Druc: The Library that is Not

(Yet more fluff. I wrote this about 2 months ago.)

On the great library of Maljinn, much can be said. A unique form of knowledge storage, the "library" is also known as the "Druc" or "Hall". Built into the base slopes of Mt. Strohm itself, the Druc resembles a semicircular tunnel of sandstone with a sloped ceiling and walls such that there are no corners. Books and scrolls brought here for storage are not clumsily stacked upon one another in wooden shelves. Works of knowledge are formed into easily accessible runes inscribed into the sandstone of the Druc. A simple dweomer accesses a rune and either displays its contents as a major illusory copy of the book/scroll which may be examined in the central veiwing area of the Druc or allows the caster to query its contents for an answer or where such an answer may be found.

The main passage of the Druc is open to the air above and features 3 staircases leading down into the Central Way, of which the 2 secondary passages exit from. Three foot diameter holes in the ceiling illuminate the Central Way, as do braziers lit during night. The Sijani, white robed librarians, wander amongst the runes, selling Runetell dweomers to supplicants and each wearing a Ring of Flying to access the Runes above, yet the ring only functions in the Druc. The Central Way houses approximately 900,000 works. The library is open from sunrise to sunset, yet the Old Way is open only from noon to 3:00pm.

The Sijani number at less than 20, and are all humans of a non-descript persona and form. They are led by a Grand-Scribe, who is currently a female Mage of the Grey Powers named Sisrain Alquyn.

Older, and more restricted works of more power and influence are held behind a long, blank walled, guarded, limestone corridor accessible by a 9ft tall limestone archway in the far center outer area of the Central Way. Beyond the corridor awaits a grand spiral staircase down, which takes approximately 20 minutes to descend. The staircase ends in a pitch black storage area with a Golden archway on the far wall. Beyond the last arch awaits a great hall with walls ascending up into the darkness. The Runes on these walls are much larger than those in the Central Way, and the hall extends a full mile out from the arch. Each Rune covers the entirety of a 15ft width of each wall, and there numbers about 95 works of a powerful or dangerous nature here. All supplicants in the Old Way require an armed escort of 3 Blue Guards and 2 Sijani Scribes. Those who resist being escorted back are left behind, as the guards will only harm anyone in self-defense of themselves or the Sijani. The Old Way is locked magically and is only open-able from noon to 3:00pm. Due to the size of the spiral staircase, all supplicants, Scholars and Guards are to be ascending the staircase by 2:25pm. It is unknown why such strict rules surround the Old Way, yet those foolish enough to linger after the mark of tbe third hour are not heard or seen from again come tomorrows noon.

Of curious interest is what lies at the end of the mile long corridor of the Old Way. A great door, seemingly made of the dullest gold, lies shut against all. No sounds may be heard from what lies beyond it, and it is unadorned with any known magic or adornments or gems. Rumours say that the door was uncovered when the hall was being mined in old times. It is unknown if the door opens or is open-able. Rumours append the disappearance of all who stay longer than 3pm to the door letting loose some type of horror and then closing come next noon.

The atmosphere in the old way is slightly chilly and musty. The Sijani say the silence is what bothers them the most.

Dream, dreamt on the night of March 30th, 2010

I am once again a rather roguish character exploring a ruined keep surrounded by jungle or silent wood up the coast from a picturesque port surrounded by gypsies. I had heard of the ruin from an aged fellow of the Rom, and within I find golems of iron and steel and oil, a guardian of time itself: the crumbling stones of the keep. Narrowly avoiding the stones and falling debris, I pick a lock or two to a more pristine hall of golems fair in combat. They fall more due to rust and wear and tear than my blades, and on a pedastal trapped somewhat I find the hunting bow of a long lost king and 3 arrows of ashwood with featherings of crow and raven. I feel watched, and I hurry with my prize to the terrace above as a dark terror seems to emanate from my previous path. I make the terrace and come upon a medusa of stone and a golem of crystal and metallic. An arrow for each, and they fall in surprise, the arrow falling to splinters on each. I hurriedly gather up their loot: a blade of crystal, rings and baubles, wands of magic potential and jewels fat and rich, a helm of cobalt and leather of a hundred perfectly skinned snakes. As colors bleed into one another, the keep explodes, throwing me atop a minaret of old gold into the sea. I wash up on the shore near the gypsy camp, and before I can gather my possessions and steal a horse a woman waithe runs off with the helm of blue stone. I follow for a time, but, weary and battered and wet, I lay off and take rest in a palatial inn.

