Biblion

The Great Library of Xandrilex lies in the Domain of the Librarianfolk, **Biblion**. This densely populated country is wisely ruled by the **Owl Council**. It's located right next to the Kingdom of Rust. They say in Biblion lies in some dusty corner every book that has ever been written. The country and the library in particular are seen as a repository of the world's accumulated knowledge. The library is the size of a metropolis and, like everything in Biblion, even the dense settlements around it are literature related in some way or the other. Antiquarian bookshop, bookstores, printers, publishers and much more. The further inland you go, the more you feel the influence of the Bookimists. Bookimists are alchemists who combine traditional alchemy with everything to do with printing, books and literature in general. Biblion is the stronghold of this art. The country is considered the most fire-prone because of the large amount of paper and buchimistic essences. Therefore smoking is only allowed in so called Qualmoirs. Those are windowless buildings with large chimneys on the roof through which the smoke can escape. Despite the chimneys, the rooms are completely filled with smoke. Since there are no bans on the substances to be smoked in Biblion, all kinds of smoke and intoxicants mix in the smoky air. The mere presence there can easily lead to unpredictable intoxication. Some visit the Qualmoire specifically for this reason, for others the effect is anything from surprising to frightening. Buchimist houses dominate the sight of the densely populated Biblion. They are crooked, dark, and overshadow the paved paths. These houses are typically half-timbered with creatively designed stone facades. Most of them are listed monuments. In the Great Fire six hundred years ago many of the houses were blackened.

Culinary specialties of Biblion include the beebread, a honey bread with roasted bees (usually without stingers), the buchling (an apple compote pastry, unrelated to the booklings), and the poet's curl, a sweet pastry.

Everywhere in Biblion you can buy so-called Crandles, living candles that will read you from a book of your choice for a while if you politely ask them to. However, each candle has its own elitist and highly individual taste and will not read books it considers trash. Also their voice get lower the more they burn down. Another type of candles that live in the Library complex are Flandels flying candles that follow people to illuminate their path and help them read.

## Giant Library of Xandrilex

The Giant Library of Xandrilex is magnificent and is considered one of the thirteen wonders of the world. Guarded by animated armor, it has countless departments, some of which are closed to the public because of the valuable, delicate or forbidden books in it. The library is so big and winding that some areas are only to be entered at your own risk, as they are inhabited by book golems, scriptlings, paper elementals, swarms of flying books or inklings due to failed bookimistic experiments. Particularly dangerous, however, are the gigantic catacombs under the library, whose crooked corridors extend under the whole of Biblion and into incredibly wide depths. They are sparsely illuminated only by the resident light jellyfish and harbor incredible dangers such as trap books, book hunters, various mimics or the gigantic bookwurms. There are also and invaluable obscure and lost books in prospect for those who dare to go down though. In addition to the horrifying creatures there, many of the catacomb passages are in danger of collapsing. All entrances to the former underground library have been sealed off from the public. Only for high sums can one enter the labyrinthine and dangerous depths via a few private passages of corrupt antiquarians.

### Book Hunters

Book hunters are savages with the task to salvage rare and valuable books from the catacombs under the library, while exposing themselves to significant risks. Bookhunters are only driven by two simple forces: their egoism and their greed. The main qualification to become a bookhunter is fearlessness. Therefore, it is mainly mercenaries, former assassin andother criminals who practice this profession. They often cannot even read. Each bookhunter is equipped and armed in his own way. However, armor, iron helmets, and an individual horrible mask are almost always included. They protected themselves against animals, dust, trapped books and above all, other book hunters. Over time, the number of book hunters increased. They opened up new areas of the labyrinth in their search for valuable works. They drew primitive maps, established food supplies and water sources, and provided lighting in many areas of the catacombs.

#### Trap Books

Trap Books are a form of Dangerous Books developed by Book Hunters to decimate the competition. On the outside, the Trap Books look like particularly valuable or rare works, but inside are deadly mechanisms. There are books inside which are miniature crossbows with poisoned arrows and catapults with broken glass. In addition, there were books whose interior contained acid injections or poison gas sealed in an airtight manner. Particularly ingenious trap books came from Greybeard the tinkerer.

## Librarianfolk

A gaunt looking species related to the humans that can live up to 300 years and is extremely sensitive to noise.

