In blocky charcoal writing, smeared at some points and with letters blurring from one to the next, is a message at the top of a half-torn off page in your Tome.

You have been Chosen. But you are not the first group of would-be saviors of the Library.

There have been many before you. However, you are the last.

The Library is running out of power - nay, will - to send out Portals, to bring in new blood and fresh ideas.

Each time a group of individuals with connections to libraries of their own arrives, there are fewer left to pick from. And many would rather live out their days in the husk of a library than risk their lives to save ones they do not even know.

You have been Chosen, but many have been. The question is: will you be the ones to save us…?

---

The Library’s infinitely expanding collection of knowledge has made it semi-sentient. But although the Library is a living organism, it is mostly a sedentary one: a coral reef, or a network of redwoods. It needs guidance, direction, expressed through the stewardship of the Guardians.

The rooms listed below will appear in each Library Incarnation you visit, although rarely in exactly the same form.

   The Foyer 

The welcoming chamber of every Library Incarnation. The Foyer usually contains armchairs or other basic furniture for any waiting Library Guests. Occasionally, Orb-Orbs also bob along and serve tea, coffee, and cookies.

A set of doors are inset on each side of the Foyer. One of these leads to the outside world of this Library - don't try to open it, it won't work. However, if you stick around long enough, you may be able to see Library Guests from this plane coming and going. They might look at you with mild curiosity, or ignore you altogether.

The other set of doors opens into the Great Hall.

This is the only way forward.

 The Great Hall 

The Serpent of the Pears typically dwells in the Great Hall, their winding body, precious tree, and flicking tongue demanding everyone's attention. However, the Great Hall is dotted with many other sights of note.

Normally, the Hall is a hub of activity, swarming with Library Guests, Eternal Employees, and The Chosen - that is, you. Look around and you will be sure to glimpse a great number of books, scrolls, paintings, statues, and even taxidermied or pickled specimens being transported from one part of the Library to the next.

Because the Great Hall connects to all parts of the Library, you are recommended to use it as a place to find your bearings, or as an ideal meeting point. Remember: The Chosen are stronger together.

 The Heart

Every Library has a Heart.

Interestingly, its appearance does not change often. It always resembles a cosy parlor room with seven unique chairs and lounges, and a massive hearth. It is dominated by a beautiful, tiled mural of the original Library of Alexandria winding up and around the entire domed ceiling of the room. There are no windows here.

Unlike its appearance, however, its location changes in every Library Incarnation. Some Employees even whisper that it can do so multiple times.

Finding The Heart of the Library more than once is considered to be one of the grandest achievements and highest of honours. Only three individuals in the history of the Library have ever managed this feat.

It is rumored that the experience changed them forever.

 The Study Room

A favourite for many Library Guests, Chosen, and even Guardians, the Study Room is a quiet and comfortable space to research, reflect, or both. Visitors are permitted to engage in hushed conversation, but must be considerate and respectful to those who prefer the peacefulness of studying alone. If your conversation turns into a debate, please take it to the Great Hall or a similarly busy part of the Library!

If you are looking for a dedicated and resource-laden locale for drafting documents or pouring over texts with a pen in hand, this is the correct place for you, even if the Laughing Lamps on each reading table prefer to judge your genre tastes rather than adjust the intensity of light as requested…

 The Scrolls Division 

If you have a hankering for more unique and aged texts, the Scrolls Division is the best part of the Library to quench your scholarly thirst. Once, the Scrolls Division's floor-to-ceiling cubby-holes stored thousands upon thousands of scrolls made from all manner of materials - leather, vellum, papyrus, and parchment are among a few.

However, in more recent Library Incarnations, more than half of those cubby holes have been left empty, filling up with Dust Bunnies instead. In fact, whole sections of the structure have disappeared altogether. As the Scrolls Division has fallen into obscurity, few Employees or Guardians come to visit it. And when they do, they only stay long enough to briefly peruse a scroll, or to give the shelves a quick dusting.

At this rate, it appears that the scrolls which remain in this room will be left to moulder, disintegrate or burn - whichever inevitability claims them first.

 The General Archives

Any archivist will assure you that every published volume in the world (and even some incomplete works discovered after their author's untimely demise), are available in the General Archives. Predictably, this makes them one of the most frequented areas of the Library by both casual readers and scholars alike.

However, “every published volume in the world” does come with a couple caveats. Despite the tireless efforts of many an archivist, for instance, they have not been able to preserve any of the titles which have burned in other Library Incarnations. Additionally, the most rare and fragile of manuscripts are kept in other sections of the Library, ones which are usually more secure.

Many a wise scholar have travelled to the Archives hoping to get their hands on an original first-edition manuscript, only to be met with a dreaded yet common answer:

“Have you enquired after the Restricted Zone?”

 The Restricted Zone

The Restricted Zone is the generic title given to all parts of the Library which are most ancient. They also house replicas of multiple different Incarnations. In some Libraries, the contents of this Zone may even survive the worst of the fires, usually thanks to added protection bestowed onto them by natural or manmade structures.

Contrary to the name, not all parts of the Restricted Zone have restricted access. There are, however, a few sections which may be blocked, locked, enchanted, or guarded which require permission to access. And sadly, permission is very rarely given.

Two shadowy figures wander and glide through the Restricted Zone of the Library, however, casually surveying the area in a disinterested, almost languid manner. They ordinarily fade out of eyesight whenever someone intrudes on their domain, but this does not mean they are no longer observing.

They are.

They are assessing the worth of those who trespass.