The Celestial Library

Rules

Performing the Ritual

Performing this ritual takes at least 2 minutes of roleplaying. This ritual targets a single book, pamphlet, bundle of letters, scroll or tablet or similar written work that must be present throughout.

Effects

When the ritual is complete, the target written work disappears and is received by the attendants of the Great Library in the Realm of Day.

This ritual will only transfer a scroll, pamphlet, tablet, book or similar piece of written work.

The Eternals are peripherally aware of who sent the item.

Description

The attendants at the Great Library of Phaleron are said to seek copies of everything ever written down, and they expand their collection through a number of ways; this ritual is one of the most common. Any written work transferred to the attendants will be preserved 'forever' (the attendants themselves tend to hedge their bets, and prefer to say that it will be stored for as long as Creation continues in its current form). It joins the great body of knowledge that the attendants maintain and constantly seek to expand. While magicians can petition for access to any piece of information that has been stored in the library, such requests are rarely honoured. However, those who have contributed a significant tome to the library are more likely to be able to retrieve a piece of information from its depths. Someone who contributes a truly valuable or unique work may even be offered the chance to learn a single thing - the favour of the Phaleron library is a rare treasure.

Some magicians include messages or dedications in the works they send to the Great Library; these rarely seem to produce any immediate response although they are presumably read and catalogued alongside the book or scroll transferred with the ritual. Requests for audiences, the visits of Heralds or the like are rarely successful; however, a ritualist or coven that consistently sends new, unique or profound texts to the Great Library occasionally receives visits from Heralds of Day requesting specific tomes.

It is understood that the ritual places no obligation on the Eternals, but it cannot be denied that they tend to look more favourably on magicians who aid them by sending them works they do not currently possess. The rarer and more profound or influential the work, the more they appreciate it. The favour of the attendants at the Great Library also tends to leave other Eternals of Day more well-disposed to a magician responsible for performing this ritual regularly

Common Elements

The most important element of The Celestial Library is the written work to be transferred. It is often wrapped in fine silk or cotton, and usually forms the focus of the ritual; sometimes it is passed from hand to hand, sometimes placed in the centre of the ritual. Invocations of great scholars, Paragons and Exemplars of Wisdom, and the rune Aesh often accompany the ritual.

Some ritualists wrap the book in a chain, and seal it with a lock during the ritual - the constellation of The Lock is unsurprisingly a common element of such rituals. other ritualists seal the item with a wax seal, often marked with the rune of discovery or rune of revelation, as appropriate to the nature of the work.

The completion of the written work is often signalled by sprinkling seawater on the written work.