It lands on your table with a wet thud, startling you and almost making you tip over your chair. Your first instinct is to look around, eyes wild and heart racing, trying to pinpoint the source of the projectile amidst the bustle of the Main Hall – a futile endeavor, since no one seems to be paying you any mind. No ill intent, then. After all, had they targeted you, wouldn’t they have stuck around to see if they hit? Perhaps someone dropped it by accident, you think while turning your eyes to the Rafters, where very few patrons – but not zero – spend their days braving the heights. But what exactly is it?
Carefully, you reach for the thing, your fingers sensing moist paper before your eyes gaze upon the ripped cover – barely a strip hanging precariously from a single staple – and the title of what was once a pamphlet of sorts. Field Guide to the Shelves, Volume Two.
It takes you a moment to snap out of your puzzlement. Everyone knows that the publication of the second part of one of the Library’s most read texts was put on hold indefinitely following an unfortunate incident with a Bibliovore. This has to be a prank, you tell yourself, but as you flip through the soiled, crumpled pages, it dawns on you that this is much too elaborate to be someone’s idea of humor. No, this is legit, or at least that seems to be the intent of its author. And even if there is no Volume Two, is it not true that the Library holds every book ever written, and even some that never were?
There is only one way to find out. Taking one last look around just to make sure there are no hidden cameras or beholder orbs, you flip back to the first page and start reading.
FOREWORD
Greetings, fellow Wanderers! It has been some time since the first volume of our Field Guide to the Shelves became one of the most essential resources for anyone who wishes to safely explore the Wanderers’ Library. Now, after many cycles spent researching the wild reaches of bibliothecarial infinity, we have compiled a second volume full of strange and marvelous creatures – some of them recorded here for the very first time ever! In these pages you will find everything you need to know to identify, interact with or avoid the many species of flora and fauna that call the Library home.
As with Volume One, we encourage our readers to annotate this guide with their own personal anecdotes and experiences with the entities we have documented. This is, after all, a resource by Wanderers for Wanderers. Thanks for reading, and happy exploring!
ANIMALS OF THE SHELVES
Gaping Trotter
Open wide and say AAAAAAAA!
Species or individual: Species that can be found in the Library.
Size: Short and stout like a barrel of ale. I thought we had agreed on using books as a measurement unit. I don’t recall such an agreement. Besides, I think this gets the image across quite clearly. Not for me. I can’t measure things with alcohol. Not all of us are Duke Gathers.
Identification: A rotund quadruped, it moves in short bursts of trotting using its hooved front legs and a pair of longer hind legs ending in clawed digits. Its massive maw is almost perpetually open, leading to a continuous trail of drool forming in its wake. Truly a face only its progenitor could love.
Regional Shelf Variants: None.
Habitat: The region outside the Library Marketplace. They do not venture beyond Shelf 8N
Behavior: Gaping trotters move in packs of three to five individuals. They are extreme omnivores who subsist on any biomass they can bite into – including smaller members of their own species. Although they might seem terrifying, there are no reports of them ever harming a Patron; in fact, they are easily frightened away by simply being yelled at and will retreat even when numerically superior. This, however, is not an invitation to let your guard down around them.
Warning: If you decide to camp out near their territory, do not do it alone and make sure to set up a guard rotation. They will try to get a bite out of you while you sleep.
Spantle Binfus and Chalp Flighnty
Still more entertaining than your local electoral debate.
Species or individual: Individual(s).
Size: Binfus is about the size of a page, and thrice as wide. Flighnty is thin and slightly taller, but only when they have their second jaw open. They are always yammering, so it is ALWAYS open.
Habitat: Both remain immobile on the sandy shore of the Sea of Words (also known as the Wanderers’ Depths).
Behavior: Spantle Binfus, a gastropod-like creature, and their counterpart – the vaguely reptilian Chalp Flighnty – have been a feature of the Sea of Words ever since the region was discovered. These two creatures of unknown provenance are engaged in an endless debate whose subject matter is a mystery, for even they seem to have forgotten. How can anyone debate forever about something they don’t even remember? Skill issue. Neither one of them seems to require any rest or sustenance, thus allowing them to persist uninterrupted.
Warning: Do not seek them out expecting to learn anything meaningful or even make some small talk. Only thrice have they addressed anyone else than each other, and all they said was to be quiet until they finish their discussion.
