Valossa

Written by Azomos_the_Valossian

587 years into the great war, warring nations realized that knowledge is power and the warlords started ordering the destruction of books and scrolls. Seeing what was going on and realizing the impact of this, the advisory council of the Beaumont Empire implored the ruling emperor to intervene and protect what wasn't yet destroyed in raids. He, however, being a stubborn ruler that didn't see the same, decided to not lift a finger. When the emperor died in year 594 of the great 1000 year war, the council realized the new ruler would be too young to rule and they took this opportunity to secure the survival of knowledge in the kingdom.
The council put out the order to construct a fortified monastery, protected by water, where all books and scrolls would be copied and stored and protected by a scholastic order during and after the raging wars. The build took well over 60 years to construct. During its construction, the emperor grew up and was taught the importance of knowledge. Once he came to power he recognized this and had the build continue. During the build, various raids were repelled. In the year 658 of the great war, the build was finally completed and the opening was held with much festivity. So many people rejoiced and joined that the great dining hall did not have enough room and even the courtyards and the walkway were filled with people who brought their own tables and chairs to join for food and drinks. Over the years, book and scroll merchants changed their trade routes to accommodate the new law that any book that came to the capital had to be brought to Valossa to check if there was a copy available or not. If not, the book would be manually copied and the copy was given to the owner of the original, the original kept and stored and if need be, restored.
Even today, new books are still being found from all over the world and the collection keeps expanding. The monks do their work diligently and with a precision that is unlike anywhere else. It has even become a sport for some traders to try and find books that are not part of the collection yet. And when they do, the new copy is usually worth more than the original due to the excellent craftsmanship of the monks. When there are no new books, the monks always have books to maintain and renew from the library where the monks check for damages or other (...) to tend to.

Type

Educational, Library