Great Library of Hacynian

Overview

The Great Library at Hacynian is a grand edifice, a Great Library, ultimately commissioned to solve the mystery of how to destroy the vallorn. It is located in Mourning Hollow, an ancient mystical site with links to both the Day and the Night realm that left it infused with Wisdom. The site was consecrated as an inspirational location using True Liao in 386YE.

The Terunael Library

Mourning Hollow was for a very long time haunted by the unquiet spirits of dead Vard and Navarr warriors, apparently trapped there as the result of some forgotten curse or betrayal. Following a heroic expedition to the Hollow in Winter 379YE, there were no further sightings of ghosts. The same expedition located the ruins of an old building, a so-called "Temple of Phaleron" dedicated to the eternal of the same name. Built in a peculiar regio that seemed to cycle alignment between Day and Night realms, there was evidence that the temple was once part of a large library built by the Terunael people of the city of Hacynian (from which the entire territory takes its name).

Not much is known about the history of the original structure, although the interest of Phaleron is obvious. There is some evidence that at least one other eternal, perhaps Sung or the Whisper Gallery have an interest in the area as well. The eternals' influence presumably cycles along with the peculiar regio.

The First Library

In Spring 381YE the Imperial Senate voted to restore the library there. Work on the new structure was quickly completed, shortly before the Summer Solstice 381YE, and the first librarians and archaeologists arrived within the week. The new building was constructed as much as possible in the style of the old ruins, incorporating their original stone wherever possible. The structure was not especially large, but it was noted for its beauty, and filled with shelves of scrolls and parchments written by students of Navarr history.

The first library incorporated a small shrine dedicated to the virtue of Wisdom. The shrine was lit by a single lightstone held by a wooden candlestick with swirling vines carved on its surface, a relic of the ancient temple. Carved by Jhessail Cedny, one of the founders of the nearby steading of Foxden, the candlestick apparently also sat in the original library before it was destroyed by the Vard.

Siân Eternal was instrumental in claiming and establishing the Great Library of Hacynian

In the central chamber was a large weirwood table, the surface engraved with intricate swirling patterns and serving as a focus for the blood magic of the vates who visited the library to study. On the table rested a battered cauldron, the Bowl of Phaleron, which once served as a covenstone for the magicians who tended the original library.

There was briefly an Imperial title - Terunael Lorekeeper - created to oversee the library but that role was effectively abrogated when the Senate passed a motion to amend the powers of the Advisor on the Vallorn granting them custodianship of the library. The Lorekeeper was expected to take on a specific oath: "I will protect the Library for as long as I can." The oath was apparently that sworn by a pre-Imperial Navarri vate whose spirit was kept captive in Mourning Hollow by the grim magic of a volodny. The tormented spirit was freed in 379YE when this oath was taken up by the heroic explorers visiting Mourning Hollow to deal with the dark curses found there.

The Great Library

We the Navarr assembly think that it's time to make the Great Library of Hacynian greater, expanding the complex and making it a true Empire-wide centre of history and learning.

Neala Blackhawk, Summer 384YE, Vote: 292-0 Upheld with a Greater Majority)

In Autumn 384YE, the Navarr Assembly endorsed a statement of principle by Neala Blackhawk calling for the existing Library to be expanded, to make it a true Empire-wide centre of history and learning. In response the civil service presented a set of plans for how the current structure could be expanded to become a true great library, something worthy of that name that could be a single repository of all the knowledge on the vallorn in the Empire.

Such a move was unprecedented. Such a collection has never existed before, not even in the days before Nicovar. As the history of the Dance of Navarr and Thorn indicates, there have always been pieces of history, knowledge that small groups of Navarr possessed, that have simply become lost to the nation as a whole over the course of the last millennium. With a place to store it, the scholars and vates would finally be able to start cross-referencing and comparing notes, weighing each piece of information, and building up a picture of what has happened in the past - and what might be done in the future.

The prognostications were clear - if every scrap of lore the Empire possessed about the vallorn was brought together in one place, then study of the documents would provide the Navarr with the information they have been searching for. A way to finally destroy the vallorn that could be achieved now rather than in another thousand years. It would take years to go through every document, but once complete the truth would be incontrovertible.

Inspired by the opportunity, work began on the new structure almost immediately. There was support from the department of historical research who allocated hundreds of hours of work going through their own papers. Bibliophiles and scholars of the League donated books and texts to the new library and many came to Hacynian personally to help ensure they were catalogued correctly. Highguard urged every archivist, curator, and grey pilgrim to create copies of any document relating to Terunael and the struggle against the vallorn and send it north.

Even the Thule were happy to contribute. A contingent of orc warlocks from Otkodov joined the faculty at the Great Library as guests of the Advisor on the Vallorn, bringing with them scrolls containing information never before seen by human eyes winnowed from the archives of the Thule, supported by the peculiar insight of the Dragons and their rarefied understanding of arcane arts.

The Results

In the end it took just a year to complete, with the results published in Winter 385YE. Many of the scholars were surprised how little new information was discovered or needed. Once research began, it slowly became clear that the seminal text, "On the Nature of the Vallorn" by Siân Eternal, had already accomplished the bulk of the work. Her book compiles almost everything that was known about the history of Terunael and the vallorn into one authoritative text.

A lot of time was spent validating and confirming everything that was published, and adding what new information that was found into that picture. What the research achieved was to clearly highlight the answers that existed in Siân's text and to conclusively demonstrate that the Empire now possessed everything there is to know on this subject. There will always be new information coming to light, but the scholars who spent a year studying at Hacynian could be sure that their results represented everything of substance that there was to know about the creation of the vallorn and what can be done to undo it.

What the results revealed was a way to make the vallorn dangerous... but vulnerable. As each vallorn heart is connected to the network of trods created by the Dance of Navarr and Thorn, the strain on the Primal Forest grows. If every vallorn heart were connected to the network simultaneously, the vallorn would respond as it does whenever it is threatened; becoming animated and lashing out. It would become vulnerable, but instead of one region, one small part of the vallorn responding, every region of the vallorn would feel the threat - every region would become vulnerable - every region would lash out.

If they are connected together, the final "stage" of the vallorn will begin. It will wake - wake properly, wake fully. It will become a single immense organism - similar in some ways to the Great Forest Orcs' conception of the Great Forest. The researchers believe it will become conscious, and its spawn will become significantly more dangerous. There are already some signs of this: for example, there are signs that the ettercaps have become much more cunning, adopting tool use and showing signs of being able to plan and prepare that go beyond anything an animal can achieve.

Once awake it will lash out. It will seek to join itself together in space rather than just by magic. Vallornspawn will push outwards from the vallorn hearts to try and re-infest their territories, and then expand outwards along the trods seeking to create a single immense vallorn covering all of what is now the Empire, the Mallum, and Axos. Such an outcome might suit the Heirs of Terunael, but if it were successful it would be an apocalyptic event for the Empire.

At the same time it will become vulnerable. The more active the vallorn becomes the more it draws on the energy that infuses it for purposes other than healing and preserving itself. The vallorn would, to paraphrase an excited Navarr scholar, finally be a fight we could win. A League academician uses the analogy of a force in an impenetrable fortress; while they remain behind their walls they cannot be fought. Once they emerge, they become vulnerable - but they are also able to stab you in the face.

Linking every vallorn heart together would rouse the monstrosity and make it expand, but it would also make it vulnerable. If defeated, it could be destroyed and the land reclaimed. The work of the Great Library was complete - the work of the Navarr and their Highborn allies was only just beginning.

The Dagger of the Mind

The Library of Hacynian stands as a site where our Empire, in pursuit of Wisdom, was able to determine the definitive solutions to the thousand year problem of the vallorn in but a single season of dedicated focus. The Wisdom assembly seeks to consecrate this location as a Sacred Site to inspire future pilgrims and priests as a testament to what we can achieve as an Empire when we pursue virtue.

Nathair Autumngale, Wisdom Assembly, 386YE Autumn Equinox, Vote: 354-10 Upheld with a Greater Majority

In 386YE the Assembly of Wisdom called for a true consecration of the Great Library of Hacynian, seeking to make it a sacred site, a blessed location that would resonate with the Virtue of Wisdom.

The General Assembly concurred with the judgement and the following season they passed a mandate authorising Nathair Autumngale to use a dose of true liao to consecrate the Great Library of Hacynian to Wisdom. The consecration created a new Imperial title, the Singer of the Silence appointed by the Wisdom Assembly. Rather than build on the knowledge contained in the many books and scrolls housed in the library, the hope was that the Singer would be empowered by the mystical connections of the regio present at Hacynian, able to draw on the subtle magics of the two eternals who favoured the site, Sung and Phaleron.

Night Singer's touch is feather-light here, but there are a few scholars who believe that it was crucial in the success that Library enjoyed uncovering the secrets of the vallorn. Those who slept near the regio or walked there at night experienced strange dreams and visions that some believe were sent by the Everflowing River helped them find the right questions.

Phaleron is known to claim the day regio at the heart of the Great Library. There has been little direct communication with the eternal since the original expedition to clear the ghosts from the ruins but the new library was bound to be of interest to an eternal called the Celestial Library, the Great Library and sometimes the Coral Library.

You have a profound sense that you can solve any problem if you trust your judgement. You feel confident that inaction is the worst mistake you could make given what you know.

Great Library Wisdom Aura

Rather than create something grandiose, Nathair Autumngale used to the true liao to consecrate the original Wisdom shrine still housed near the heart of the Great Library, thus linking this grand edifice to its storied past. Those who tarry here speak of the power of the aura that imbues everyone who visits the shrine with a profound sense that they can solve any problem if they only trust their judgement and the knowledge the only bad choice is to choose to do nothing at all.

Further Reading

• Advisor on the Vallorn
• Singer of the Silence
• Sing a song - Summer 387YE wind of fortune relating to the Singer of the Silence and other opportunities
• Little faith - 386YE Winter wind of fortune regarding the true consecration
• The bones of what you believe - 384YE Autumn wind of fortune introducing the idea of expanding the library to research the vallorn
• A thousand years of longing - 385YE Winter wind of fortune revealing the solution to the vallorn