[Location] The Librum of Ahnatep

[Colombina]

The Librum of Ahnatep “Nothing worthwhile comes with ease.” Is the unspoken motto of the Librum of Ano Cultists in Ahnatep. As a scion of Gnora, an Ano Cultist must learn to maintain balance and clarity of thought despite fear, passion or pain. The Librum is a training ground structured to make cultists overcome their emotions by forcing them to repeatedly face them. As a result, newer students tend to have a perpetually ragged and haunted look. The Librum is comprised of six towers of various colors built on towering rocks off a coast south of Ahnatep’s docks and estuaries. It is formally headed by one of the veiled Counterweights of the Cult, called Lady Evenshore. However, the teaching faculty tends to run the daily matters. Students range in age from pre-adolescents to adults seeking to better themselves. Reaching the towers from land is an ordeal, as one risks being smashed upon the rocks, and once one reaches the rocky arch, they must find a hidden entry before the tide rises to cover it. Beyond the hidden entry is one of many perilous staircases. These narrow staircases spiral through every tower. They have no posts, closed risers or rails, requiring absolute balance from those who dare to tread on them. This first tiring staircase takes one to the inhospitable surface of the rock. Footing on the rock is precarious and brackish winds often bat students about. But to reach various classes, this must be braved daily. Living quarters are in the Gray Tower. The first floor is the kitchen, the second the dining hall, the third the men’s dormitories and baths, the fourth floor is the chapel to Gnora, and the fifth the women’s dormitories and baths. Quarters are rooms of six with recessed and curtained beds and a single common area. On random evenings, a few unlucky students are riled from their beds and sent to sea on narrow rafts tied to the rocks. These rafts are crudely made, merely the trunks of a few palms lashed together. The students' instructions are to learn to sleep peacefully on the slim and damp contraptions, and of course, not drown. All water in the Librum comes from a single well in the base of the green tower. The well is Makutsi blessed, transmuting saltwater into fresh, but its location is the source of much cursing. Students work in rotations filling the cisterns of the Gray tower, which are located on the uppermost level. In the last two eras, the faculty happily relates, only three students have perished in this exercise. Weights, cultist hopefuls, are exposed to basic, pre-determined courses, and are strictly prohibited from the Black Tower. An initiated Pon who has gone through the Purjin trials may choose his studies. Each tower offers a different area of learning: White Tower: The Mind – mathematics, history, and the written word Blue Tower: The Body – healing, health, physical ability Gold Tower: The Heart – rhetoric, persuasion, manipulation, perception Green Tower: The World – geography, astronomy, plants and living creatures Black Tower: The Undoing of all these things, Location of Purjin Trials Combined with rigorous study, the atmosphere of a Librum produces men and women of considerable fortitude and self-control. A qualified Ano Cultist is a fierce thing to behold.

[Colombina]

The Green Tower The Green Tower is given to the study of the natural world. Its governing Measures are, Noctua, an Ethefael of Leth, and Wesden, a human twice marked by Bala. It is also staffed by a Pon, Gannet, a Kelvic Albatross. Students who forgo astronomy assume the tower is governed by humans, as they rarely see Noctua out of mortal seeming. Noctua specializes in geography and astronomy. Those who know his age find it intimidating, but are put at ease by his good nature. Despite being an Ano cultist, he still has an especial devotion to Leth. He teaches by peppering students with questions towards a final point or telling stories from his many travels. Noctua tends to be more patient than other instructors and is not uneasy in silence. As an Ethefael, he tends to be less talkative and prefers students to learn through discovery instead of lecture. In astronomy, the students ask most the questions. How Wesden ever got to be a Measure is beyond most the students. He startles easily and has an expansive paranoia. His fears manifest in a fastidious attachment to habits. His lectures, though interesting, can never be interrupted. Asking an unprompted question is met with either a shriek or flat stare. At that point, the lesson has effectively ended. Some guess he chose plants as his study because they don't talk and rarely move. The source of his unnatural fear is widely debated, some say he was a mage who overgave, others guess he was a poisoncrafter and knows too much to be left alive. Gannet is an experiment of sorts by the Librum Faculty, encouraged by his bondmate, Noctua. As a Kelvic, Gannet’s instincts do not match that of his students. At twenty, he is old by Kelvic standards. Experience has given him a better idea of how humans think, so his bouts of foreign thinking are brief. However, his Kelvic nature and past studies made him a quick authority on the animal world. His method of teaching encourages interaction and curiosity. Tower Levels The base of the tower is an airy atrium with arches cut from the wall to let in light. Species are kept divided according to preferred climate and then according to aesthetic, so while the garden may appear artless it has a stringent order. In the center of the atrium is the fabled fountain with its miraculous, yet highly useful properties. A carving of Makutsi stands gracefully in its center. Classes regarding plants are conducted around the well. The next level is a classroom for the study of animals. Its walls are hung with drawings both fantastic and accurate, and hosts the occasional fresh skeleton procured by the instructor. On the third floor is the classroom for geography. There is only one chair and a lectern in the whole room. Instead, students wander the wooden floor with lenses, studying or adding to the immensely detailed map of Mizahar painted on the floor. Like other towers, the offices and abodes of the instructors are on the fourth level. Unlike the rest of the scholastic towers, the final level is open to the students. In the evening, this roof-top patio is used for astronomy classes. Students take turns at the rare seeing lens as they listen to an Ethaefal lecture on the nature of the heavens. NPCS : Noctua A male Ethaefal nearing one hundred, Noctua usually looks like a Benshira with wavy black hair to his shoulders and green eyes. Not especially tall, he has a triangular shaped build and narrow hands. His deep set eyes are soothing and his smile is crooked. There is something enormously calming about his clear voice. In temperament he is patient, friendly and prone to dry humor. Skills: Astronomy: 80 (master) Land Navigation : 78 (master) Drawing: 52 (expert) Wesden About Skills: Gannet About Skills: