Careful of the stacks - LIBRARY LOG

[libraryassistants]

Who: EVERYONE!
What: A bunch of Editors walk into a library...
When: October 31st - November 13
Where: The Unfinished Library
Content warnings: Please add them as needed in the comment titles!

Welcome to the Library, Editors.

As the new residents drop into the Library, they are bound to have questions. Unfortunately it seems no one (except perhaps someone on the phone) appears to have any answers. But there is a nice little cart with a carafe of too weak coffee, a pot of too strong tea, assorted creams and sugar packets, and what appear to be leftover boxed shortbread cookies. There’s a sign inviting people to help themselves but reminding them not to take any food or drinks into the stacks, or touch any of the books with their grubby cookie hands. But aside from this little display and the nametags they’re all given, which do reappear whenever removed for the first week (where do they keep coming from?), the Editors are more or less left alone.

The Library is eternal, or at least it seems that way, unbothered by its new inhabitants. It certainly does not seem like this is anything unusual within its operation. Are there other sections of the Library with Editors, tucked into a different part of the stacks? Have there been Editors here before, and the ones here are simply a replacement? It’s impossible to say, just that the Library seems quite prepared for them. The refrigerators are stocked with appropriate (if generic) foodstuffs, any tantrums in front of the circulation desk are completely ignored, and attempts to set the Library on fire fizzle out before anything can even catch.

However, after a few days, some of the scenery in the Library seems to be changing. Little singing bowls and white noise makers pop up on various shelves and counters, yoga mats appear tucked under the bunk beds (plenty for everyone, somehow), and some of the rooms have started playing relaxing, meditative music over unseen speakers. More confusingly, there are also small UFOs hanging by string from the lower ceilings of the contained rooms, which on closer reflection are revealed to simply be two paper plates glued together and painted silver. In the beginning they’re quite sparse, but by the end of the second week they are everywhere and impossible to ignore.

At the start of the second week, there is a possible hint as to why, for at least part of it. On the table by the circulation desk there is a sign: “This Week’s Recommended Reading: Invasion of the Body Snatchers!” Next to it, there is a sign up sheet: a waitlist to check-out the ‘reading.’ (There is no explanation or apology for it actually being a movie.)

[ooc note: The Library prompts from the TDM can be considered canon to the game. Remember any of the locations listed in the setting are fair game. Have fun!]

Comments

[aetherweaver]

He looks over at the lalafell-like man and grins a little bit. "Hello there. I should have figured that you would be interested in this kind of thing. I can't quite help myself from looking - too much time around black magic."

Thaumaturges... have very little sense of balance, in his experience.

[extrasaltypotato]

"And how would you define 'black magic?'" he asks. "I've colloquially heard that used to refer to curses or malicious uses of the Art, but it's not a formal term on Mundus..."

And yes, he did write that down.

[aetherweaver]

"Generally those who wield fire, ice, and lightning. There's also some connection to the magic of the Void, though even black mages tend to be a bit cautious around that. Thaumaturges are able to summon the elements, but true black mages can make a a Fire spell look like a candle when compared to something like Flare. ... Technically the only authorized users are thaumaturges - black magic's been forbidden since the Fifth Astral Era, when the war between them and those users of white magic caused a Calamity from draining the aether dry and unbalancing the aetherial makeup of the world."

He taps his rapier and nods. "The survivors of that great flood met in the high mountain peaks. Together they forged a new school of red magic, the magic of balance between white and black. Today the only black mages that exist practice in secret, and white magic is highly controlled by the Elementals of the Black Shroud."

... "Tell me if you need definitions for any of that."

[extrasaltypotato]

He's getting all of this down, his brow furrowing at some of the things that explanation implied.

"I imagine that the aether is something much like what Mundane savants call Pneuma, or 'breath;' the energy channeled through a caster's incantations and will into magic. That it can drained to the point of ecological catastrophe is unsurprising but disturbing. Your thaumaturges and mine have much in common, but..."

He grimaces. "The Void is new to me. I can call the flames, the frost and the thunder, but calling on powers beyond the world is the domain of Warlocks on Mundus, not of Magi. Tell me about the order of White Mages?"

[aetherweaver]

"From what I'm aware, Reapers can make more or less equal pacts with voidsent, but black mages have a historical reputation for not keeping their fingers out of what they shouldn't touch." Himself included.

As for white mages... "Some very rare Hyur called Padjali are blessed with the power of the Elementals that exist in the Black Shroud, which is a forest sometimes called the Twelveswood. They have thin horns along their heads, though different than those of an Au Ra. They can hear the voices of the elementals better than most, and so while conjury is a common practice to heal others, those who are White Mages proper are usually from those rare breed. The Elementals tightly control the practice... and while I've made an attempt to learn conjury I eventually gave it up when I realized I was shite at healing magic."

Tugging at one of his gloves, he continues. "White Mages were also involved in the War of the Magi, as I mentioned, and while they were not in contact with the Void or any other realm as far as I know, they too are to blame for draining the world dry of aether. Water, earth, and wind are their elements - and one can do damage with those just as well as any black mage. Black mages are more consistently destructive, but I do not suggest angering your healer."

[extrasaltypotato]

“Considering mine combines divine gifts of healing and wind magic with monastic martial arts, I suspect I’d earn a one way flight to Mundus’ moon had I tried,” Hikaru says, voice arch. But he’s smiling. “May I ask who the Hyur and the Au Ra are?”

[aetherweaver]

"... Right, of course. Hyur are..." He gestures out towards the library. "Those who have no tails or larger ears. They look somewhat like..."

He'll just take a marker and draw on the board... a regular-looking human.

