The Great Pantheon Library
The Great Pantheon Library (Official Title: The Great Library of the Triad Pantheon) is a former temple of the god Mantidae and was the center of worship for Mantidism in Aerost. It was renowned in its day as a repository for writings on philosophy, art, medicine, music and other cultural touchstones of pre-Elemental Sundering culture.
It was also known far and wide as a center for healing, both clerical and scientific/medical. Followers and skeptics alike flocked to the Library for consultation and eventually treatment of many different injuries, maladies and afflictions. The clerics of Mantidae were very pleased to able to provide this service for the people.
During the chaos of the Sundering, clerics of Mantidae, along with sympathetic followers, were able to destabilize the rocks and foundation on which the temple sat in Aerost and effectively bury the Great Library beneath the surface of the city to conceal it from view, thus preserving its priceless literary treasures. Over time, marketplaces and other new construction was built on top of the Great Library. As of the present, it is only accessible through secret entrances in various shops and storefronts in the marketplace.
It was also known far and wide as a center for healing, both clerical and scientific/medical. Followers and skeptics alike flocked to the Library for consultation and eventually treatment of many different injuries, maladies and afflictions. The clerics of Mantidae were very pleased to able to provide this service for the people.
During the chaos of the Sundering, clerics of Mantidae, along with sympathetic followers, were able to destabilize the rocks and foundation on which the temple sat in Aerost and effectively bury the Great Library beneath the surface of the city to conceal it from view, thus preserving its priceless literary treasures. Over time, marketplaces and other new construction was built on top of the Great Library. As of the present, it is only accessible through secret entrances in various shops and storefronts in the marketplace.
Purpose / Function
The original purpose of the Great Library was to store, and make available for research and study, the great literary works of the The Triad Pantheon in general, and Mantidism in particular. While artifacts were not permitted to leave the Library, numerous reading, study, meditation and research areas existed within its walls allowing clerics and other trusted followers and adepts to gain from its knowledge.
As a pleasant happenstance of so many clerics routinely being present in one central location, The Great Library was a central source of healing knowledge and practical medical treatment. With so many different races of beings residing in Aerost, clerics who are adherents to the various Divine Domains of Healing were able to find many different challenges in the variety of creatures seeking healing. Clerics permanently in residence at The Great Library worked with visiting scholars and specialists to bring spiritual and physical relief to many people over the centuries.
As a pleasant happenstance of so many clerics routinely being present in one central location, The Great Library was a central source of healing knowledge and practical medical treatment. With so many different races of beings residing in Aerost, clerics who are adherents to the various Divine Domains of Healing were able to find many different challenges in the variety of creatures seeking healing. Clerics permanently in residence at The Great Library worked with visiting scholars and specialists to bring spiritual and physical relief to many people over the centuries.
Entries
The only entrance to the Great Library is through a locked door in the roof that leads up to a series of earthen tunnels, which eventually lead to hidden exits in various shops in the Marketplace. All other previous entrances are walled up and blocked by the earth.
Denizens
Jos van Aalten is the only remaining permanent inhabitant of The Great Library. He volunteered to remain behind and vowed to protect the Library for the rest of his life.
Contents & Furnishings
Thousands and thousands of volumes written over the years, subjects ranging from:
Bookshelves, bookcases, cabinets, cupboards, all manners of containers that could hold volumes occupy almost every foot of available space. They are jam-packed full of books, but not haphazardly. There is a place for everything the Library owns, and its location is precisely catalogued and regulated.
There is also a large amount of debris from the attacks that was never quite cleaned up. It is apparent the books were the first (and only) priority.
The caretaker has a small cubicle in which he sleeps. It is not decorated and is only functional as a sleep chamber.
- Healing Arts in general, clerical and non-clerical
- Medicine and Herbology
- Anatomy, Biology
- Philosophy
- Religion
- Gods and deities
- Travel
- History
- Nautical and Aeronautic studies
- Music, art and other cultural writings
- Performing arts
- Fictional writings (novels, poetry, short story collections)
- Zoology
Bookshelves, bookcases, cabinets, cupboards, all manners of containers that could hold volumes occupy almost every foot of available space. They are jam-packed full of books, but not haphazardly. There is a place for everything the Library owns, and its location is precisely catalogued and regulated.
There is also a large amount of debris from the attacks that was never quite cleaned up. It is apparent the books were the first (and only) priority.
The caretaker has a small cubicle in which he sleeps. It is not decorated and is only functional as a sleep chamber.
Valuables
There are a handful of magnificent, irreplaceable and priceless artifacts that reside within The Great Library:
- "Musings of a Mantis" (original manuscript) - Drafts and notes of personal conversations between the First Cleric (name unknown) and Mantidae itself, which established the religious practices. It is one of the only known personal interactions between Mantidae and its clerics, and is the only one written out. There were eventually over 10,000 copies produced.
- The lost journal of Bieric's personal servant, who precisely chronicles the siblings arrival on Melas at Kosi Bay, their journey southward and the feud and split of Bieric and Layna.
- "I, Strahd" (1st edition) - In a language no one has been able to translate. Something to do with vampires.
- A complete, unaltered set of Aerto's Folios - a collection of tragedies, comedies and historical plays as well as all 12 volumes of Aerto's famous off-color limerics.
- The Don't Letter - a one-word message that was intended to stop an attack, but instead led to a massacre
- A construction manual for something resembling an airship of some kind.
- "Ermit's Complete Animalia", the last surviving set of notes of elven naturalist Ermit, who painstakingly catalogued every native mammal, bird, reptile, amphibian and most insects of the Isle of Melas. Also kept with this artifact are Ermit's field glasses, his pith helmet (with ear-slits) and a half-eaten boot.
- A Pen of Translation that was created many years ago by mages allied with the Library and the clerics.
Alterations
A hole was cut into the ceiling to allow exit and entrance from below into the shops on the surface. The locked door that secures this hold leads to a passageway, which in turn leads to each exit.
Architecture
The main interior chamber of the library is high and vaulted, with many columns holding up the ceiling. There are rows and rows of bookshelves, cupboards, and other storage areas all around the chamber. Numerous cubbyholes, study alcoves, meeting rooms and other interior spaces riddle the lower areas.
History
The origins of the construction of the Great Library are shrouded in mystery. Some used to say Mantidae raised it himself with the help of an unknown, unseen god that lives beneath the ground. Regardless of its actual origin, its relevance and renown made it known throughout Southern Melas and the rest of the Wildlands as a place where anyone could go and learn, meditate, reflect, read and to be healed.
Throughout its heyday, researchers, healers and those seeking ministration flocked to the Library in great numbers. (See Tourism below)
When the waves of the Elemental Sundering hit Aerost, the Library was under threat of attack and its clerics risked death or banishment. Those who still believed in the gods took it upon themselves to help the remaining clerics bring the entire Library below the ground and conceal it and its treasures within, so that the rampaging mobs might believe it already destroyed. After the Sundering was complete, all (official) traces of Mantidism were erased from Aerost and the Wheel of Life was established as ruler and main religion of the city. The remaining clerics vowed to keep worship and influence of Mantidism alive, so they moved out of the city to re-establish themselves in various nearby temples, caves and other areas of training and respite. However, one high-level cleric remained to oversee and protect the Great Library.
Throughout its heyday, researchers, healers and those seeking ministration flocked to the Library in great numbers. (See Tourism below)
When the waves of the Elemental Sundering hit Aerost, the Library was under threat of attack and its clerics risked death or banishment. Those who still believed in the gods took it upon themselves to help the remaining clerics bring the entire Library below the ground and conceal it and its treasures within, so that the rampaging mobs might believe it already destroyed. After the Sundering was complete, all (official) traces of Mantidism were erased from Aerost and the Wheel of Life was established as ruler and main religion of the city. The remaining clerics vowed to keep worship and influence of Mantidism alive, so they moved out of the city to re-establish themselves in various nearby temples, caves and other areas of training and respite. However, one high-level cleric remained to oversee and protect the Great Library.
Tourism
People would visit the Great Library for healing. Clerics would typically be able to heal 25-35 people a day with their various clerical healing abilities, although they sometimes managed to stockpile various healing potions and other remedies to assist.
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