The Sophia

The Shapers are lucky enough to have more than one kind of headquarters. While Shaperates are headquarters and act as legally sanctioned taverns and hubs for Shapers and their guests, the Sophia is the Shaper’s--and only the Shaper’s--library for rare books and archived collections, and are thus headquarters for knowledge and research.
Both The Heroes Guild and Shapers built the Sophia as part of an agreement of trade; the Shapers would help supply forces to The Heroes Guild to aid them against the Carrion Crown, but The Heroes Guild must become allies of the Shapers. As thusly and then specified by the Shapers, The Sophia was built within the territory of Castallen Owtla, on the western side of the Thundersteps; this was in effort to strengthen the forces of that territory against potential conquestors. The Sophia has remained outside the reach of the Ievlen Empire and Crown City, as it perches on one of the cliff faces of the mountain range’s many passes between the territory of Castallen Owtla and Kel Xis’Karyn. Defensible by way of the terrain and elevation, none who have tried have successfully taken The Sophia.
While not a military force and not welcoming of outsiders, the structure holds sway over almost all countries as a source of culture and law. All the secret knowledge of the worlds past, of the Shapers and their experiments, of any and all dealings the Shapers can record resides within that building. It is rumored to have many floors, spiraling staircases reaching into the earth and high into the dome of the building, where all manner of art, artifacts, and books reside.
The fact that so much ancient culture can be held in one area makes many suspicious of the Sophites and their Sophia. If only they would share what they had, some lament, but the Sophia remains closed to all but the highest ranking Shapers and Heroes.

Type

Library