Cyber-Mimic
Wheezes like my old laptop.
Species or individual: Species that can be found in the Library.
Size: It varies. They can be as small as a book or as large as the cabinets used to house a supercomputer’s processor cores. Am I supposed to know what this means? Now we’re just making up reasons to disagree. We all know what a computer looks like.
Identification: While at rest, it blends into its surroundings by covering itself with any mechanical components it can find, including screens, cables, keyboards and even discarded cybernetic augments. When attacking, it reveals its soft, viscous core and its toothy maw.
Regional Shelf Variants: Unknown. It has been theorized that they could be a subspecies of book mimic, but no conclusive evidence has been discovered thus far.
Habitat: Found sparsely throughout the Computer Library.
Behavior: Just like their book counterparts, cyber-mimics are ambush predators that disguise themselves and wait for prey to come to them. Although they will consume organic matter if pushed to the limit, they prefer to target victims whose physiology incorporates copper, steel, titanium or silicon. Why they don’t simply feed on the sprawling metal structures of the Computer Library is unknown.
Warning: Even carrying a metal key or locket is enough to get them curious about you. Be careful when you go check your email.
Horrid Hand
No matter what happens, DO NOT pull its finger.
Species or individual: Species that can be found in the Library.
Size: About the span of two severed arms fused together at the elbows. I am not going to ask how you know that measure.
Identification: Looks like a bunch of hands fused together. The one with the longest fingers is used for locomotion, while two others form a kind of “mouth” with a cluster of eyes nested on the inside of its “armpit.” I hate every single word of that sentence. That makes two of us.
Regional Shelf Variants: The amount of hands and fingers on each individual vary wildly.
Habitat: The Rafters.
Behavior: Highly aggressive pack animals, the horrid hands weave intricate nests across the support beams and pillars that uphold the impossibly high ceiling of the Library. They prey on lantern koi and any other creature unfortunate enough to cross their path. Their digits are very strong and dexterous, allowing them to climb virtually any surface with little effort and even manipulate rudimentary tools. Most surprisingly, some horrid hands are born with innate magical abilities, able to produce simple but deadly offensive spells – usually to roast their victims into cooked meals. I dread the possibility that these creatures might be starting to show the first instances of sapience. Serpent help us if they decide to expand beyond the Rafters.
Warning: Should you ever go wallwalking, be sure to stray clear of any known nests, especially during mating season.
Accretor
A round boi.
Species or individual: Species that can be found in the Library.
Size: Varies, but most mature individuals are rather large due to the amount of materials they have absorbed and integrated into themselves.
Identification: A levitating orb covered in debris, with a varying number of eyes and flaming exhausts spread throughout its mass.
Regional Shelf Variants: None.
Habitat: The Boiler Room.
Behavior: A species of elemental native to the Library, accretors are best described as miniature stars who use their gravitational field to surround themselves with debris, forming a protective crust around their fiery core. It’s for our protection, mind you. Have you ever been to the surface of a sun? I have, and I wouldn’t do it again. Recently, Library staff have learned to employ these creatures as a cleanup crew, allowing them to roam free in the Boiler Room and other lower levels; accretors are always looking for new components for their armor, and most refuse that falls from the Library’s upper levels is promptly incorporated.
Warning: Although they are docile, getting too close to them might end up with you becoming part of their armor, agonizing until you die of thirst, hunger, infection due to them literally being covered in garbage, or incinerated by the fire they expel through their exhausts (if you’re lucky). Ah, that explains the time I saw one with a dead body embedded in its shell. Not gonna lie, it looked really metal.
Bismuth Strider
What I wouldn't give to see this one in a kaiju fight.
Species or individual: Species.
Size: Enormous. Adult individuals resemble moving hills.
Identification: Multicolored mineral creatures with three eyes that constantly radiate arcane flame.
Regional Shelf Variants: Their coloring is very diverse and often changes depending on the creature’s mood and most recent meal. Further study is necessary to determine if any subspecies exist.
Habitat: Found on the igneous plains of the Hall of Flames.
Behavior: Solitary creatures, the titanic bismuth striders subsist entirely on minerals, which they excavate with their powerful claws and break down into nutrients within their furnace-like stomach. How? Magic, I guess. I come from a world where there are stars in the ocean but not in the sky. There are questions I no longer ask. They are virtually invulnerable and thus possess no natural predators, reacting to Wanderers with indifference. Even attempting to climb on them will elicit no response from the strider; they will simply go on foraging for food, not even scratching at those impudent climbers who they could otherwise consider a pest.