## Owlmen

**Owlmen**, or **Minerves** as they call themselves, are one of the many species of beastfolk living in Giantstep. A mysterious and secretive group, owlmen have lived in the metropolis of Biblion for millennia, protecting the greatest library the world has ever known, Owlmen are avian humanoids, with many features resembling an owl. Their arms have a bone structure more resembling to wings than regular human arms, and they are covered in feathers. At the end of their arms, owlmen have clawed hands, which are dented enough so that they do not damage the books while reading. Owlmen are around the same size as a human being, but much lighter, due to reduced musculature and hollow bones. Owlmen vision is one of the best in the world, and it never degrades over time. However, they cannot move their eyes individually, and they have to turn their heads if they want to look elsewhere, something they can do easily as their neck can turn 180º.

It is not known whether the owlmen could fly at a certain point or not. Owlmen legends tell the tale of how the gods saw the works of the sentient creatures, and wanted to preserve and protect them for all eternity. The gods then took a group of owls and infused them with sentience, putting them in the furthest and most remote place in the world to compile and protect all the written works in the world. Owlmen take this devotion for books to heart, with many owlmen regularly travelling the land in search for books not yet added to the Library of Xandrilex. Owlmen spend all their lives organizing and categorizing every piece of written text they have ever found. They also dedicate a great deal of time to make copies of each book to keep them from being lost from the ravages of time. This was particularly important after the Great Biblion Fire in 2.561 ABE, which saw a good portion of their archives lost. After the disaster, owlmen have organized a much more comprehensive copying system, using to the fullest extent the printing press, carving deeper and deeper into the land for space for new books.

Owlmen have very long lifespans, and are believed to live around 200 years old. The more powerful and wise of the owlmen, the members of the Owl Council, can live up to 700 years, as their wisdom and work allows them to expand their lifespans as much as possible to continue with their work. Owlmen can only lay three or four eggs throughout their entire lives, and the younglings are cared for in a communal way. They are taught all spoken and written languages the owlmen have discovered, and they are sent to organize many of the tasks needed in the library, from cleaning to checking on the good condition of the books. After they become adults, owlmen can choose between working in the library and travelling the world in search for new books, with most owlmen preferring to stay in Xandrilex.

## Owl Council

The Elder Council of Biblion. The Owlmen, or Minerves as they call themselves, are one of the wisest species on the continent, exceeding even the Librarians in their knowledge and intelligence, which is why the librarians made the last specimensof their almost extinct species their rulers. The council consists of seven members and is housed in a narrow and crooked tower that juts above the clouds and has a ridiculously long spiral staircase. They decide on all important political issues in the country and, according to the majority of the population, have never made any major mistakes. A Minerve can live up to seven hundred years and is said to be able to remember every word spoken, heard or read.

## Bookimists

Alchemists who combine traditional alchemy with everything to do with printing, books and literature in general. Some of their weird creations so far include homunculi made of ink, candles that read from books, book wine, living and sometimes dangerous books, all sorts of mimics (ladder mimics, book mimics or chair mimics for example originally planned as a security mechanism to keep unauthorized people out of antiquarian bookshops and the large library) inklings and ink elementals, book golems (both friendly and hostile), flying candles that light the way and help you to read, scriptlings, books that literally suck you into their story, polished reading glasses that sharpen your vision, flying books, letters and number mysticism that is completely incomprehensible to outsiders, countless secret languages, almost unbreakable book seals, paper elementals, luminous jellyfish, invisible ink, eternal candle wax the black man or homun-colossus who led to the first fire in Biblion and much more. Although there were many useful achievements among their inventions, not a few have also caused considerable damage. Their houses are typically half-timbered with creatively designed stone facades. Most of them are listed monuments. In the Great Fire six hundred years ago many of the houses were blackened.

### Crandles

Living candles that will read you from a book of your choice for a while if you politely ask them to. However, each candle has its own elitist and highly individual taste and will not read books it considers trash. Also their voice get's lower the more they burn down.

### Flandel

Flying candles that follow people to illuminate their path and help them read.

### Animated Armor

Bookimistic inventions that guard the halls and corridors of the great library of Xandrilex.

### Scriptlings

Animated creatures out of paper. Can be from beastiaries, characters from old tales, sometimes the books form entire rooms and buildings of paper in the halls. Basically manifestations of ideas that normally be encapsulated in a book but the barrier between fiction and reality got blurred. Unfriendly scriptlings can give you some pretty nasty paper-cuts.

### Swarms of flying books

They behave similiar to birds. Can get very aggressive when they hear loud noises in the biblioplex.

### Qualmoirs

    Windowless buildings with large chimneys on the roof through which the smoke can escape. Despite the chimneys, the rooms are completely filled with smoke. Since there are no bans on the substances to be smoked in Buchhaim, all kinds of smoke and intoxicants mix in the smoky air. The mere presence there can easily lead to unpredictable intoxication. Some visit the Qualmoire specifically for this reason, for others the effect is anything from surprising to frightening.