The Great Library

The Great Library is a huge, ancient public library found in Mythrad.

The Great Library is a majestic building which stands tall in the centre of Mythrad. Made of pure white stone, with a black slate roof a domed glass observatory, it is just as grandiose as the great Keep. On the front of the building, hanging above the doors, is a great wooden coat of Mythradian coat of arms in white, black and green. The main body of the library is 3 stories tall, and the observatory tower scales up to 5.

As the great wooden doors swing open before you, a warm gust of air blows past, bringing the smell of old parchment, leather bindings and glue. An ageing man drowsily nods you through the entrance hall, and you enter the main building. Row upon row of ancient tomes, guides, treatise and novels line the walls from floor to ceiling. Volumes of Natural History, Arcana, Religion, Swordsmanship, Craft and Creeds weight down the bookcase shelves such that each dips in the middle, before rising again to conclude it’s arduous journey. Native Mythradians are a people obsessed with knowledge, as through it they reach Celestian, and there are many citizens sat studying over great works, scrawling notes and pausing to gaze into their own imaginations.

The library has no leader or owner, it is property of the public, and you may sign books out for a time, or bring books of your own for submission. The rows of bookshelves are filled with books on every imaginable subject, from Aarakocran Architecture to the Zoology of Zyzzyva Weevils. The main trouble will be finding what your looking for, whilst Mythradians do crave knowledge, they run rather low on organisational skills, and thus specific tomes are rather difficult to come by. The books are in roughly alphabetical order, but within that are in a huge jumble.

For each hour of searching for a book, you roll 2d6, you need a double to find your book of choice.

The observation tower is open to members of the public during the day, and so you climb the stairs past rooms for book mending, submission reviewing, record keeping and other laborious tasks until you reach the glass dome. Inside is a great brass throne, with two grand brass telescopes extending from the claustrophobic headpiece. Here astrologists have sat for centuries gazing up into the night sky, trying to make some sense of the scrambled universe. Around the room are various other pieces of machinery covered with dials, gauges, knobs, pulleys and cranks. The glass dome allows you to look out over the entirety of Mythrad and further. The Bravệnbad Mountains to the east, Khuuraĭ Desert in the south, Urthrad Forest to the west and the rolling hills of Parthshire in the north.