TheNexusProject/AzureGlassBooks

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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-story 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 separate 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 library, one must pay a small sum every year and fill out a surprisingly long form with name, address, 5 references, contacts in case of unavailability, 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 existence of the glass library and are allowed to visit it. This privilege 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 training 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 officially 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 official 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 apparently 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 references, 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 librarians 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 description. 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

Was Yomiko written 読み子? I don't remember. (Now must look and see...) In any case, Yomiko is rarely written with any reference to reading in the actual Kanji. The fact that it could be written that way would probably be the actual joke (on the part of the original creators) in this case. But they might have written like that. ^_^
I love the references. Good burying of most. I'd missed the UU initial bit. Also, "...at least one L-space reference..." is right. ^_^
Information, Okensha, on the money system here is just as Everyl indicated, in the book Manacle and Coin, and does utilize the Yen as one level of denominated currency originating in the Realm. It also indicates that Realm currency is widely used, or at least imitated, throughout the peripheral territories, especially the Realm client states on the inner periphery. The Guild has its own currency, which serves as a de facto currency for Nexus, but as BrilliantRain pointed out, it's not an official currency (something the Council would be more than a little reluctant to even consider), and so a very open currency market is present in Nexus, with merchants very likely to accept all sorts of currencies, including the Yen. In fact, it is entirely likely that rather than deal with some sort of bastardized fractional system of Guild silver-standard currency, a merchant dealing in services (in this case) with a relatively low cost would be very likely to use the relatively low-valued Yen as their "standard" price unit. Currency trading is relatively easy, and exchange rates are incredibly easy to evaluate and research. Thus someone who has coins from some backwoods principality in the Hundred Kingdoms would easily be able to pay her library fines in those coins, and even get reasonably accurate change back.
I was wondering if you'd noticed that after a full month of 28 days, the fine would be 134,217,728 yen (I cant convert as my copy of M&C is several miles away at the moment...)? Huge amount.
Anyway, I'm enjoying! Keep it up! -Suzume

I have a friend who knows Japanese and we found a place that had Yomiko's name in kanji (the Japanese ROD site, look for the bit about the OAV), and that was what he told me that the name meant. I do know that translating her name like that, which was assuredly a joke by the original creators, makes about as much sense as assuming someone named smith makes metal objects, but I was looking for a standard 'adjective noun' type exalted name and that one worked, so I used it. Glad you like the Pratchettness. And no, I hadn't carried out the full calculation on that. I just figured that if Icefire Jasmine owed a Mina (I carried it out that far), it was going to be a very large number. Thanks for figuring it out! To reciprocate, I'll figure out just how many talents that is, as my copy of M&C is only a few feet away. Now assuming that I calculated this properly, it should be 128 Jade Talents. This assumes a standard 1:1 exchange of scrip and Jade. Using the current 3:1 ratio of the realm, that should be a bit over 42 Jade talents. This kind of money is usually only seen when someone is buying several artifacts, large castles, or similarly expensive purchases. Anyway, I'm glad you like and I will continue. Thanks!
--BrilliantRain