The Melancholy Library

The Melancholic Library is fairly mundane in comparison to Ceicaelum, which says something about the strangeness of the celestial city. The part which we are concerned with is a polished, gothic looking building with domed ceilings and intricately carved runes on its outer stone walls. The doors look to be solid brass, carved with the same runic alphabet as the walls. This appearance is only for the benefit of the mortals who will be visiting later, as well as the spirits inside, their minds ill-equipped to perceive the exact reality of this demiplane and indeed, Alchos itself. This library is technically moored in time, though the metaphorical rope connecting the library to the dock of the present is loose, poorly tied, and likely to come undone and send the entire thing shifting through eons if a particularly strong, or even tenacious and weak chronomantic current comes by. These currents are to the library’s benefit, though, their movement allowing Khandeijer, the Library’s overseer, the ability to collect books from a variety of time periods before moving the library back to its original position in the absolute present and tying it down again. As for the books themselves, they don’t seem to mind. The Melancholic Library has many strange properties which it extends to its residents, the most notable being a level of reanimation. It has been said that an author puts part of themself into every book they write, and the books, as a result, retain a small portion of their very essence. Well, within the walls of the Melancholic Library, that is quite literally the case, and every book within its walls is haunted by its author. This, combined with the tendency to come temporally unstuck, means that the library has a significant population of book-ghosts who, from the perspective of the absolute present, have not been born, not died, or both. This is only a problem if a living mortal gets involved. Dead mortals don’t have the same problems, as the ghosts are unable to leave the Library, and they don’t have to worry about changing the course of wars by conversing with their neighbor. With things being what they are in regard to forbidden knowledge and timelines and paradox loops, mortals are only allowed in the library when under the strict supervision of Khandeijer, and while magically prevented from interacting with books which have not been written yet.

Purpose / Function

The Melancholy Library was created to house all the forbidden knowledge of the universe.

Architecture

A polished, gothic looking building with domed ceilings and intricately carved runes on its outer stone walls. The doors look to be solid brass, carved with the same runic alphabet as the walls.

Type

Library

Included Locations

• Melancholy Library basement
• Melancholy Library ground floor

Connected Rooms

• Melancholy Library basement
• Melancholy Library ground floor

Owner

Khandeijer

Owning Organization

Alchos