Bibliothecae Vigilis, the Guardians of the Library

First of all, sorry for the redundancy in the title, for those of you who are Latin-savvy.

This was originally just a minor plot element from my project, but this idea bunny bred rampantly and I figured this deserves a thread of its own.

In my verse, there’s a library called The Library, that contains all the published books and scriptures throughout history, including really archaic ones like the original script of The Epic Of Gilgamesh. It was created from a study of an extremely powerful magician*

who resides in a completely differently plane of existence that is shared by no other beings, when he placed a sentient book/magical internet database that absorbs information in one of the shelves. The magician suddenly disappeared (because he forgot how to return to the place) and soon the book assimilated itself with the study, becoming a mini-library that feeds on publications from all universes. Using all the materials and traces of magical energy in the study, the Library started to create and store at least one copy of ever book or scripture ever written to be read by someone other than the authors themselves, excluding letters. Each book (for the sake of convenience, I'm going to have the term include scriptures as well) stored gave it more magical power and it continued to collect books and grow to make a room and shelves for them.

However, while discriminate collecting and storing the books and scriptures gave the Library a massive power, the content became a little bit of a mess, due to influence of its owner's habit of good organization (which for some reason still didn't help his return to the place), it wanted someone to organize its content. So it started to send invitations to big time book lovers, especially ones who have published books of their own, across the universe in form of hidden messages in books they read. Those who catch the messages follow the direction, which teleports them inside the Library.

The Book telepathically welcome those who enter at the entrance and gives them a basic explanation of what the Library is and what it can offer. Then it asks them if they are going to help organizing and protecting the content with all their lives, and allows only those who say yes to enter. The first group of people who enter the place, mostly composed of devoted scholars, began to come together in a single group that soon turned into a cult that worships the Library and is devoted to satisfy its desire. The group soon turned into an international order that advocates publication of books and literacy across the world and condemns every action that prevents ones from reading. Around fifteen century, the cult started to call itself ''Ordo Bibliothecae Vigilis", the Latin words for "The Order of Guardians of the Library," with Johannes Gutenberg as its first Headmaster.

By the time my story begins, anyone who reads more than one book every month or has published a semi-decent*

book can receive an invitation from BV and they accept it, they are brought to the Study, the room for ritual. In front of the members of BV, the current Headmaster clarifies some of the conditions of becoming a member, which include...

• A book report every month
• For those who haven't published a book, one publication before death.
• Sincerest respect of books in general (if you purposedly damage a book in front of BV, you are dead.)

If they accept the term, they are required to swear the pledge in front of The Book. After the pledge, they are given The Book of Fellowship, a regular sized hardcover book which acts as a mark of fellowship and key to the Library. From then on, a Biblio Vigil can enter the Library by putting The Book of Fellowship into a BV-issued bookshelf, which instantly teleports him/her to it. If they want to exit, all they need to do is return to the entrace and pull their BOM out of the shelf.

To be honest, I just wanted to create a badass army of librarians and it all snowballed into this. If only I were good at history, I would have started an entire Alternate History novel focusing on BV's involvement throughout history, like stopping the destruction of the Library of Alexandria.

Would you like to join this group?

edited 11th Sep '11 6:56:57 AM by dRoy

I'm a (socialist) professional writer serializing a WWII alternate history webnovel.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO KNOW MORE

> one book report every month

Awwww dang.

Swordsman Troper — Reclaiming The Blade — Watch

...

I so totally would. It is most wonderful.

Shinigan (Naruto fanfic)

Fantastic idea! I nominate Jorge Luis Borges.

One question. What happens if the Library gets "infected" by a metabook such as the Necronomicon or The King in Yellow?

Under World. It rocks!

^ Now that is awesome.

Swordsman Troper — Reclaiming The Blade — Watch

Sorry, no idea what either of those do.

I'm a (socialist) professional writer serializing a WWII alternate history webnovel.

I'm not well-versed on The King in Yellow, but the Necronomicon has powers that are mostly undefined. It's well-known to slowly induce madness, leading up to the release of horrific, unfathomable beings, though.

Swordsman Troper — Reclaiming The Blade — Watch

Ah, in that case, those kind of books are sealed in a secured section of the Library and if they cause trouble, well, that's what BV exists for.

I'm a (socialist) professional writer serializing a WWII alternate history webnovel.

It would be awesome if there were memetic hazards with strict quarantine rules, as a nod to SCP or Snow Crash.

Shinigan (Naruto fanfic)

^^ That's a really cool scenario. The BV get ahold of the Necronomicon without understanding is relevance or power. Strange things start happening, and almost too late, the Vigil Knights get involved. They barely manage to contain the threat and seal off the book, but the Library itself is scarred forever.

edited 11th Sep '11 10:43:30 AM by MadassAlex

Swordsman Troper — Reclaiming The Blade — Watch

I'd also like to mention that most BV members are required, or at least recommened to be, fully capable of physical combat and some of them, back during older times, wereBlossfechten practioners ( yes, you said it was a swordsmanship that focuses on efficiency, right?).

I'm a (socialist) professional writer serializing a WWII alternate history webnovel.

Yes, the German fightmasters were very specific about efficiency. The most efficient? Arguably, although that's not at all a certainty.

Although it might be limiting to go with just one sword style. I'd presume that, with access to all that knowledge, each Vigil Knight would be learned in one or more of many styles of swordsmanship. Blossfechten would be prominent amongst those who preferred the European longsword, but I could also envision some preferring styles from different times or cultures. You've also got other regional takes on Blossfechten, such as the Italian, English and Spanish styles. The French probably had their own variant, too, and the manuals also found their way into Scandinavian hands.

