Of course, people damage books when they check them out. I don't see how you can get around this using other mediums, though, unless you introduce something as handwavey as "the books are magic." Even stone tablets, if sized so one could check them out, would break if dropped. That actually did happen to the Rosetta Stone (well, it probably didn't break due to being dropped, but the inscription is only part of the original stele). I'll also point out that over the years people have put flora and fauna inside the Library as well as entire populations and an ocean, and while those things are rough on books they're rough on stone columns too. Lichens and mosses obscure inscriptions by growing on them and weather the rock beneath.

I really think "yeah it's just magic don't think about it too hard" works best. If you truly need an explanation the shelves are all enchanted to slowly repair books placed within. Occasionally books still have to be replaced, but it's not often and that gives you a reason to have anyone trying to get the Library's favor try to acquire rarer books for them.

This all being said, since really early in the site history the Library has had other mediums of information storage; TroyL mentions skeletons reciting oral tradition in Groups of Intrigue and that was published in 2012. But books understandably dominate, since they're convenient, iconic, and cheaper than other mediums.

As far as books for people who can't see, Braille books exist.

Our topic for today is….. drumroll please………..

Now don't get me wrong. Books are great! I read many books^{[citation needed]}! I just think… we can do better than (bound, printed, western-style) books for something as grand, mystical, and eternal as the ol' Wanderers' Library. Obligatory I am speaking about my personal headcanon - feel free to imagine the library however you like

Why do I say such heretical words? Because books don't last. Not well, at least. We live in the beautiful age of the printing press where a ruined book can be easily replaced by going to the local Barnes n' Noble. But while the bound page is excellent for densely storing lots of information at once, it has a tendency to, well, wither to dust and blow away given enough time.

True story: my grandma has a copy of a (nearly lost media) autobiography from 1922. It's an incredible work of art, with great narrative style and hand-drawn illustrations…. that is almost completely inaccessible because it disintegrates at the slightest touch. I broke the spine by bumping it one time. If I were to go to a restorationist now, the only hope of salvaging it's pages would probably be to dissect it, scan every withered spread and then view it on my computer's photo app.

Now, there's an incredible amount of variation in each incarnation of the Wanderers' Library. It may be malevolent, it may be sapient, it may be infinite or fractal or what-have-you, but an overwhelming majority of presentations make the 'books,' well, books. Exactly the way we happen to make them. A big part of this is probably the familiarity and coziness of a local bookstore, of course. But I dare say it runs into some hypothetical flaws when we expand the scope to an entire, multiversal Library filled entirely with them.

If the Library is older than half a century, many of their tomes would be too frail to touch without gloves. Older than a few centuries, most would be unrecognizable and/or dust piles. Then take into account that these are meant to be checked out and read by a variety of people. What happens when someone dog-ears a page and the corner rips off? Or spills their juice? Paper can be so fragile that I've torn pages out by accident simply by flipping them too hard.

Imagine the logistical nightmare replacing old books would be. How many Pages would it take to comb through every shelf for books that are bent or spoilt? Would they have to print a new copy every time? That'd take a lot of industrial machinery and ink jams. It'd be like printing out every page of the latest revision of Wikipedia, if you get that reference— the WL would be stuck in an endless cycle of wheeling out new books and replacing unreadable ones to the point that little else would happen.

Of course, all of this could be solved by inexplicable magic. Maybe the books are super-duper immortal, indestructible things that never age or yellow or get weird sticky gunk between the pages. Putting aside that that'd negate plotlines like the Searing or Bookworms, there are other critiques to be had of universal books-as-default beyond logistics. What about cultures that don't traditionally have pagebound novels, for example? Many people have debated how books being held as the superior form of information capture can be a kind of cultural imperialism when dealing with groups that perhaps didn't write, or encoded knowledge in other mediums.

And as my final point:: I just think the Library would be even weirder (in a cool way) and cooler (in a weird way) if it didn't conform to our expectations of how a modern library looks and behaves.

So. Like. If not books, how else would the Library work?

