So I posted this on SCP and they kicked me here, since it involved the Library XD

Re: So I posted this on SCP and they kicked me here, since it involved the Library XD

Sun, 20 Apr 2014 06:29:08 +0000

If you ever need someone to pitch ideas at or to help you brainstorm, I'm in chat a lot and am happy to help. This is a great idea.

Re: So I posted this on SCP and they kicked me here, since it involved the Library XD

Sat, 19 Apr 2014 19:12:32 +0000

Holy crap, I forgot about all this with school and everything in my life going on. Thank our glorious overlord Rumetzen for reminding me.

Yes, this is still happening, and I would absolutely love to see any potential collaborative help or brainstorming or anything like that. Look me up in the chat or #site19, the SCPF chat where I'm around more often. (My chatnick is "Vince" or "Vince|Mobile", pending what device I'm using.)

No, I haven't done any work on it in a long while. My life has been hectic, and I've been struggling with other ideas elsewhere and schoolwork. Summer is just around the corner, though.

Trar: if you want to help write it/come up with the setting details/write with similar ideas, feel free to contact me and we can work together to get this ball rolling. SypherKhode, same to you. Look me up in chat.

Re: So I posted this on SCP and they kicked me here, since it involved the Library XD

Sun, 06 Apr 2014 20:56:08 +0000

Is anything going to happen with this idea?
I had idly thought of it as well, but not anything like this scale.

Re: So I posted this on SCP and they kicked me here, since it involved the Library XD

Thu, 07 Nov 2013 15:45:01 +0000

I still like this idea. I'd write about it with the author's blessing, but I'd wait for him to decide what to do with it first.

Re: So I posted this on SCP and they kicked me here, since it involved the Library XD

Mon, 14 Oct 2013 16:20:39 +0000

Hey sciborg, just wanted to let you know that this thread is from June, if you are still interested in the concept I would recommend talking to the author in chat, this discussion was left a while ago.

Re: So I posted this on SCP and they kicked me here, since it involved the Library XD

Sun, 13 Oct 2013 06:40:27 +0000

Maybe the economy could be based around reputation? Here's an article on the idea:

Can Reputation Be Currency

Re: So I posted this on SCP and they kicked me here, since it involved the Library XD

Wed, 26 Jun 2013 23:37:41 +0000

I'm thinking for something like that, the government structure would have to be either completely anarchistic (i.e. no structure or regulations other than general rules about not killing each other or causing damage) or a dictatorial (dictatorships are not always bad) government with tight controls over individual's behavior. If you went with a dictatorship, the person in charge would, by necessity, have to be immortal to ensure that the power structure remains. Just my two centavos.

Re: So I posted this on SCP and they kicked me here, since it involved the Library XD

Tue, 25 Jun 2013 15:34:48 +0000

The idea of government got me thinking so I asked around the chat. Here's the log, hope it helps.

words or something

16:17 FlameShirt I was reading Vincent_Redgrave's thing on the forum about communities in the Library, and it got me thinking. Could the Library have a patron-based government? Like, would the Library and its servants allow it?
16:18 Bunton Um.
16:18 Silber Government?
16:18 Bunton If someone wanted to organise that, Flame.
16:19 Bunton But the question is, would patrons go for that?
16:19 Bunton Would they go along with this person's setup?4
16:19 Bananaman I don't think there would be any one government
16:19 Silber They couldn't have any real authority over the Library.
16:19 Bananaman I like to think the library has one main area, then twisting spiraling corridors leading into endless libraryspace
16:20 FlameShirt No, not authority of the Library, but over other patrons.
16:20 Silber One, you can't really try to take over such a topologically impossible space
16:20 Silber Two, it wouldn't be enforceable
16:20 FlameShirt Also, yes, there's a huge space so any authority would be limited geographically.
16:20 Silber Because how would you enforce laws in the library as a patron?
16:21 FlameShirt That's what I was thinking. You'd need to use the threat of force.
16:21 FlameShirt Which the Library probably wouldn't be a fan of.
16:21 Silber And isn't violence forbidden in the Library?
16:23 *** vezaz joined #WanderersLibrary
16:23 Bunton Most people don't live in the Library.
16:23 Bunton They visit.
16:23 vezaz hi all
16:23 Bunton They probably wouldn't care much for a political system.
16:23 Bunton Hey Vez.
16:24 FlameShirt Yeah, but I imagine there would be permanent settlements, which would probably require some kind of governance to keep working.
16:24 Silber There would probably be bivouacs and hostels
16:24 FlameShirt I'm just tryna think how that would work without the threat of violence.
16:24 Bunton Mm.
16:24 Bunton Those might have some governmental structure.
16:24 Bunton Social consuquence.
16:25 Bunton Exile. Removal of a currency
16:25 Bunton Keep in mind that the people under the system are as powerless to commit violent acts as the enforcers.
16:25 Bunton They couldn't retaliate or revolt directly.
16:25 Bunton It would have to be an entirely social structure.
16:26 Silber Homes for people who are too deep in study to leave, or, after establishment, just for people who can access the Library and have no home.
16:26 Bunton I wrote a character who did that once.
16:26 Silber Maybe there are staff at the Library who started working just because they had nowhere else to go and nothing else to do
16:29 FlameShirt There probably would be, Silber. Hmm, social exclusion probably would be the thing, since violent crimes couldn't be committed (at least more than once) so people's safety wouldn't be too overt an issue as to require swift responses.
16:30 Silber Yeah, social exclusion. You can't make people help you.

