The Library of Eloryn

The Library of Eloryn is both a real building, located in Union, and a living institution charged with recording, organising, interpreting, and making available all information in Longbridge, thereby generating and maintaining Eloryn as an entity.

Institution

Citizens consult with Eloryn via the librarians at the Library or it’s remote offices in several enclaves. Unlike most real-world libraries, the convention at the Library of Eloryn is not that the books and records are made available to citizens to peruse (although you can ask to), but to submit a written query to the librarians, who will conduct research to formulate a response, which will be delivered to you via a postbox or future appointment at one of the Library’s remote offices. Librarians will respond to the title ‘Eloryn’ in person, and queries are typically addressed to Eloryn by name, like Santa Claus.

Librarians

Librarianship is a secluded, monastic, and life-long vocation. Most Librarians live together in the dormitories at the Library, or Library commonhouses, and seldom spend time outside of their duties. Off-time is permitted for public holidays, family responsibilities, or by request.

In public spaces, Librarians are identifiable by their minimalist uniforms, of a long white robe with a sash worn as a belt. The colour of the sash corresponds to their role and rank within the Library. Librarians wearing the uniform in public are expected to receive and answer questions from citizens at any time, and carry paper for this purpose.

Librarians, especially seniors, are aware of the potential for political motivations to corrupt the interpretation and delivery of information. Sacred traditions, cultural practices and clerical conventions are designed to resist this, to varying levels of success. Corruption to external political forces is considered grounds for expulsion, and causes a lot of extra work for other Librarians to unwind and extricate any influence that has made its way into the official records.

Synthesis

One of the responsibilities available to experienced Librarians is ‘synthesis’, the process of revising large volumes of previously collected knowledge, and producing shorter, more concise summaries to replace out-of-date materials and make later research easier. This process is undertaken very carefully due to the propensity for nuance and details to be lost, and the potential for the Librarian’s personal biases to colour the narrative of the synthesised work.

Positions in the Library

Administration

Head Librarian - Red-and-gold Sash

The Head Librarian runs the organisation of the library and is mostly an administrator and political representative of the Library. They do not deal with queries directly, but are expected to be extremely learned to qualify for the position. They have the authority to promote, reassign or expel librarians of any other rank in accordance with their judgement.

Librarian Mother - Red-and-silver sash

Mothers are concerned with the day-to-day running of the Library as a physical place. They are in charge of living arrangements, running dormitory kitchens, health, dispute resolution, obtaining raw materials such as paper and uniforms, and so on. Despite not dealing directly with any knowledge work, Mothers are promoted from experienced Librarians and can be relied upon to have very broad knowledge and good judgement. They have the authority to promote, reassign or expel any Librarians in their direct charge in accordance with their judgement. The title of Mother reflects the association with the traditional sphere of responsibilities mothers embody in the family unit, and is bestowed regardless of the gender of the applicant.

Librarian Senior - Red sash

Seniors are largely responsible for the organisational processes and clerical administration of the corpus. They oversee the filing, maintenance and organisation of information, and have authority over what gets admitted to record. They are also charged with reviewing these processes, making changes where appropriate and in accordance with Eloryn’s mission. They will be watching out for contradictions, signs of inaccuracy, and corruption. Seniors will also train Librarians in these processes. They have the authority to promote, reassign or expel any Librarians in their direct charge in accordance with their judgement.

Knowledge Work

Librarian Synthesist - Green-and-gold sash

A senior position, Synthesists are charged with resynthesizing information into a more coherent form. This is often necessary with old, incomplete, or fragmented records, which need to be coalesced and reified into digestible narratives. This is considered to embody the process of Eloryn ‘thinking’; recontextualising the information de has been given to reach an understanding. Understandings are meticulously documented and will considered canonical material for future enquiries. Synthesist is a very difficult position to get, and only the most dedicated and unwavering Librarians will be trusted to exercise this level of influence over the corpus.

Librarian Adept - Green-and-silver sash

Adepts are often in charge of specialised subjects, such as particular historical periods, academic topics, or organisations of people. When a query is difficult or obscure, it is sometimes elevated to an Adept to make a final ruling on the appropriate answer. Queries that find themselves on a Adept’s desk often take many weeks to answer, requiring extensive research, collaboration with Synthesists, or novel information gathering to provide factual support to the answer.

Librarian - Green sash

The rank-and-file Librarians that you are likely to find at the front desk of the Library, at remote offices, or around town. Their main duty is to receive, record and answer queries from the public. They are also assigned domestic duties by their Librarian Mother such as cleaning and clerical maintenance.

Librarian Initiate - Black sash

Not yet trusted to answer real questions, Initiates shadow and assist working Librarians in both knowledge and domestic work to gain the experience they need to earn the green sash. New Librarians can expect to spend a year or more at the Initiate stage.