The Hidden Library
The Hidden Library
Location This secret four story underground structure lies deep within the granite bedrock beneath central Quebec city - the arched ceiling of the top floor lies 100 feet beneath the lowest of the city's sewers, as detected by seismic imagery. It was constructed seamlessly, the stone gouged out and removed by a powerful earth elemental, who is excluded from its wards.
- The new facility was constructed in 2023: A previous version, cleaned bare, and stripped of its mystic wards lies beneath Sofia, Bulgaria. Parts of that chamber have been filled with concrete and rebar, but the job was never completed.
Layout: To best bear the weight of the stone above, the chamber is a hollow paraboloid - a parabolic arch rotated about its central axis. The main chamber contains four increasingly wide stories. The upper floor is 10 feet in diameter beneath a domed ceiling. Each subsequent floor is wider: The lowest full floor, the fourth, is 30 feet in diameter, with a 20 foot ceiling. Five foot thick layers of stone separate each floor. Beneath the fourth floor, three individual chambers similar in structure plunge a further 20 feet into the bedrock. There is room for a fourth, and possibly a fifth in the center: When Marius Ignatius rejoins the coterie, a chamber will be constructed for him.
Though custom is newly established here, the coterie has imported the tradition from the Second City that no one may enter another's chambers without permission.
In the main library, the top floor contains the coterie's most dangerous lore: the Necromantic tomes of Ugo Rossalini. It has been determined that the now dead psychopath cursed his most prized possessions with enchantments that would over-write the memories and corrupt the souls of those who pilfered his darkest secrets. This part of the library has begun to gather dust as the coterie tries to find ways around his snares. The second and third floors contain most of the working material that the coterie uses. This was primarily gleaned from Ugo's less dangerous material (that which he never bothered to individually protect), and the Tremere library of Zlatko Paisi, with gaps filled in from public sources and printouts, and scattered lore brought in by individual members. The second floor is entirely dedicated to books. The shelves here are laid out radially from a 5' radius round central area. This central area contains comfortable tables, chairs, and battery operated reading lights. These could be easily cleared if the coterie decided to use the space to cast rituals. Though it also holds books, much of the third floor is dedicated to artifacts and lore that isn't necessarily bound between covers. The layout is more chaotic here, as shelves give way to cabinets and scaffolding around free-standing artifacts. The bottom floor is filled with uncatalogued artifacts and materials, a meeting area, and a small shrine to the memory of Benesj Cherno, as he once was.
Defenses: In the mundane sense, secrecy is the Library's main asset. There is no existing physical entrance or exit, and the library has been built to avoid natural caverns, sewers, or any other source of intrusion. The air in the library consists of pure nitrogen. There is no oxygen or carbon dioxide, so animal and plant life both falter and die within it. In addition to providing security, this helps to preserve the valuable tomes within. Unfortunately, it also means that rituals involving flame, and most active research cannot be conducted within the library.
The main library is protected by circular wards vs ghouls, vampires, werewolves, changelings, spirits, wraiths, demons and scrying (all enhanced with Abjurant Fire to make the damage aggravated, and Vires Acquirit Eundo to extend their duration. Jeremy Sanderson tends to the wards in the main chamber during the first weeks of June, well before the Summer Solstice. The walls, floors and ceilings are being covered in an increasingly dense patchwork of wards to further discourage invasion.
Each coterie member is responsible for the upkeep and defenses of his or her own chambers.