Re: So I posted this on SCP and they kicked me here, since it involved the Library XD

Sat, 22 Jun 2013 17:49:31 +0000

I think, if the focus is the plot and not the setting, this might be best approached as a "make it up as you go along" thing. As far as I know, plenty of settings have been best fleshed out by being developed as is necessary to facilitate the story; I myself have written at least one. Of course, there is an added difficulty in avoiding making it contrived, but I wouldn't imagine that to be a major hurdle.

Re: So I posted this on SCP and they kicked me here, since it involved the Library XD

Fri, 21 Jun 2013 23:08:10 +0000

Urgh. Maybe I should just go for a bare-bones thing and not worry too much about the actual structure of the Reading Room?

Re: So I posted this on SCP and they kicked me here, since it involved the Library XD

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 20:29:29 +0000

Of course, then there's the question of what constitutions "their own." Are communities based upon shared religion, culture, book preference, shoe size, place of residence, dimensional preference, or something else entirely? And who decides? If I want to start my own community with my own ambassadors and such, what are the steps that I have to go through for registration (or is recognition based on consensus?).

I would imagine it being quite confusing, with some people spending so much time attempting to figure out who belongs with what community, who represents whom, etc. that they entirely forget to read the books. Things would be unlikely to break into outright violence due to the firm-yet-supple hands of the docents and other representatives of the Library.

Re: So I posted this on SCP and they kicked me here, since it involved the Library XD

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 19:52:20 +0000

So would it be better if I kept it compartmentalized, where each kept to and looked after their own, with ambassadors between the different races/worlds/whatever?

Re: So I posted this on SCP and they kicked me here, since it involved the Library XD

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 12:49:13 +0000

Well… this is how I'm seeing this in my mind:

It seems like such a city would have a chaotic governmental structure, due to difficulty in communication between various species and cultural inconsistencies. I would imagine there to be lots of people trying to get themselves put in power, from would-be-kings and emperors, to military leaders trying to invade, to people organising elections in a sort of do-good, cheery manner, to religious leaders trying to turn it into a sovereign state.

City structure would probably be an equal mish-mash, with different sections being organised differently based on the predominant local population, culture and technology level, ranging from flying sky-flats to underground retirement homes, to great big, living, migratory slums.

As for the scale, I'm happy to be a sounding board. I know you brought this up on chat while my attention was elsewhere, but if you pop back on, I'd be excited to help.

So I posted this on SCP and they kicked me here, since it involved the Library XD

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 02:12:23 +0000

So, I've been puttering about with an idea for a miniseries based on an idea that came to me with my most recently created tale over on the Foundation site, Ignition. The idea is that within the Wanderer's Library is a simple place. It's the home of several thousand people and creatures from worlds and cultures unknown to man… It's a city with a full economy, government, and its own set of laws, guidelines, and leaders, with people of all cultures and times coming together to learn and teach and live and protect each other. It can only be accessed through a Way that is only accessible from within the Library itself.

It's the Reading Room.

Now, in most libraries, the reading area is a smallish area off to one corner of the building, with little to set it apart…

In a place like the Wanderer's Library, with people coming in from various worlds, various times, various realities, the Reading Room would have to be proportionately massive and inclusive. The people would be of all shapes and sizes, the city would be a mishmash of everything from cavern hovels to little log cabins to state-of-the-art skyscrapers. There are artists, craftsmen, restaurants, apartments, hotels, plumbers, police, firemen, the whole shebang.

Unfortunately, there are a couple issues I'm having:

Coming up with a governmental and city structure that makes sense
Just… the scale of the whole thing is kind of intimidating…

I want to get all this sorted out before I even begin trying to make a plot or characters to fit in to the setting. I've got the barest ideas of a "democracy between us, with the Library above all" form of government, and for the city itself I was thinking it would be very similar to the Troll Market in Hellboy: The Golden Army, but much, much larger in scale.

Anyone interested in helping me make sense of it all?