"Shorter than a roegadyn - usually - and taller than a lalafell. In my world people would assume you are a lalafell, for example - though they don't have wings." Au Ra... he draws what looks like a hyur again, but this time adds some curved horns from the sides of their heads, a scaled tail, and some scales on their limbs and face. "Some think that Au Ra are descended from dragons. Scholars dispute this, but considering the ferocity of the Xaela subrace's tribes some days I'm not so sure."

[extrasaltypotato]

“On mundus we’d call them the Andrax; here, where they are common, the usual term is human,” Hikaru offers.

As if he didn’t use to be one.

“My current form is that of a Pixie; all of us are of a similar stature and have wings, though they can be the wings of any flying insect. We have no equivalent to the Au Ra on Mundus - our draconians are more obviously so, scaled from head to toe with a reptilian snout to match.”

[aetherweaver]

He thinks on that for a moment. "There's a large variety of what we call the 'Spoken' races, which are those with enough intelligence to speak their own language and form organized societies. There's the unfortunate moniker of 'beastmen', which most are trying to phase out now that we've formed an alliance with many of them. Those that can speak Eorzean are usually accepted as 'Spoken' races - or the equivalent on their continent. Hingan, Turali, or whatever is the dominant tongue. Those that know how to read or write are a bit rarer."

... Ah, he's gotten on a tangent again. "That is to say, to name all the races would be a quite lengthy list. Though dragons are another story, as they came to our star later in our history. They're quite unique, and those of the First Brood are very powerful. At one point the dragons were at peace with some of our societies. ... And then a thousand year long was started." Thanks, Ishgard. "But that's recently ended, and we are working to create a lasting peace with those that were harmed and wronged."

[extrasaltypotato]

“The word we’d use for those articulate enough for trade is ‘Namer,’ but the idea is the same,” Hikaru says. “And dragons… I shudder at the thought of meeting a true dragon in battle. Though some have allied with the Namers, most are said to bend the knee to their progenitor goddess, who is so profoundly cruel and tyrannical that we don’t risk her attention with her name.”

[aetherweaver]

"... I see. Whereas the great Midgardsormr, progenitor of the First Brood and the one who traveled the Sea of Stars to get to our star... he sacrificed himself to prevent the Garlean Empire from invading. Many think that he is dead, though in truth he is sleeping. He has saved me and hindered me. I've fought a recreation of him, with some help from allies. He is... as complicated as any other sentient being."

He leans against the wall, thinking. "As for facing the rest of the brood in battle, I've fought against and alongside some of them. Not coming from our star their souls are a bit... different. Much more powerful. Less... divided." Even so... "Why are the dragons so against the Namers in your world?"

[extrasaltypotato]

"Because many are still under the Tyrant-Queen's control," he says with a sigh, "and many who are not are old, spiteful, and loathe to change the bad habits of centuries."

He shakes his head. "It is not true for all of them. Some shook off their shackles early, along with as close to all the Orcish folk, that they became fellow champions of the free namers; these are the Shenlung, one of whom blessed the Yao Dynasty. But She Who Must Be Abjured made the five, hah, WUBRG -" he pronounces it 'woo-BERG.' "- species of dragon later to serve as her right hands."

[aetherweaver]

"I see. Them being hesitant to change is familiar with most of my experiences with them as well." Nidhogg, most of all. Though he had his reasons, as well... a shame they couldn't come to an agreement. "Are there... mm. There might not be an equivalent, but are there beings powered by faith where you are from? And if so do they temper mortals to their sides?"

[extrasaltypotato]

"Temper. I don't like the sound of that."

As it's something done to malleable steel in a forge. Shaping something to your desires.

"What is tempering?"

[aetherweaver]

"You're right to not like it. Tempering is when the aether of a primal, one of those beings formed by faith, alters the aether of another person. It tends to cause slavish devotion to the primal in question, to varying degrees. The only cure used to be death, though we've recently found a solution to the aetheric imbalance."

Thankfully, porxies to the rescue!

[extrasaltypotato]

"Thankfully, only the Mother of Monsters, Whose Name Must Be Abjured, seeks slaves instead of sacrifice," Hikaru says. "Where she shackles to her will, the other gods reward Namers for their service to those in their domains with boons. Every Adventurer I know has earned at least the Least Boon of one of the great gods, though lesser ones exist, as well as pointless and pedantic debate over whether the lesser gods are truly divinities or better classed as angels and spirits."

He smiles.

"My studies and my zeal in applying them to bettering others attracted the admiration of Gnomon, That Which Knows All That Is Written, and they granted me a fantastic memory for whatever I've read."

Endwalker Spoilers

[aetherweaver]

"Boons of the gods? ... Hm. There are the kami of the East and the Twelve of Eorzea. I don't know much about the former, but the latter are dead now, returned to the star. So they can't exactly give boons, though most don't know of their demises. I have to get my good memory on my own, heh."

He idly doodles a scroll-like symbol on the whiteboard. "Each birth moon is associated with one of the Twelve where I'm from, though. My particular patron happened to be Thaliak, god of knowledge and wisdom and ruler of rivers. Though while I was learning black magic, I was also amongst the followers of Nald'thal, god of commerce and death. And my clan growing up, as a Keeper of the Moon clan, worshiped Menphina, goddess of the moon and love."

[extrasaltypotato]

“Are they worthy of your sacrifices and devotion?” Hikaru asks. “Do they honor the vows you make to them?”

Any god who doesn’t is not, in his eyes, worth worship.

[aetherweaver]

"... If you power it with enough aether, yes. Otherwise, their policy had been to keep their hands off of the world for the most part."

He shakes his head and sighs. "I should point out that the tempering part of summoning is a nasty little addition put in by a group that opposed the current order of the world. Technically the ability to do so is the remnants of a very old type of magic called creation magic."