Editing Great Library of Amber

==The Great Library==

The Great Library of Amber is like many of the other spaces in the Castle that Change from time to time, and has a disconcerting amount of space in defiance of a practical examination.

The main entrance is on the interior of the Crown Square of [[Castle Amber]](Location 19). The three stories of the great curved windows look south.  

[[Jeweled Amber]]

==='''Arch hall Stacks''' Third Floor. South Facing.  ===
[[File:Arch Hall Stacks.jpg|300 px]]

The Arch Hall contains grimores on philosophy, and topical collections of many natures.   Reading areas are between each Arch.  Topics tend to be grouped together rather then specific to an individual shadow.

==='''East Fireplace Nook and the Astrolabe Globe''' Second and Third Floor. East Facing. ===
[[File:East Fireplace.jpg|300 px]]

The great Astrolabe Globe is an artifact of Oberon's discovery. It allows the viewer to look into shadow and view many different versions of of a single person or creature.  It does not display the location of these people and will not stay one a person for more then a few hours though many things about the person is given to the viewer. The Astrolabe is a tool of great complexity and takes a great deal of practice to use,  A querent poses the version of a person they know, then the Globe seeks variations from across shadow.  What the globe shows can not be controlled further.  The Globe is addictive and Oberon considered it more dangerous then useful.  Fiona is said to have gotten addicted to it in her youth and it took great efforts to ween her from it.  To this day Fiona will not enter the East Nook.  

The Nook below the Globe is a deeply recessed area with a great always burning fire place.  It has several large padded chairs, and a few sofas.  It has many paintings that tend toward obscure topics. The shelves in this area contain obscure texts on macabre poetry, the works of Poe, Tribis, Alaonkic, and Bierce. It also contains autograph books.  

Much to the annoyance of the Chief Librarian, Prince Arloxedra has relocated many of the ever-full decanter sets and a Barrel of Dame Margot's Kitchen wine here and often sleeps in the nook.  A deep shelf has been cleared, and stocked with a mattress pad and pillows for the ex-crown prince to sleep in.

==='''Arloxedra's Niche''' ''(Unofficial-To the great annoyance of the Chief Librarian that the room has its own distinction)''===
[[File:Arloxedras niche.jpg|300 px]]

One of many small Alcoves, this one is unofficially Arloxedra's main niche.  It has a large deep padded sofa he keeps blankets and pillows on. There are a couple couches and a couple comfortable padded chairs. The niche holds map books, travelogues, and world books.  There is a large table that is usually strewn with maps.  There is a cluttered appearance to the area but the library gnomes keep things clean.  The Crown Prince is a clean and tidy man but can be forgetful if he is binging on some book.

==='''Fauna Stacks Room and Taxidermy Displays''' ===
[[File:Fauna Stacks.jpg|300 px]]

This section includes thousands of books dedicated to animal life.  There are also hundreds of stuffed animals. Taxidermy is a hobby of Eric, Gerard, Julian, and Deirdre. As well as generations of Rangers and hunters.  Many of their works end up here, or spread around the library.  One wall has a Elephant head next to the stuffed  head of a tyrannosaurs. A standing bear is in a corner.  Prince Gerard once convinced young Prince Random that the bear sometimes comes alive.

==='''Heraldic Reading Room'''===
[[File:Heraldic Reading Room.jpg|300 px]] 

This room has many tables and calligraphy and illumination stations.  The stacks are filled with heraldic records books going back to the creation of the kingdom of Amber and beyond.  It has the complete Heraldic record of Amber royal and noble houses, and the same of the realms of Diaga, Thelusia, Rebma, and other Golden Circle kingdoms.  A small sub-niche contains many slim cases containing charters, award scrolls, original Patents of Arms,and other historically important documents.




==='''North Copy Room'''===
[[File:North Copy Room.jpg|300 px]] 

This room is just off the Heraldic Reading Room.  It is set up to allow scribes and calligraphers to copy other works by hand.  It has tools and paints and tables.  The books in here are mostly a collection of topics for artists and those doing heraldic work and production of official documents.

