The Wanderer's Library
| “ | Go ahead and gawk. Everyone does, their first time. Don't worry, the shelves aren't going to fall down anytime this century. It just feels like it because they're so damn high and narrow. The Library is… I suppose the best way to describe it would be a hub, except instead for worlds. The Library is at the root of every world, universe, and timeline that has ever existed, or will ever exist. "All roads lead to Rome" as that French treehugger put it? Yeah, it's kind of like that. No matter where you are in reality (or sometimes out of it), you can always find a way back here. | „ |
| ~ Harry Dresden |
The Wanderer's Library, or simply known as the Library, is a near-endless extradimensional library that catalogs almost all known stories in the multiverse.
Overview[]
The Wanderer's Library can be located within the base of the Tree of Life's trunk making it a hub that contains all the information in creation. It is largely accepted that the Wanderer's Library came to existence at the exact moment when the concept of knowledge was created. It is overseen by a former sentinel known as Nahash who took refuge in the Library after the Scarlet King's rampage and was appointed as its guardian. The Library is also governed by Dream of the Endless as it contains all the stories in creation both known and unknown.
The Library is an extradimensional archive of all knowledge throughout the worlds. Its halls contain every book that has been written, will be written, and many that won't. Wizards, scholars, and patrons of all species and origins come to seek knowledge under the watchful eyes of the Librarians, mysterious eldritch entities tasked with the upkeep of the Library and of who are managed by Destiny's "children" Now and Then, personifications of the present and past respectively who add more pages to every story under Dream's supervision.
The Federal Bureau of Control classifies it as a Dunwich-class Nexus, it is only accessible via Ways: dimensional doors that require specific rituals to use. Despite the cosmic enormity of its importance within creation, it is revealed by Harry Dresden that anyone is capable of entering the Library wherever they are, that is only if they are clever enough to find the Ways which lead to it. In order to access a Way a Knock is required, which is trick that allows the Way to open. One Way in New York requires the user to pour chicken blood over a manhole and someone else who has already been in the Library to invite the user in.
Description[]
The Wanderer's Library is an interdimensional library which acts as the embodiment of all that is written, and as new knowledge keeps being created, the Library also keeps growing. The Library is in fact a living Platonic projection of all the places in the world where every form of knowledge and story that exists is stored, and it is enveloped by Nahash who acts as the magical shell wrapping the entire Library, although the being itself might be metaphorical. Because of this, the appearance of the Library varies throughout the multiverse as it is subject to the visitors' perception of a mundane library or bookstore.
The Library contains identical copies of every single book that was ever written throughout the multiverse, and includes books which were never written. The stories contained within the Library are fixed and unchangeable, and as they intersect with reality the Library sets order on the world.
Although the space within the Library is near-infinite, with endless corridors and towering cylinders of bookshelves, it is in fact fractal, as it loops in on itself due to the interior continually changing; as a result, it is difficult to map out. As stated, the Library is big enough to store all knowledge, which itself is limited despite the great number of books existing throughout different worlds and universes. Curiously, certain wings of the Library, such as the East Aera Wing, possess artificial day-night cycles as they were key to maintaining the magical and psychological function of many beings. At night the Wanderers can also see the night sky above them filled with artificial stars. The main hall of the Library can also change its dimensions, growing the space within in order to accommodate as many Wanderers as possible.
Rules of the Library[]
There is a set of rules that Wanderers must always follow. If anyone breaks these rules then they are forcefully taken by staff and transformed into additional staff and forced to work until their punishment is over.
- Do not take what is not yours.
- Keep your Library card safe.
- Familiarise yourself with Ways.
- Limit your possessions.
- Stay clear of named places.
- Avoid Library Staff.
- Know your enemy
- Survive