Sharr Bilota

The World Library

The Sharr Bilota, or "World Library" in Targotian, is the great library of the ancient Jewel of the West, Targos. It is widely regarded as one of the finest libraries in the known world, and contains rare documents from throughout all the territories, current and former, of the Zendylite Empire.

The lower section of the Sharr Bilota dates to c. 250ATC, when it was rebuilt as the Bilota Targos, or Library of Targos, from a predecessor destroyed in the Targotian Cataclysm. The library's subterranean catacombs date from the pre-Cataclysm Bilota Targos.

Purpose / Function

Ancient documents suggest that the original Bilota Targos, believed to have been built during the 4th century BTC, and of which very little survives, had served as a structure for records-keeping. That iteration of the building was almost entirely demolished by the Targotian Cataclysm, and was not rebuilt until two-hundred fifty years later, when the contemporary Targarch undertook a massive public works program in celebration of two and a half centuries of steady recovery. The new Bilota Targos was therefore built as a place for seeking knowledge and wisdom, and its Custodians took it as their purpose to copy and accumulate the best and finest examples of both.

Alterations

The Targotian Renovation

After achieving their independence from the Zendylite Empire in the 2990's ATC, the citizens of Targos sought to put their own stamp on the ancient and renowned Sharr Bilota. They began by replacing any and all Zendylite propaganda and references to the Tenets with the very "objectionable" materials (or carefully crafted copies thereof) that had been hidden away at the time of the Zendylite Expansion (see below) of the library in the 11th century.

For physical changes to the building itself, the Targotians added huge mosaic windows of Tanaari Glass between the original columns, enclosing the previously open-air inner perimeter. The rose window they replaced with a more graceful circular design with impressions of watery ripples as an homage to their people's ancient reverence for the sea, and all the statuary depicting Zendyl the Messenger that had adorned the front facings of the flying buttresses was removed. A single sculpture of the first Sharrarch remains to honor his contribution to the library.

Architecture

Bilota Targos, ca 250ATC

The original 250'sATC Bilota Targos was built extensively with stone and stout timbers. Its perimeter columns measured nearly two strides in thickness, supporting a relatively simple, flat tile roof. At the center of the temple-like structure stands a Labyrinth of Knowledge, a maze of bookshelves twice the height of a tall man, into which there are three entrances, North, East, and West. The Labyrinth's lack of a southern entrance symbolizes the Targotians' origins from the south, and that the place of their origin is best forgotten.

All three entrances have paths that lead to dead-ends, but all three also possess a path that will take one to the Sanctum, a central room wherein the deepest, most dangerous knowledge and information is held, and where one may find a stair leading to the lower catacombs.

by Grimbjorn Gregersson w/ LunaPic.com filter

The Zendylite Expansion

When Zendyl Heste do Shaphel, first Sharrarch of the Zendylite Empire, died in 1090ATC, he left in his will a massive bequest to the Bilota Targos, with three conditions: first, the library would be renovated and expanded to his specifications; second, it would be renamed "Sharr Bilota", or World Library; and third, any documents that Imperial censors deemed to be "subversive, contrary to the Tenets, or inciting of seditious thought or philosophy" were to be purged from its shelves. While most of the material that would have been found objectionable by the Imperial censors was hidden away in the Library's catacombs, the first two conditions were duly carried out, and the newly renamed Sharr Bilota was expanded vastly.

by Grimbjorn Gregersson w/ LunaPic.com filter

The original roof was removed, and two towering floors were added above the east and west sections of the Labyrinth, whose shelves were reinforced into walls, extending from floor to ceiling. The center of the new upper section was left open, with a massive rose window built into the north wall to illuminate the central Labyrinth and Sanctum below. Towering vaulted ceilings were built to add height and splendor to the overall structure, with massive flying buttresses added surrounding the original building to support the new walls.

At the pinnacle of the roof, high above the ground, three spires were built: the Aylian Spire on the eastern side, the Shaphelite Spire on the western, and in the center, towering twice the height of the other two, the Sharrarch's Spire, with its thousands of panels of colored Tanaari Glass glittering in the sun.

Tourism

In the present-day, the Sharr Bilota is both a center of learning and a museum, with parts of the library set with permanent displays purporting to tell the true stories of the ancient Targotian people, and of the rise of Zendyl and his Empire. Even though they find these displays deeply offensive, Zendylite pilgrims are still permitted to journey to the great library, where they consider climbing the spiral stair to the pinnacle of the Sharrarch's Spire (which the Targotians have renamed the "Tower of Illumination") to be something of a holy experience.

Founding Date

Original: ca 300s BTC

Bilota Targos: ca 250ATC

Sharr Bilota (Zendylite Renovation): ca 1090ATC

Final (Targotian) Renovation: 3000-3015ATC

Alternative Names

The World Library; sometimes called the Great Library of Targos

Type

Library

Parent Location

Targos

Owning Organization

Targos

Contested By

• Zendylite Empire

The Lantern Keepers of Sharr Bilota

Among the Custodians of the Sharr Bilota, there is no greater honor and prestige than to be named a Lantern Keeper, one of the handful of library staff entrusted with maintaining the lanterns that illuminate the shelves and passages of the Labyrinth of Knowledge. Selection for this duty means that one is considered among the most reliable and trustworthy of Custodians, as fire from a poorly maintained lantern would be catastrophic for the great library.