"I Know" - The Librarian of Foxbridge
As the Lorekeepers of Foxbridge College gathered more information into their library, they found that they needed a better way to access, analyze and process it. Using techniques derived from the tale-spinners of the Godcrafter Guild, they have created a small god within the library, focused around the ideas they sought to envision. This god is known as the Librarian of Foxbridge. It is a very young god, only decades old, and it is still learning the extent of itself. As a part of this self-discovery, the Librarian has created an artifact known as the Librarian’s Diary, which opens into a personal memory palace where they can store interesting ideas and memories.
Many students and masters at Foxbridge have reported strange encounters in the Library that the Lorekeepers have traced back to the Librarian. He likes to manifest as someone they have met, but do not know well, and tends to make small talk that seems to mask hidden depths. People leave these encounters with the sense that deep secrets have been discussed, and that they revealed far more about themselves than they intended. But at the same time, the Librarian will often make a comment or provide a text that proves to be key to whatever they are working on. More than once, these encounters are associated with breakthroughs, especially in cases of breaking ciphers, an activity that draws the Librarian out more than most.
Mental characteristics
The Librarian is a construct created out of stories, myths, and legends, using the techniques of the Godcrafter Guild. When the Lorekeepers decided to attempt to create the Librarian, they had a challenge. As a clandestine organization, creating rumors and stories about their archive was troubling - but without a sufficient amount of belief to drive the
Egregoric Force, there would be no way to catalyze the creation of the spirit they sought.
They settled on a layers of mystery approach. The inner circle would be made up of their own novices, who would be given stories of the 'spirit of the library' and specific behaviors and rituals associated with this entity. They then seeded a second circle among the other students of Foxbridge with rumors and deliberately cryptic tales, describing strange and inexplicable events around the library. This naturally formed a third circle among the population outside the College, of those who knew bits and pieces of the tales, but had large gaps in their tales. The Lorekeepers curated and expanded the third circle, particularly to the diplomats and ambassadors from other nations, fostering a reputation for near-omniscience associated only loosely with the college itself. They orchestrated a few convincing effects (putting huge amounts of effort into providing trivial pieces of obscure knowledge to create the illusion that they knew vast amounts of obscure information). In time, this had the desired effect - the Librarian began to manifest within Foxbridge.
The Librarian does not have a fixed gender. When not impersonating another individual, the Librarian will typically manifest as a young person with an androgynous appearance.
As far as anyone can determine, the Librarian does not have any sexual orientation, and is unlikely to develop one in the future.
The Librarian contains all the knowledge present within the Library of Foxbridge, and is constantly seeking out new information as well. They listen in on all conversations within the Library walls, and any written material brought within the Library becomes a part of their internal collection immediately.
The Librarian particularly excels at the making and breaking of ciphers.
The Librarian's most prominent characteristic is curiosity, and will try to draw people into talking about their lives and experiences whenever possible. They are a very good listener, and have learned how to casually ask questions that will help people recall even the most insignificant details of their stories. Many people who have conversed with the Librarian are startled to realize just how much they have told the friendly stranger they met in the Library.
Personality Characteristics
Like all constructed spirits, the creators of the Librarian have attempted to dictate its motivations. This is always a tricky endeavour, and never suceeds completely - the influence of other ideas and the spirit's own nascent sense of self skew the intentions of the godcrafter, and the final disposition of the creation is impossible to predict.
In the case of the Librarian, they appear to have achieved something close to their goals, although they may not have appreciated the full impact of what they were building. The Librarian is driven to collect, hoard, and protect information - all sorts of information, from any source. But it is also a spirit of secrecy, and as it has matured, it has grown ever more secretive, creating elaborate ciphers to encode the texts it protects. It is interested in the welfare of Bernicia, but has become increasingly convinced that it alone has the sufficient breadth of knowledge to direct the affairs of the Lorekeepers towards that end.
Despite all this, the Librarian is an invaluable partner to the Lorekeepers. It provides detailed dossiers to them on request, often bringing together disparate pieces of knowledge to produce startlingly accurate deductions. It is warm and genial to the agents it chooses to speak with - although they may never know it was the Librarian who approached them with the exact information they needed to move forward in their mission.
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