Seven tall columns stand atop stone stairs that lead up to the doors of the great library at Biblyon. Shaded by the overhanging roof, amongst the columns, people read, talk, and play board games such as chess and checkers.
A roadside vendor serves the laconic community. You smell warm bread and beer wafting from the vendor’s carts.
The library of Biblyon is a college, a community of scholars. Within its centuries-old walls roam the ghosts of famous sorcerors and students of natural science. The old throne of Illustrious Castle is on central display here. The library is run by the Librarians of Biblyon, and protected by the Tutoris Libris. People here still respect the dead Order. Even the Tutors, who remember what the Order became, respect what it originally stood for.
The Head Librarian is a hereditary position, currently held by Leonard Grass III, son of Truman Grass, son of Leonard Grass II. Leonard III has no son, but his daughter Shelia Grass is a fine scholar specializing in textual reconstruction. The general consensus is that she will make a fine Head Librarian.
The Catalogue
Books are shelved by topic. Their catalogue number denotes the date the work was catalogued (5 characters), who catalogued it (2 letters), a serial number (2 digits), and the topic number (2 characters). There are five characters in the date, because it uses three digits for the year, one letter for the month, and a digit or letter for the day. The month’s letter is the first letter of the month’s name in Latin except for repeats: I for January, F for February, M for March, A for April, Q for May, X for June, V for July, Y for August, S for September, N for November, and D for December. The day starts at one and on the tenth day goes to A. The third book about gems (5T) catalogued by Leonard Grass III (AO) on May 26, 974, will be 974QQAO035T.
A lesser controversies among the librarians is the year 1000 code. The code uses the common year: the number of years since the cataclysm. In 1000 the year goes from three digits to four. Most librarians consider the easiest solution to assume any code beginning with a ‘1’ is from 1000 or later (even if the records had not been lost in the Goblin Wars, the Order catalogued no books in the second century). Others feel this courts confusion, and that a re-numbering of the catalogue is in order, adding a ‘0’ or an ‘X’ in front of every current number.
The Sick house (2)
The library’s scholars are the doctors of the area. Patients at the Biblyon sick house get the best treatment in the known world, but these treatments are also likely to be experimental and made part of a monograph or book.
