heart focus but really for other people.
P E A C E
the hum and bustle of the library-cite` above is tendered down here. These are carefully kept gardens, where both the wild-lands and the city-walled gardens meet this is the Sanctuary-lands: a quieter softer world, down here -- in the shelterd valley.
You may travel this divine monk's meditative path
down this marble,stone, stained-glass patterened road towards the enchanted woods & the AkK-wilds
~~> This is the Gateway into the Monastery sanctuary retreat in the E'eozoria' Wilderness.
you may travel to the Monastery above the peaks of the E'eozoria' through this gateway, or you may also travel down the patterened-brickpath towards the enchanted forest.
-the sacred keepers of the wildlands oversees & welcomes pilgrims & travelers alike !
" La Villeriae " ~ the city-palace-garden above the Eeorizia' Wilderness ~ ~ just below the upper palace, the greenhouses of the skypalace's gardens are accessiable, and well-kept and tended to.
The Monastic retreat can be found , via some overly-complex and awkward long-winded shortcuts through to the Eeoriza side of
the palace. more gentle pathways to the enchanted forest can also be walked just here.
Ubbu-tower - Lower Dungeons....
Zone. { down here is a Wild, enchanted, strange , fofrbidden city. ... the Gates to Ee'rozia. created a citadel cascade that flowed into the hills, Down the mountain-wils trees grew, sprouting dark-ferns, beyond the waterfall of the house-bay. where they lives, a desolate, but not empty place.
up the winding stepped- paths to th high0-valley above, the grand castle, and the grand city,
all Mirky and covered in clouds...
the Tower-librrary, has its own lower-levels.
~ built into the stone and rock<
this dark strange gloomy passages
of neverending tunnels,
shaodw-rooms,
perilous-drops,
- do not fall.
- the canalways lead into further foliage
and dissapear down past the tunneled
stairways into the deeps.
here on the edge of thw Tower-librarycity proper,
Is the mystical city in the enchanted forest,
built & magically shifted in the 4th era,
Finally we descend down the library-TowerKeep, into the chasm below. Dark shrouded clouds form and gather as twisted lightning furls across the valley basin. crackling as it passes through. the Land abruptly falls into a crystalline abyss of ice-shrewn waters; grit-frozen lakes nad dank mushroom bogs.
This land down here is lost again to time; abandoned by the Tower-Mages, considered too dark to touch - too primeval~ asif under a strange spell of dark magic.
At the foot of the tower - the Bastion comes and goes. A Float-Ship - designed to carry beings to and from the Folorn World. - It docks here guarded by the fleetriders ~~ MantisRiders whom escort the vessel on its journey over the Volcano.
Black-skin worms from the depths are alarmingly close. the Mages considered this world under , gone , lost - to the Uoxu realm & primeval tyrffids.
Belthador, sent you didn't she?
Hey, yes, you. Ahh. aren't you nice & sweet.
Belthador asked me to give you this Amulet ;
uh, she expects you back at the Tower.
Hurry along now! fast!
oh, and do reminds her, oh my thanks
tell her the rites, are nearly ready.
ꞎꭅẽ Ⅼᾃᾒḓ ḇḕℽ○ꞑᶁ ṫḫẹ Ꞇꝺꟿꭡ