The German longsword style is the pizza base of European longsword as a whole. Although it does have specific properties that the Germans seemed to prefer, such as a particular penchant for false-edge strikes, and more emphasis on choosing strikes that also interrupt your adversary's angle of attack.

Swordsman Troper — Reclaiming The Blade — Watch

You might also look into Sicilian-style cut-and-thrust, which uses a rapier rather than a big longsword. As a general thing, effective more in one-on-one fighting than the longswords, but less useful for an army.

Shinigan (Naruto fanfic)

Depends. Rapiers generally face an uphill battle against longswords, since longswords are two handed but not twice the weight. So rapiers don't actually have a speed advantage, nor a reach one, and your adversary will be striking with more power and a heavier weapon while actually tiring more slowly.

Some people, however, just "click" better with certain styles and certain swords. And I'll always put my money on the more skilled swordsman, irrespective of their martial art or weapon. All those things being equal, however, the longsword has an edge in duels and warfare.

edited 11th Sep '11 11:10:02 AM by MadassAlex

Swordsman Troper — Reclaiming The Blade — Watch

Hmm. I'm basing it on the Baroque Cycle, where (of course) Upnor, the 'greatest swordsman in England', was able to defeat relatively-good Bob with a smallsword, but it's also considered generally among the swordsman soldiers that the rapier- or smallsword-armed noblemen can usually defeat them one-on-one. A longsword also has other disadvantages viz. speed, specifically that it's, well, longer, and force is still being applied only at the hilt (except for certain very strange moves). I'm not sure if the moment of inertia about the hilt of a long two-handed sword is more than twice that of a rapier, but I wouldn't be surprised.

Shinigan (Naruto fanfic)

Longsword hilts generally have room for more than two hands, entirely in order to have more fulcrum room to produce force and speed with. Their additional versatility also means there are techniques that are effective which rapier-wielders just won't be able or think to employ.

Longswords are fairly unique. Most swords are entirely relegated to side-arm duty, and while longswords certainly were sidearms for some, they're one of the few sword types to also be employed as a primary weapon in war. They were so effective in this role that German peasants, after one day's training, were expected to kill three enemy soldiers in battle. This is extremely impressive, especially given that even a mighty knight is going to cap out at about a dozen kills. At best.

Swordsman Troper — Reclaiming The Blade — Watch

Sign me up. NOW.

*cough*

Anyway... if we assume that Borges was a Vigilant Librarian here, is it safe to assume that the Book of Sand was quarantined...?

I'll hide your name inside a word and paint your eyes with false perception.

That's a pretty cool idea. I always have a soft spot for massive libraries. Who wouldn't want to join?

Bite my shiny metal ass.

Didn't Borghes write a short about a library that had everything in it?

The problem was, finding anything useful was impossible. People were looking for a "trail" of books that would lead them to one with something truly important, and getting lost forever.

Look, you can't make me speak in a logical, coherent, intelligent bananna.

"The Library of Babel" is the tale, but the titular place is more like a kind of vast Random Number Generator due to it literally containing every possible thing that could be written.

Which is why I mention his story "The Book of Sand", which actually takes place in "reality." The book is basically the Library of Babel as a book, but kind of more so. Which is why putting it in the database outside of hard quarantine would be, well, really bad.

I'll hide your name inside a word and paint your eyes with false perception.

I have no idea who this Borges person is, to be honest. :/ Since he's associated with massive libraries so much, I might look into his works and make nods to them, liking mentioning him in the list of the Headmasters.

Oh, and which historical figures do you guys think would make good Headmaster of this organization?

edited 11th Sep '11 7:19:56 PM by dRoy

I'm a (socialist) professional writer serializing a WWII alternate history webnovel.

He's a pretty sweet...postmodern author, I guess? I read a book of his short stories and enjoyed it immensely. Lots of weird stuff. Jorge Luis Borges

edited 11th Sep '11 7:42:27 PM by deathjavu

Look, you can't make me speak in a logical, coherent, intelligent bananna.

There's a story by someone who wasn't Lovecraft (could be John Brunner's "Concerning the Forthcoming Inexpensive Paperback Translation of the Necronomicon"). Someone finds a copy of the book and puts it in a drawer with another book. The second book turns into another copy of the Necronomicon.

That's one example. Typically people who read these Lovecraftian tomes go insane because of the eldritch knowledge they contain.

The Borges story about the "book of sand" is a trope reverser. Once you read the words, they turn to sand. The whole point of books, though, is to preserve information, not destroy it. Most of his stories are like that, like the man who rewrote Don Quixote word for word.

edited 12th Sep '11 7:37:37 AM by RalphCrown

Under World. It rocks!

The story you're referring to is by Gene Wolfe, though the title escapes me.

I'm wondering if we're talking about two different Borges stories here, though I may be forgetting some element of the tale...

I'll hide your name inside a word and paint your eyes with false perception.

Still don't know much about Borges. :/

You know, would it be odd for a such massive organization to not to have any significant influence on the plot? The main character, some of his friends (who are also important), his parents and their friends (who forms an alliance of their owns), his mentors, his enemies are all in the BV. It just feels odd, but I really can't think of any way that the organization can have influence on the plot. Maybe I'm not that creative. :/

I'm a (socialist) professional writer serializing a WWII alternate history webnovel.