In your tome, this page looks suspiciously empty, as if it was unfinished. You think you can make out traces of white-out but it is impossible to scratch away to reveal what is underneath. What little there is, however, reads as follows:
A library is a place of comfort and utility for many, and you will not be the only humans perusing its collection. Unlike you, who have the privilege of travelling between incarnations of the Library, most of these humans are native to the time period a particular incarnation exists within, and none the wiser to the immense importance of the aisles they wander.
We call these humans Guests, since they will only ever be found within a single incarnation of the Library.
Although they are fully capable of beholding the Guardians and other permanent denizens of the Library (see Eternal Employees and Pests of the Library), you will be surprised at how myopic your kind can be. You may interact with them as you wish, but do try not to confuse them too much. Remember that they have no knowledge of the fate of the Library they occupy.
Some examples of Guests that you may encounter within a Library include:
Amar Singh (he/him): Amar is the proud owner of Amar's Bookshop. In his youth, one can imagine (and be confirmed by the pictures all over the walls) a proud, tall figure who tread the paths most people would only ever read about in Atlases. Age may have claimed much of that height, but the pride in Amar's eyes is undimmed by the decades. Amar is an older, clean-shaven Indian man with a particular fondness for colourful turbans. He can usually be found hobbling down the many aisles of his library, probably hiding from his wife, enthusiastically striking up conversations with unwary customers, or pulling books out from the cases at random to stroke reverently, before carefully placing them back on the wrong shelf. Current status: Deceased
Priya Singh (she/her): Priya is Amar's long-standing travel companion, co-owner, and better half. She hails from a wealthy Indian family and had the privilege of being university educated, graduating top of her class in Engineering. She was incredibly well-read even before she met Amar, and dazzled him with her startling knowledge of the world before having travelled anywhere. They had been a perfect match from day one, but that was so many years ago. In recent years she's grown short with him, and is often overheard yelling at him for not picking up rations or missing dinner to read. Even though they aren't making many sales lately, she's often found by the cash register keeping meticulous track of their finances, looking through their inventory for valuable books to sell second-hand, and coming up with year 6 maths problems. Current status: Deceased
Ned Browning (he/him): Member of Her Majesty's Secret Service. Recently returned from France. Current status: Very deceased
Charles Thompson (he/him): A well-dressed gentleman and German spy. Current status: Unknown
All human NPCs in this setting have the pronouns She/her
Srimum - The Well's head engineer and repairperson. She manages the sewage and ever failing drainage system. She is responsible, dedicated and an excellent problem solver. She one of the most knowledgable women when it comes to most physical sciences. She stands 5'8 and is clearly in her 60s or older, with wrinkles in her face to match the veins that bulge from her tight biceps, not that you'd ever see them through her modest and loose long sleeved shirt and baggy cargo trousers. She is never seen without her navy blue headscarf, pinned with an oddly ornate brooch at her collarbone. She has a scar over the side of her lip which curls in the rare occasions where she smiles. Current status: Unknown
Efsan - Mushrooms, algae, plants, fish, snails and everything in between - Efsan has picked, examined, catalogued and very likely eaten it. She knows everything about the ecosystems in the well how it changes as the water rises higher and higher. She is also the 2nd generation manager of The Well's vertical mushroom farm and smokery. She makes sure everyone has enough food, and ensures people ration in the wetter months, which nowadays has become every month… She is a stout, short woman in her 70s with short curly hair and many piercings in her ears throughout her face. She is dark skinned and walks with a slight hunch. At dinner, she is always the loudest, with the most stories to tell. Current status: Unknown
Kanna - 22 and Efsan's newest apprentice, a passionate environmentalist on the surface, she has really taken to the giant fish in the well and wishes to see it live a long a happy life. If you talk to her, she is more than happy to name every crab in the study rooms and how all of them have been getting on recently. Efsan always nags at her to take on more managerial and political roles, but her head is very firmly underwater when those words reach her ears - literally. One of her favorite pastimes is free diving deep into the Well's many flooded levels. That and shredding on her (homemade) electric guitar is all she cares for these days. She has straight black hair and stands 5'6 with a long, lanky build. She has Chinese features but is tanner than average. Current status: Unknown
Heang - A vocal activist and avid feminist. Heang spends a lot of time painting murals in the great hall and giving inspirational seminars on everything from sapphic poetry to the suffragette movement to modern women like Alison Bechtel. She is highly engaging and intense to her peers, but the older women seem to enjoy her fantastical sounding stories about progressive western women. She is incredibly knowledgable about music, poetry and the arts. Heang helps organise sharing sessions where the women swap and share their knowledge in the Great Hall amphitheatre, which is a remarkable feat to be in charge of at 25. She is 5'3 with long black wavy hair, she has dyed blonde hair which has grown out. She and Kanna love to have jam sessions and long to start a band one day. Current status: Unknown
Yat - Formally a professor, Yat is now the Well's resident timekeeper and architect. She learned timekeeping in the Well from her late master, and with her expertise, has made sundials and other devices to tell time in this place. She also designed the current General Archives as well as Srimum's workshop in the Scrolls Division. She used to work in Srimum's workshop. Unlike all the other women in The Well, she has recently become heavily pregnant. Due to this she has been weakened, some women have also expressed hostility towards her because of this. She is in her 30s with a wide face and hair in a messy bun. Current status: Unknown
Takahashi Hiro: The illustrious founder of Hiro’s Hoot House, the first iteration appearing on the Kobe animal cafe scene in the 1980s–before a ‘scene’ even existed! Now approaching his seventies, Hiro was long-since expected to retire. Unfortunately, however, his eldest son was not so interested in inheriting a family business of keeping owls to show off to tourists. Instead, Hiro scoffs, he went into investment banking. Luckily, Hiro’s granddaughter was more interested in taking care of the owls and from 2015 she became the manager for the cafe, while Hiro remains the owner who refuses to make his life about anything other than work. Current status: Unemployed
Takahashi Hisoka: Granddaughter of Hiro, Hisoka is a young woman no older than her early thirties (but she won’t reveal her actual age) with hair cut in a short bob and a cheerful outlook on all aspects of life. She has been the manager of the owl cafe for a mere five years but is very competent at running it. Even the imminent closure of Hiro’s Hoot House hasn’t managed to put a damper on her mood. She cares intensely for the owls and, although she understands that declining financial resources play a part in the cafe’s demise, she remains baffled as to why animal rights activists bash the cafe on SNS. #NotAllOwlCafes. Current status: Unemployed
At least a dozen owls: Current status: Dispersed
More information will be added to this page as the game progresses and PCs meet new Guests across different Libraries.
Amenken: Inscriptions on the walls claim that he was great. Deceased.
Beketaten: She is often depicted surrounded by animals. Deceased.
Hetespheres: She looks so small. Deceased.