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Azure Glass Books

by BrilliantRain

"I owe how much?! It's only two weeks overdue!"
- Icefire Jasmine

"Library Rules 1. Silence 2. Books must be returned by no later than the last date shown 3. Do not (remainder illegible) "
- Sign above the doors to the library.

There are two public libraries in Nexus, the Kshaha Library and the Ghallve Library. There are many private libraries, like Unfettered Umbrella's Book Depository. There are even printers and book stores. However none of them are quite like Azure Glass Books, located on Interwoven Avenue where it passes through Cinnabar.

For one thing, it isn't just a library. It's also a temple, a bookstore, and the owner is even thinking about adding a cafe. It's also known for its odd architecture, as the inside of the two-storey building is a honeycomb of rooms both big and small, several of which are in odd or seemingly impossible places.

The store's three areas all meet at the entrance room, a largish room that contains the only entrance to the building. There are two other doors in the main entrance room, the larger of which takes one to the library, and a large spiral staircase up to the second floor where the bookstore is. The smaller door leads to a room that is large but quiet and comfortable. It is the main temple room of the building, a shrine to the God of Books and Primates (not every god starts out with the same job he ends up with, just ask Ahlat), although the entire building is dedicated to him.

The bookstore is kept almost entirely seperate from the library, as the owner, head priestess, and senior manager, Read Child, does not want to accidentally sell a library book. While she keeps the entire contents of the store and library in her capacious memory, she doesn't expect her clerks and salesmen to be capable of this impressive feat, thus her rule that all books must be payed for or checked out before one leaves either the library or the bookstore and no outside books may be taken into either place. All employees know just how seriously Read Child takes books, especially mistakenly sold ones, so this rule is heavily enforced. People might be more annoyed at this, except that Read Child does not sell any books unless she already has at least one copy in the library, thus casual browsers may read in the library to their hearts' content.

To check out books from the libary, one must pay a small sum every year and fill out a suprisingly long form with name, address, 5 references, contacts in case of unavailibility, etc. Fines are assessed one day after the due date at the rate of one yen doubled every day, cumulative (i.e. 1 yen on the first day, 2 yen on the second, 4 yen on the third, etc.). This fee schedule is displayed on the wall by the checkout desk. The few times that a book has been over a month late, Read Child locks herself in the shrine room. No-one knows what she does in there, but it is presumed that she prays to her god. What is known is that the book is always returned the next day. It is quite obvious to any trained observer that, although Azure Glass Books is doing quite well, Read Child cares more about books than she does about money.

Rumours

• "I don't care what ya say, I tells ya I've seen a skylight in that library! On the first bloody floor! With green light comin' out, no less!"

• "No human could keep that many book titles in her mind. Read Child is related to that god, I'm just sure of it!"

Secret

• The basement of the Azure Glass is where the God of Books and Primates keeps a glass library... obtained... from Orabilis. It is the combined presence of this glass library, the temple, the energies from Interwoven Avenue, and the books themselves that give the store its strange architecture. Occasionally, favored customers are told of the existance of the glass library and are allowed to visit it. This privilage is only given to those who, in Read Child's opinion, care about books as much, or more, than she does.

• Read Child is not an exalt, god-blood, or any other supernatural creature. However, she does have some thaumaturgical traning and, as the custodian of the glass library, a certain amount of pull with her god.

Comments

W00t! First official entry after the hiatus is offically over!
--BrilliantRain

Okay, I have a question. I think my awareness of real life is messing with me here. Is yen the currency used in Nexus? What is its value? Because I'm just looking at that and thinking: "Do they even make 1 yen coins? I thought the lowest denomination was 10 yen. How could you, therefore, make change for someone who brought in a book a day late and gave you a 10 yen coin to pay the fee? Debit them 9 yen against future late fees?" I am of course messed up by Japanese currency. Can someone explain to me, or point me to an explanation? -Okensha

Japan makes one yen coins. Trust me, my wallet is full of 'em. They're about the size (and value) of an American penny, but made out of a much lighter metal... perhaps an aluminum alloy of some sort? They also make 5 yen coins. I have no idea what currency Nexus uses, though... I don't have Manacle & Coin. -Everyl

Nexus has no known offical currency. The Guild issues one as does the Realm. The Yen is the smallest Realm coin. I would have used guild currency for this entry but the guild apperently doesn't make coins of denominations that small. Plus, I figure that Nexus merchants probably accept every type of currency and coin out there (including the Hersheban half-dong and the leaden quarter-iotum of Zchloty, neither of which exist in the exalted setting.) --BrilliantRain

As no-one has commented on my subtle Discworld refferences, I'm forced to assume that I was too subtle, as it is either that or assume that I was too obvious and thus unfunny. Anyway, for those who care, the library rules are the rules of the libarians of time and space (more or less) taken from "Guards! Guards!", Unfettered Umbrella's Book Depository has the same initials as Unseen University, the bits about the architecture contain at least one L-space reference, and the God of Books and Primates is a reference to the Librarian of Unseen University. The fact that the god's name isn't listed is a reference to the Librarian also only being known by his job descrtption. Other references include one to the practice of modern bookstores selling food and other things and the name of the owner is, more or less, a literal translation of Yomiko, the first name of the heroine from Read of Die. That should be everything. Well, all of the intentional things anyway...
--BrilliantRain