The Vault of Lost Civilizations

Purpose / Function

This vault was built to store and protect records of civilizations that no longer exist. Some were wiped out by war, others consumed by plagues, and a few simply disappeared, leaving behind only ruins and unanswered questions.

The original scholars of Lwendiasa Library believed that no knowledge should be forgotten, and thus, they salvaged whatever they could from doomed societies, preserving fragments of languages, art, philosophy, and inventions.

However, over time, the vault became restricted, as some feared that knowledge of these fallen civilizations might lead to history repeating itself.

Design

Shape: A vast circular room, with a domed ceiling mimicking a star map of extinct civilizations.

Walls: Constructed from polished obsidian, engraved with names of lost cities.

Ceiling: Depicts constellations once recognized by ancient cultures, shifting subtly over time.

Floor: Made of white marble, inlaid with golden lines marking the geographical locations of long-lost empires.

In the center of the vault, a monolithic stone table holds an open book, constantly turning its own pages. Some say it records the names of civilizations as they vanish from history.

Entries

Hidden Entrance: A concealed spiral staircase located beneath the library’s grand hall, revealed only when a specific phrase is spoken in an extinct tongue.

Security Mechanisms:

• Requires a key of three parts, each kept in a different archive within the Lwendiasa Library.
• Those who attempt to enter without proper access find themselves lost within the library’s endless corridors—a defensive enchantment meant to confuse intruders.

Emergency Exit: None known—once inside, one must leave the way they entered.

Sensory & Appearance

Sight: Ancient scrolls, stone tablets, and weathered books stacked on towering shelves. Glass cases hold delicate remnants—a child's toy from a lost empire, the skeletal remains of a writing tool no longer understood.

Smell: A blend of aged parchment, incense, and faint traces of salt, as though the air remembers the civilizations lost beneath the waves.

Touch: Some artifacts feel warm to the touch, as if infused with the memories of their creators. Others are cold as ice, draining heat from the fingertips of those who hold them.

Sound: The vault is almost silent, yet the occasional rustle of unseen pages and the distant echo of whispered languages lingers in the air.

Visitors have reported hearing voices speaking in unknown dialects, as if the past is trying to communicate.

Denizens

A spectral historian guards this vault, appearing as a robed figure who tests the knowledge of those who seek entry. It asks riddles about lost civilizations, requiring answers only found within the library's records. If answered incorrectly, the intruder is banished back to the main hall.

The Wandering Scribe: An ethereal presence that writes unseen passages in the air, vanishing before the words can be deciphered.

Contents & Furnishings

The vault holds thousands of relics from forgotten societies, including:

• Tablets from the First Tongue: A script no one has ever translated
• The Ashen Map: A map detailing an empire that supposedly never existed
• A city’s census, written in blood, found in the ruins of a vanished civilization
• The Last Words of the Raegoth Scholars: An account of a doomed city, ending abruptly in a dried ink blot

There are also artifacts—a clock with no moving parts, a compass that points down instead of north, and a single sealed jar labeled “The Final Breath of Xevanthor”.

Valuables

The vault holds treasures not measured in gold:

• Lost blueprints of vanished technologies
• Paintings depicting landscapes that no longer exist
• A silver ring engraved with the names of a royal family whose kingdom was swallowed by the sea
Each item is a whisper of the past, a fragment of something that will never return.

Hazards & Traps

The vault is not without dangers:

• The Curse of the Forgotten: Reading certain texts causes one’s name to fade from history, making them unrecognizable to those who once knew them.
• Shifting Shelves: Bookshelves move when unobserved, making navigation treacherous.
• Memory Erosion: Some texts are imbued with knowledge too heavy for the human mind—reading them causes visions, nightmares, or complete memory loss.

It is said that some who enter the vault never leave—not because they die, but because history forgets they ever existed.

Special Properties

Echoes of the Past: Some artifacts replay memories of their civilizations, like ghostly projections.

Temporal Flux: Certain areas of the vault appear frozen in different points in time, allowing visitors to witness glimpses of past civilizations as they once were.

Unreadable Texts: Some books and tablets refuse to be read, the words shifting or vanishing when studied.

Alterations

Over the centuries, the vault has been sealed, unsealed, and altered by different rulers and scholars:

• Certain sections have been erased, their knowledge deemed too dangerous
• Some artifacts have been stolen, with their descriptions left behind as eerie placeholders
• A doorway leading to a supposed “lower level” was bricked over centuries ago—no one knows why.

Architecture

Unlike the grandeur of the main Lwendiasa Library, the vault is somber and reverent in design.

Walls: Engraved with depictions of forgotten cultures.

Doors: Ancient and reinforced, but appear strangely new as if time cannot touch them.

Ceiling: A vast, painted mural, depicting a map of every lost civilization ever recorded—including some that have not yet fallen.

History

The Vault of Lost Civilizations was created as a repository of cultures destined to fade. Once, it was accessible to scholars, but over time, it became a secret, restricted to a select few. Some feared that learning of the past’s failures would doom the present to repeat them. There are whispers that the vault contains records of a civilization that has yet to collapse, and that one day, another name will be added to its walls.

Table of Contents

Discovery Date

15 Aurora 1075 AE

Type

Room, Secret, Chamber

Parent Location

Lwendiasa Library

Environmental Effects

The Vault of Lost Civilizations is strangely preserved, untouched by time. A sense of profound stillness fills the air, as if even sound is reluctant to disturb the silence.

Temperature: Cool but stable—neither warm nor cold enough to cause decay.

Humidity: Artificially regulated, preventing mold or erosion of delicate scrolls and artifacts.

Light: Dim golden glow, emanating from crystal sconces set into the walls—permanently enchanted to ensure readability.

Auras: Some artifacts give off a faint hum of energy, as if they are remembering past lives. Scholars describe an eerie sensation of being observed—not by eyes, but by the weight of history itself.

Gravity: Slightly lighter than normal—whether due to ancient enchantments or architectural design remains unknown.

Many historians report a strange phenomenon—when reading certain texts, they feel emotions that are not their own, as if the memories of lost civilizations linger in the ink and parchment.

I haven't written anything about the other Vaults. Not because they're unimportant but because I didn't (and still don't) have much to say about them. This Vault, though... How could I not want to visit here? What would I learn here? This Vault.. the whole Library is a dream come true to a historian like me. And I still fervently pray to Infinite Grace that this Library to still in existence today.

~ Josiah Ward