Dream, dreamt on the night of March 27th, 2010

An assortment of muppet characters steal all of my belongings out of my house. Then I see a woman standing on a train holding the shoulder of an elderly woman with white hair but turned awaywhile the train speeds into a cement wall and crashes but as the train is compacting the woman turns to me with black hair and opens her mouth. Then the train reverts back to moving normally but the elderly woman is at the end of the train looking away. The other woman turns towards me but as she is pulled towards the window by an unseen force she whispers "Natalie". Then I am standing in space above a beach, having an arguement with Poseidon, Hades and Hermes about delegation of authority.

I use Apollo, Ares and Hermes as an example in talking about getting someone else to help judge the proper recipient of something but I cant remember the words I use. Then I quote a line from a movie that represents this, and Zeus himself appears (I then remember discussing the other gods waking Zeus up to solve this problem. He says that I was the only one wise enough to see the chaos inherent in the discussion, and as he lights up the twinkie shaped gallery we are in he begins to trace a finger along the glass all around and create new stars and shapes in the sky. He then looks up and notes me standing on the lapis floor with the other 3 Gods and tells me the answer I seek is reachable by "KOOM.2000". He gestures to a computer opened to Google at the other end of the hall and smiles.

O Time thy Pyramids

To gaze upon the spires and minarets
of a thousand far lost souks
To hear the azif of the sands at night
to speak of their many million mysteries

To see of the many naiads carousing among the waves
the shores of time immemorial
While it needs a remembrance
to be remembered by any but its custodians

But what seelie grace lies upon all the airs I have graced!
What rays of light catch so many massed lichens about!

What truth lies upon the hidden crags of the shore
As a thousand silent seas sit so quietly
And the deluge sounds,
Such might!

Ah, but beauteous and most perfect sin!
Lady of the dark waters!
Your estranged companion form,
Lord of the bright firmament!

To say "Ah, but I already know this."
And in doing promote the ignorance of so many ages
That fell proud rich Rome
And led old Aegypt to dismal decay

To seek the ruins of time,
And open the tomb itself.
The tomb of the Astronomer Kings,
The Wonders of all of our experiences

-Dedicated to Jorge Luis Borges

The Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus, as written by I.