==='''Travel Guide Stacks'''===
[[File:Travel Guide Stacks.jpg|300 px]]

See Prince Bley's commentary on Travel Guides in the article called Diners of Amber.

==='''West Hall Stacks'''===
[[File:West Tall Stacks.jpg|300 px]]

==='''Green Chair Nook. ===
A small construct in a big construct in a bigger construct.  It has one large padded green chair and several other smaller, but still comfortable green padded chairs. The nook is known for being one of the places no amount of sorting and tending can make look orderly. Its somehow a function of the library, a construct in itself separate from the construct of the castle, that this place represents all cluttered disorganized libraries across shadow. '''
==='''Main Lending Station'''===
[[File:Lending Station.jpg|300 px]]

==='''South Reading Stacks-Law Library'''  ===
[[File:South Reading Stacks.jpg|300 px]]

Law books and official documents from Shadows.

==='''Restricted Sorcery Stacks'''===
[[File:Restricted Sorcery Stacks.jpg|200 px]]

==='''Arcade'''===
[[File:Arcade.jpg|300 px]]

Another room that was added over the objection of the Chief Librarian.  This was a gift from Prince Alexi Zhenya and arrived along with the Regorian Room.

==='''Regor Reading Room'''  ===
[[File:Regor Room.jpg|300 px]]

Donated by the Empire of Regor.  This room contains vast numbers of books from and about Regor.  The center is a table with an everful [[Zakuska]] table[[http://www.dlc.fi/~marianna/gourmet/zakuska.htm]].

==='''Dueling Dojo'''===
[[File:Dueling-library.jpg|300 px]]

The Dueling Dojo was added to the library in 5221 over the strenuous objections of the Chief Librarian.  There are three entrances.  One is from the Library, from the hallway near Library, and from the public restrooms on the Library floor.  When King Random asked Prince Alroxedra why he was adding a fighting pit to the library he said, "Family is coming and it might be a good idea to have someplace they can try to kill each other or else they will be doing it everywhere.  Besides, there will be books."  Since then it is a popular space and has been enlarged several times.  Fencing, tia Chi, calisthenics, wrestling, and a variety of activities have made this a second workout space within the castle.  Much to the furious objections to the Chief Librarian.

==='''Azcalan Chamber'''===
[[File:Azcalan Chamber.jpg|300 px]]

The Azcalan Chamber contains books and items of Azcalan origin.  Lord Donovan discovered, and with help from Prince Arolxedra and members of the Dufirosm, recovered the great library of Xototl from the ruins of Zunala.  The collection contains over a million books. It contains thousands of artifacts, calendars, and other art objects.  It contains a telescopes that views locations in Azcala.


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==Secondary Libraries in Castle Amber==
The Great Library of Amber is a construct all its own.  But it is not the only library in the castle.  Nearly every floor has a reading room of some kind, and some have several.  Some were purposefully created and others developed over time because of their location and the usage.  
===1===
[[File:Seclib1.jpg|250 px]]

===2===
[[File:Seclib2.jpg|250 px]] Eric's Lounge

===3===
[[File:Seclib3.jpg|250 px]]
===Florimel's Nook===
[[File:Seclib4.jpg|250 px]]

This tiny nook has one bench seat, a small round table and two small chairs.  A member of the Sea View Gardens staff makes sure a few nibbles and a pitcher of iced lemon water are always on a shelf for visitors.  The library predominantly has cooking books on one side and sports books on the other.  Among the sports books are histories of the Olympics and various planetary-wide athletic events, many of which have entries for Florimel and Elayne are noted in.

===5===
===6===
===7===

[[File:Arlo At Play.jpg|300 px]]
'''Arloxedra Reading.   '''

[[File:Ciprian Vitalijus doing research.jpg|300 px]]
'''Ciprian Vitalijus doing research. Portrait by Dart of Hale'''



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