The Emberhold Archives

"From these Embers, we shall light the new Dawn."
~Emberhold Motto

Purpose / Function

The Archive at Emberhold is the greatest collection of lore known to us. For generations its keepers have collected documents, recorded traditions, and preserved artifacts and their usage. It was the hope of Shalim the Prophet that one day when the darkness passes, people would be able to use the archive as a seed bed from which to resume civilization. Shalim never hoped to preserve the civilization of the Empire, nor specifically that of any of the peoples around. Rather the hope was that skills, knowledge, and technology necessary to survival would never be lost.

Architecture

Under Shalim's guidance, the faithful purchased a mine built into the face of a cliff and began to alter and expand it. The mine shafts were enlarged and storage facilities cut into the rock deep underground where the elements could not damage the artifacts there preserved. The living spaces of Emberhold itself are above, nearer to the surface and the face of the cliff, but the Archive and the older parts of the Hold are deep in the mine shafts and were thus safe from dragon fire during the early days. Now the archive winds away underground, light by lamps, magic, and deep shafts to allow sunlight in, with countless books and artifacts stored on shelves cut into the rock, all of it carefully catalogued.

Defenses

In the early days the archive was protected by walling up the mine's entrances so that only narrow openings allowed people in. As the Emberhold was constructed in the first generations after the fall, more traditional defenses developed as well, but even now the Archive entrances deep underground are kept small and are able to be sealed off completely in the event of a disaster.

by Midjourney

Emberhold - home of the archive

Type

Archive

Parent Location

Emberhold

Ruling/Owning Rank

Steward of Emberhold

Owning Organization

Shalimism