Setting

[libraryassistants]

Inspo image: The Bibliothèque Mazarine, France.
Permanent Locations
The Stacks
The main circulation desk
The Lobby
Living facilities

Rotating Locations
Community garden
Computer lab
Quiet rooms
Children's area
Maker's space
Meeting rooms
Empty rooms

Special Access
The 'Safe' Zone
The Medical Wing
The Assistant’s Office

The Library consists of varied facilities. Anything that may reasonably be found in a library can be found here. The catch: not all of these rooms are fully anchored to the Library, and will disappear once no longer in use.

Rooms that do not have a permanent location in the Library will randomly appear when opening the doors that are tucked away between the towering bookshelves. As the game progresses, skills can be gained to help characters find or anchor particular rooms.

Every so often, a room that is not usually anchored may become temporarily tethered as the Librarian sees fit. Once the purpose is served, the tether will be cut and the room will return to rotation.

Inspo image: Real Gabinete Português de Leitura, Portugal.

Inspo picture: Rijksmuseum Research Library, Amsterdam.

Permanent locations:

The Stacks
The largest part of the Library, and its main focus. Shelves of books stretch as far as the eye can see, ladders and catwalks providing access to the highest stories. Somewhere up there is a ceiling, a great domed roof that seems to echo the whispers of turned pages and scratching of quills.

These shelves are filled with unfinished stories. Not a single completed work exists here, the books ranging from haphazard outlines all the way through to detailed drafts. Some, elaborately bound, proudly announce a title in gilded writing: and when opened, contain nothing more.
The Stacks are endless and winding and very easy to get lost in, the sections moving seemingly of their own accord. Finding a specific area of the Stacks can be difficult for the uninitiated, but those who are skilled may have an easier time.

While navigating the Stacks can be challenging, returning to the main desk from here is as easy as a simple thought. Thinking of the main desk will bring it close by, allowing almost immediate exit from the labyrinth of incomplete works.
Note: unless otherwise skilled, only the main circulation desk can be summoned from the Stacks.

The main circulation desk
A large, curved desk sits at the front of the Stacks. A handwritten ledger sits open on the desk, a ballpoint pen attached to it by a thin chain. The ledger appears to be a series of requests; sometimes titles, sometimes just descriptions, of source material being sought by an Editor.
A history of food, Fred had requested. Something about meerkats, IX-10-23 had written. Some cheeky Editor has even asked for: An actually decent movie, and come back a short time later to add a second line next to the signed initials: Your taste sucks.
Some requests are signed off on by a pair of initials, others remain unfulfilled. For those who have trouble navigating the Stacks - lodging a request here may be the best way to get their hands on something they’re looking for.

Forming the back 'wall' of the circulation desk are large wooden cabinets with hundreds of small drawers, seemingly labelled in the Library's own system. Each drawer pulls out endlessly, filled tightly with just as many catalogue cards as there are books. Until an Editor is suitably skilled, pulling a useful index card from the catalogue is luck of the draw.

Index cards: the card catalogue

• Each source material in the Library has a corresponding index card, as well as every Editor.
• The index card provides basic information about its subject, but most importantly: its location in the Library
• Skills can be taken to learn the card catalogue system, allowing an Editor to pull the index card they're looking for. If no skilled Editor is available, then help will need to be sought... better hope the Assistants are in a good mood!

The Lobby
The room from which all other permanent rooms are accessed. The cavernous room is sparsely furnished as its default, but changes regularly as Stories unfold. Along one wall is a large, closed window; a sign above it reads ‘Help Desk’. Through the window is a small office where a dusty and long abandoned ‘back in 5’ sign can be seen sitting atop a desk, and an inaccessible ‘ring for help’ bell waits mockingly out of reach.

Living facilities
Accessible through the labelled doors in the Lobby, the Library provides for all basics of living.

The Dorms - the dorms are outfitted with bunk beds that seem to replicate to accommodate the number of Editors the Librarian has recruited.

The dorms are bland, almost uninspired compared to other rooms within the Library. Each bed comes with 1 pillow and 1 blanket - try not to hoard any more, or someone will go without.

Bathing - Not unlike a changing room at the gym, separated into stalls for privacy. Basics like soap and shampoo are provided from dispensers attached to the walls. If you're after something fancier, perhaps there's something in a book that might help you.
(A giant bird dust bath now sits off to the side of the wash room.)

Laundry facilities - There's a very old, very inconvenient washing machine that never seems to fully finish a cycle. You might be better off handwashing your garments until you've learned a skill to get something better.

Kitchenettes - Instant ramen and microwave meals aren’t the only things that can be whipped up in here. The offerings of the small fridges might not be gourmet, but you’ve got what you need to make a basic meal. (Or for those with - ahem - dietary needs, enough to keep you satiated.)
Once again, if you’re after something more; you might have to flex those learning abilities… or give up and ask for help.

The 'gym' - A late addition to the living facilities, to call this room a 'gym' would be generous. More of a yoga room, it is large enough for a robust Zumba session and not much else. The room is sparsely equipped, with only a few sets of 3kg hand weights; some yoga mats; and a CD player that seems to only play medleys (never a complete song).

