Athenaeum of Knowledge

It was in the third age that the Hall of Kinship at Port Breigh was reopened, several thousand years after the catastrophic betrayal at Talatol. The Hall was originally created in an alliance between men, elves, dwarves, and Trents, but the Hall was reopened and excavated in a new union between men and the Arbor Druids.

They delved deep and found many hidden treasures. Much of it spoke to the ancestral heritage of the known races, but it also revealed hints of races that none in living memory had ever heard of, such as the halflings.

Great forges were also unearthed, where precious metals would have been melted down and fashioned into weapons and armor of old. Stockpiles of resources and materials were found stacked to the ceilings down old tunnels behind the first chamber. It was clear this Hall had been designed to withstand great assault in the event that the scales tipped too heavily in favor of the pigmen armies.

Further in, they found scrolls and tomes of ancient history, rumors of mystical objects of power, maps, and charts of unknown lands, and more. Much of it was written in strange runes that even the greatest linguists were unable to decipher.

And so began the construction of a great new chamber outside the fortifications of Port Breigh. For the men and Arbor Druids of the overworld would need someplace to examine all the treasures they would discover within the Hall of Kinship, in hope of learning what secrets they might reveal.

This new chamber would christen the Athenaeum of Knowledge, a vast library and museum of artifacts, a repository of so many things that had been long since forgotten. Historians, archaeologists and other scholars from around the kingdoms swarmed Port Breigh with a thirst for learning that would not be quenched. For this was not just a mission for power or glory. Rather, it was a mission to reclaim an understanding of days long past, to reawaken the memory of origin.

Despite the new construction of the soon-to-be-library outside the main walls of Port Breigh, visible from the towers of the Port Breigh castle, some aspects of the city remained relatively unchanged in the face of the nether war. Commerce and trade is after all still a thing that must occur in order to support such a large population within the city boundaries.

Granted, the large harbor was the dominant source of their imported goods, however, there were still some distant civilizations that were connected only by road. Therefore, the builders of the library took great care to ensure the existing pathway leading from the city in that direction was still passable for traveling merchants and caravans.

They achieved this endeavor by constructing a tunnel through the base of their library's giant foundation. It was made from stone and brick so that travelers could safely visit Port Breigh without having their path diverted all the way around. This was especially important as the library ran right up against the nearby hills and river gorge located on either side.

These sorts of unanticipated tasks would, of course, mean more workers would be required. Therefore they built a training facility deep under the ground where townspeople could learn the basics of construction without distraction before being sent back to the surface to join in the grand developments.

In addition to construction, so many amateur archeologists and librarians showed up that the masters of the craft decided to devote some of their time each day to impart their knowledge on those reporting to them. These historians in training joined the apprentice craftsmen and pretty soon Port Breigh had an impromptu school of learning, giving true meaning to the name Athenaeum of Knowledge, where masters of any craft could teach others the art of their ways.

The Realm of Vasten boasts of many grand treasures of mankind. From the magnificent towers and cathedrals down to even the simplest of farming villages, there was no shortage of places to travel to and tour. For wealth and power are not the only wonders to behold -- the gentle lives of everyday people across the kingdoms may indeed be the greatest treasure of all.

Even so, like masters of all crafts, the architects of the realm never miss an opportunity to construct something truly awe-inspiring. So when the Athenaeum of Knowledge was started, architectural geniuses from all over met and pooled all their knowledge into drawing up the plans for what they hoped might be the next great treasure. Perhaps, if they were fortunate, something that might stand in good company with wonders such as the Church of the End.

And so the plans were laid out. The library would have a central spire that reached for the heavens, surrounded on four sides by sister spires, connected across the stars of the night sky by many bridges, and encompassing the powerful relics being unearthed each day inside the Hall of Kinship.

The central spire would be a large chamber with a grand dome high in the ceiling, with many rooms above that stored the newly discovered artifacts waiting to be researched and examined. The resource requirements to build such a library would be unlike any other library in existence within the realm.

So they hired many loggers and masons to make a ready supply of resources that would be enough to keep them well in stock as the library was constructed. Forests were thinned, quarries mined deep, and so much sand was smelted down into glass that furnaces illuminated the city of Port Breigh for weeks. It would take a long time to build this library, but they held in their hearts the promise of their heritage, locked inside the Hall of Kinship's deep treasure trove of relics.

**Type**

Library

**Parent Location**

Port Breigh

**Owner**

Tre Donao

**Owning Organization**

House Donao

**Characters in Location**

* The Man with No Name