Ερμής ο Τρισμέγιστος - το σμαραγδένιο δισκίο

    1. Αυτό ισχύει βεβαίως, και η αλήθεια σίγουρα ενώ επίσης είναι ψευδείς σίγουρα έτσι ψευδείς.
    2. Ποια είναι τα παραπάνω είναι από τα κάτω και το είναι κάτω από τα παραπάνω. Το έργο του είναι θαύματα από τη μια και τα πάντα δεν έχει ακόμα τίποτα δεν.
    3. Και όλα τα πράγματα που ξεπήδησε από αυτή την ουσία μέσω μιας ενιαίας προβολής. Πώς είναι θαυμάσιο έργο του! Πρόκειται για την αρχή μέρος του κόσμου και του θεματοφύλακα, ενώ πόσο θλιβερές είναι το έργο της, ότι από κάθε τι που ξεπήδησε πίσω από τίποτα δεν με πολλούς μια προβολή. Για να είναι όμως μια μικρή πτυχή του κόσμου του.
    4. Ο πατέρας του είναι ο ήλιος και η μητέρα του είναι το φεγγάρι. Έτσι, ο άνεμος που έφερε μέσα σε αυτήν και η γη που τρέφονται.
    5. Ο πατέρας του φυλακτά και κατόχου του θαύματα. Μητέρα των σκέψεων και διανομέας των musings.
6. Τέλεια στην εξουσία που αποκαλύπτει τα φώτα. Κάνετε λάθος στην αδυναμία που κρύβει το σκοτάδι. Τέλεια στην εξουσία που αποκαλύπτει το σκοτάδι. Κάνετε λάθος στην αδυναμία που κρύβει το φως.
7. Είναι μια φωτιά που έγινε γη μας. Χωριστή τη γη από την φωτιά και θα πρέπει να προσκολλάται πάνω σε αυτό που είναι λεπτή από εκείνο που είναι χονδροειδής, με φροντίδα και σοφία. Δεσμεύοντας την πυρκαγιά στη γη, και ας αγνοούν αλαζονεία επιμείνουν στα pedantial εγώ.
    8. Είναι ανεβαίνει από τη γη στο ουρανό. Είναι αποσπάσματα τα φώτα από τα ύψη και κατεβαίνει προς τη γη που περιέχει η ισχύς των ανωτέρω και τα παρακάτω για να είναι με βάση τα φώτα. Κατά συνέπεια, το σκοτάδι φεύγει από αυτό.
         Είναι κατεβαίνει από τον ουρανό στη γη. Είναι αποσπάσματα του σκιές από τα βάθη και ανεβαίνει στον ουρανό που περιέχουν τη δύναμη του κάτω και τα πάνω για να είναι με το σκοτάδι της σκοτάδι. Ως εκ τούτου το φως δραπετεύει από αυτό.
    9. Η μεγαλύτερη δύναμη υπερνικά όλα όσα είναι λεπτή και αυτό διαπερνά όλα αυτά είναι χονδροειδής. Το λιγότερο ισχύς λήγει πριν από κάθε τι που είναι προφανές και διαπερνάται από όλους ότι είναι καθαρή.
    10. Ο σχηματισμός του μικρόκοσμου είναι σύμφωνα με τη σύσταση του μακρόκοσμου. Όπως το αντίστροφο.
11. Οι μελετητές που αυτό το δρόμο τους. Οι πολεμιστές που αυτό δεν πορεία τους.
    12. Για το λόγο αυτό τρεις φορές ο Ερμής ήταν υπερυψωμένα με τη σοφία και την παραφροσύνη.
    13. Αυτό είναι το τελευταίο βιβλίο του, ότι κρύφτηκε στο κατακόμβη. Αυτό είναι το πρώτο βιβλίο του, ότι εμφανίζονται στο ναό του. Είναι η αρχή και το τέλος, το τέλος είναι η αρχή.

The Isle of Arch

Ancient tales tell of an island off the coast of West Africa that was, at some point in time, home to a old Muslim hermit. Tales say that this nameless hermit was so pious in his devotions, so zealous in his faith, that the ruins that shared the island with him took on some measure of power.
These ruins are of unknown origin, leftovers from some forgotten progenitor race. Their dimensions are of a conglomerate of arches, tall arches, short ones, slender ones, bulky ones. All made of clay and a peculiar red stone. These arches covered the isle from side to side, for the isle was of mostly rock and sand, raised in the middle and lower on its slopes down towards the waters around. Tales say that the very rock of the isle shone bright in the midday sun, and the surrounding waters were clear as clear crystal, like a curtain of blue glass, made this way by the zeal and pious peace of the hermit.
Ages later, when explorers landed upon the isle, they found peculiar carvings in the arches denoting the virtues of a good man: Compassion, Peace, Piety, Zeal, Wisdom and so forth. It is said that those who ventured underneath the arches would become unto the virtue of that arch...for a time. The most legendary of the arches was the arch that was labeled FAITH.
The faithful that passed under this arch were given feelings of peace and theophany. The faithless however, disappeared utterly and without trace. It is said that the only way to truly instill faith in the faithless would be to show them firsthand the glories of Allah, and such they would be taken to look upon his holy form in Heaven.

Now, it is said by beggars in the cities of old that there existed an antithesis to the faith and piety that bespeckled the nameless hermits arches. As alaways in such thing, there existed an opposite to the virtuous arches, hidden underground beneath the isle, reachable by a tunnel only those lacking in virtue could perceive.
It is said that in the arches in this lightless realm of vaulted halls and caves there lay those emotions no pious man should desire to harbor: Anger, Suffering, Desire, Chaos, Evil.
Legendary among this dark realm was the arch of FAITHLESSNESS. It is said that the only way to break the faith of the faithful, the only way to instill an eternal hopelessness, would be lock away those with faith who passed under the arch. They would be locked away, it is said by less reputable beggars, in a magical prison of hopelessness and eternal despair.