Rotating locations:

Community garden
The door opens, and in front of you are rows of raised planters with an abundance of fresh produce thriving in their care. The open sky stretches overhead, the weather changing each time the room appears. A large fence lines the perimeter of the expansive garden. No matter how high you go, the fence climbs with you.
Characters trying to get a glimpse of the other side should hit up the mod post first.

Computer lab
A room filled with desks that are outfitted with computers… how old they are changes each time the room is seen. (Or are there, in fact, multiple computer rooms that the Library is circulating?)

Maybe the room you get is equipped with wall-to-wall circuitry and punched paper tape. Maybe it’s all sleek, flat screens and wireless keyboards. Maybe it’s holograms and voice-activated commands.

Whatever type of computer it is, it’s got no network connectivity; not even an intranet. What you do have are archives of unfinished calculations, video games, movie projects. An unlimited array of digital media, all of it incomplete.

Quiet rooms
Not just quiet in name, but in practice. Loud voices turned to hushed whispers in here, the room itself dampening the harshest of sounds.

Reading desks with privacy screens sit in a neat 2x3 row, a couch and beanbags tucked in a corner. The perfect little respite room.

Children’s area
Most dependably found by children, or those young at heart. The children’s area features play equipment ranging from hoops and sticks all the way through to range-limited hoverboards, all designed to entrance the young mind.

The toys here are, as with anything else the Library holds in its archives, in some way unfinished. Perhaps it’s a coat of paint missing. Maybe it’s a teddy bear without its final stitches. As much as it may pull your heartstrings to see these unfinished toys, remember: completed projects have no place here.

Maker space
Speaking of completed projects…
There are a number of machines and tools related to crafting and making things in the maker space, including a table that, for some reason, just has construction paper and safety scissors.

What are you making today?

Meeting rooms
Equipped with a board table + chairs, a whiteboard, and a projector. The perfect room for planning projects or next steps – if only you could find it reliably.

Somehow always seems to have someone else’s notes on the board. Just what the heck is nuclear fission anyway?

Empty rooms
You open the door… and inside is a whole lot of nothing. Blank walls, blank floor. The perfect canvas for your own design. If only you had something to put in here.

Those looking to build their own room will need to hit the books before they can enjoy some architectural design.

Special Access locations:
These locations cannot be accessed through normal means. They require either a skill to be unlocked, or a Library mechanic to be triggered.

Please contact the Mods if your character will be:
1) Grievously injured and/or dying.
2) Participating in a fight or causing damage to the Library.
3) Experiencing some other extreme scenario that we haven't thought of yet!

Known locations/triggers:

The 'Safe Zone'
When real damage occurs to the Library or a significant fight breaks out, a safety mechanism triggers that transports the responsible party to an open space with no end. While powers are not dulled, they're ineffective in this place. There will be no way to exit this space while attacks are underway.

After 5 minutes of peace, a timer dings. A wooden door that leads back to the circulation desk finally shimmers into sight.
A happy little banner drops down from it, simply reading:

CONGRATULATIONS!
Mediation Complete
And from that little banner, another one unfolds; a small text that reads:
Editors are reminded that damage to the Library is strictly prohibited.
No food or drink in the Stacks.
There may or may not be some happy little streamers to celebrate your accomplishment.

The Safe Zone is currently in the form of a yacht drifting across a calm, open sea. Any investigation of the controls of the boat will reveal that they are poorly attached and do not actually control anything. There are, however, sailor uniforms hung up and ready for use; and the sky is bright and blue, the waves calm as they lap against the sides of the boat. The perfect place to kick back for a moment (or two).

Inspo image: I would love to go on a private yacht...

The 'Medical Wing'
If a sudden attack occurs that would deal one-hit death or grievous injury before the Safe Zone can trigger, the injured party will be transported to the Medical Wing.

The Medical Wing is outfitted with a couple of firmly padded beds, white plastic curtains acting as the dividers. The walls are decorated with educational posters - some sporting anatomies and illnesses that your Editor may be familiar with, and others looking quite… different.

There is a cabinet filled with basic first aid supplies. While it appears the Library is poorly equipped to handle anything more major than a scrape, the injured characters who wake here will feel recovered. It may take a little bit, so feel free to play out your injury. But as they say: time heals all wounds.

[While the Medical Wing is occupied, it will remain in circulation and will be accessible through the doors in the Stacks. Once there is no longer a patient to be seen, the Medical Wing will no longer be able to be accessed by regular means.]

NOTE: Because the Safe Zone triggers at the impact of an attack, the singular attack must be of the severity of an ‘instant kill’ or ‘instant grievous harm’ for the Medical Wing to appear. (A regular or combo attack will trigger the Safe Zone instead.)

As a consequence of the severe attack, the attacker will be sent to The Assistant's Office instead of the Safe Zone. This will result in power nerfing. Please contact the Mods for planning.

The Assistant’s Office
A book-filled office that smells of paper and glue. A few carefully clamped annals sit nearby an expansive, well-kept desk. There is a stern air about the room, and the only chairs in here are rather uncomfortable to sit in.

[Editors cannot access this location on their own. All visitors must be accompanied by an Assistant.]

Inspo image: Delhi Public Library, India.