Here's where my brain starts shutting down from sleep deprivation! But I think there are a crazy amount of possibilities for dense information storage that are both A. more indestructible than paper and/or B. cool as hell. I encourage y'all to come up with our own, ofc! or don't! you can do whatever you want forever :D

1. MASSIVE ENGRAVED STONE COLUMNS. There's a reason the Rosetta Stone aged well while contemporary papyrus fared worse. Stone is notorious for lasting an extremely long time through the elements. I can envision a dense, glyphic script (perhaps akin to Braille) that is carved into the sides of titanic stone pillars. Many books can coexist on a single column, given enough height and a good ladder, and and it'd also be more accessible to the denizens of the multiverse who don't see the way able-bodied humans do. Maybe the columns hold up something big and important too!!!
2. SCANNED ONTO ROLLS OF FILM. The original source material is left in it's home universe, but every page is meticulously transferred onto a durable film. I actually read somewhere that a particular type of film is the strongest for long-term information storage, but I can't find that factoid anymore. Instead of storing physical books, each shelf is actually a drawer of neatly packaged film cartridges that are loaded into a projector and flipped through, page-by-page.
3. WEIRDER SHIT. Maybe each word is laser engraved into quartz crystals that must be held at a certain angle to project the words into their shadow. Maybe each book is a foamy layer in a multilayered liquid that must be coaxed to the surface. Maybe it's just a cloud-based Super-Wikipedia (but that's kinda boring). There's a lotta possibilities once you factor in magic and alternate physics into the mix!!!

I'm about to conk out now, so my parting words shall be….

Please critique this whole mess of a Ted Talk! If you know a way to make books immortal tell me!! or just say "this makes no sense lmao" that's good too!! I am very tired and sleepy now ok goodnite

The name "Avenlee" means someone with a creative bend of mind.

He's an artist, author and a brilliant scientist.
He has a really tragic backstory though.

You'll find out about it soon….

In case someone that doesn't know what an AA (Author Avatar) is and stumbles upon this, your AA is pretty much the main protagonist/narrator you use for your stories, or it can also be a normal OC you just want to put in the Wanderers' universe!

Thanks for clarifying. My first AA, Margova Isulde, is inspired a lot by the story of Drizzt Do'Urden in the Forgotten Realms world in DnD. I write it as a projection of my mentality and what I think it might be if I went down a different path. Margova is a dark elf who has grown tired of the killing after he crosses his one moral line, leading him to question everything. He decides to leave and go to the surface. What he will find is anyone's guess. That's about all I have for his story, but what I do know is that he becomes immortal and eventually marries a goddess. That's how it'll eventually end.

Onyx Winter is another possible AA. He is my Traveller, my wanderer of the planes. He is a bipedal feline, like a Tabaxi (in my world, the males are called Felinor, and the females, Felina) He wakes up on a surgical table in a dark room, confused. He remembers nothing at all of his life. What he doesn't know is that he's a literal walking corpse. It's not blood in his veins, but liquid amethyst, and his organs are prosthetic as well. He has to figure out who he is, and find out who's voice is speaking in his head, cause it sure isn't his.

Yeah, that's it for me!


With regards,
draco99

Loonarys Eklyps, or Loona, is my OC in an AU I call "Funkin' Densetsu", which is basically FNF x Sailor Moon. My SM OC Kyokan, fuses with Garcello's ghost to become Loona, and they can fuse/separate at will. Gar is a Sailor Senshi in this AU, called Sailor Orpheus. Kyokan is Sailor Echo.

One of the pieces I enjoyed (I enjoyed all of them) was The Bear With Human Eyes. The SCP-like oddity, the taunt narration, the communication between people. It was a very good piece I suggest everyone read!

• Towers was an interesting glimpse into a very unique setting. The story got me hooked straight away and the imagery was particularly vivid. I hope to see this continued further.
• Taxidermy is amazing. Love it so much. Takes the best part of bestiary style stories and intersperses it with really solid characterisation, blending the two styles really well. The POV character is really fun, and I can't wait to see more in this setting.
• Speakers really hit me from the start. The opening stanzas are such a gut punch. You know straight away what you're in for, and it is goooood.

Amazing contest idea! I had a real blast writing as well as reading other's entries, and hope we get to do this one again in the future.

Overall, the debate club contest was super fun: I can't wait for the next one.

One of my favorite pieces was Anatomy of a Swingset. I can't quite call it underrated, as it got a pretty good reception, but I still think it deserved more votes than it got.

I'm a fan of quick writing, flash fiction, and anything that has great word economy. In just a few hundred words, Running Late manages to create a really cozy slice of life, while still fitting (somewhat debatably) into the rare theme. Really well done, and I was a little surprised this wasn't one of the more popular entries.

Continuing from last time's thread, we're doing biweekly (lol) discussions on the Library, her stories, authors, artists, and everything in between!

This week, out prompt is:

What was your favorite entry to the Debate Club Contest? Pieces that were underread or underrated? Any thoughts about the contest overrall?

Discuss! And remember: if you have an idea for a discussion prompt, submit it here and it may be used in future threads!

(I got sunburned earlier this week)


With regards,
draco99

(On a little more serious note, ouch, that hurts. However I think for all intents and purposes it's all in good fun, after all, so I won't press further, haha.)