Warning: The fire that emanates from their eyes is very dangerous, since it not only burns but causes additional negative mystical effects such as involuntary astral projection, spontaneous transmutation and the sudden urge to eat dirt. Wait, I thought they had no natural predators. Why do they have magic fire in their eyes, then? Because that is definitely the kind of stuff you want to ward off things that want to eat you.
Polymonster
The more you look at it, the worse it gets.
Species or individual: Unknown. Due to its nature, it is not yet possible to determine whether a single specimen exists, or if it is a native Library creature.
Size: Varies owing to the polymorphic nature of the creature.
Identification: A chimeric entity, the polymonster is always several animals at once, never fully one or the other, and it is continuously growing and shifting new body parts and appendages.
Regional Shelf Variants: Unknown.
Habitat: The Last Bastion of Reason.
Behavior: The polymonster is completely unpredictable. It seems to change its behavior depending on the animals it is currently channeling: the more predatory characteristics it gains, the more likely it is to attack, while a form composed mostly of body parts associated with prey animals will lead to a more subdued demeanor. Since these features are always changing, it can go from one behavior to another in the blink of an eye. Its repertoire also does not seem to be limited to the animals of any single reality. There are universes where the most harmless looking creatures are the most vicious killers, so I think it’s best not to approach it at all.
Warning: It has been only seen at the Last Bastion of Reason, so if you do encounter it, there are few chances that anyone else is around to help you survive it.
PLANTS OF THE SHELVES
Ruinplant
The green revolution is here!
Species or individual: Species that can be found in the Library.
Size: The larger specimens can be taller than the Shelves.
Identification: A cluster of plants intertwined with debris, capable of locomotion.
Regional Shelf Variants: Many. List pending.
Habitat: Populous throughout the Library, but especially common in areas with abundant water.
Behavior: A superorganism, ruinplants are not a single species but a conglomeration of different semi-sapient plants, with each individual unit performing a specialized role for the whole, akin to organs in a body. Some have attained full sapience owing to an increase in the biomass of the plants serving as their “brain”, and there are ongoing efforts by Library staff to communicate with these specimens. As with several other creatures in this Volume, they fashion armor out of debris, although in the case of ruinplants this also provides structural support to allow better mobility. Alright, I’m starting to sense a pattern here: fire elementals, rock elementals, now plant elementals… I think we need to look deeper into this.
Warning: Some ruinplants are made up entirely of carnivorous species, making them dangerous to those who are not fast enough to outrun them. Imagine that: devoured by a tree. Must be in the top three most humiliating deaths in the multiverse.
Funguy
Just a REALLY fun guy!
Species or individual: Individual, but it insists that it will soon become a fully-fledged species once its spores mature. I can’t believe we’re seriously calling it “Funguy.” Hey, it’s a fungus, it’s a guy… it simply rolls off the tongue.
Size: About the size of a baseline adult human. Sorry, I couldn’t help myself.
Identification: An anthropomorphic shell filled with fungal growth. Chatty and amenable.
Habitat: It has taken up residence in the Natural Atria.
Behavior: Funguy is, by its own account, the result of alien mold growing on several books on necromancy (which were promptly quarantined and purged of all invasive organisms by staff) and gaining sapience. As a consequence, it gained the ability to understand verbal and written language, eventually growing its own shell as a means of joining the Wandering community and to prevent itself from contaminating any books or scrolls.
Warning: It’s a fungus, so if you’re paying it a visit, take it easy with the fungicide after going to the gym.
Tuber Mystic
Dream blunt rotation.
Species or individual: Individual.
Size: Approximately the size of the chair Archivist Ayman uses at the Front Desk. I’m not sure we can even categorize her as a plant. I mean, she is more of a weird… growth than a vegetable. We listed Funguy with the plants, despite it being a fungus. I think we can be lax with it. Still can’t believe we’re calling it “Funguy.”
Identification: A rubbery and rugged entity rooted to the ground, the majority of its body mass arranged into a face-like visage.
Regional Shelf Variants: None.
Habitat: Rooted right outside the Housing and Common Areas.
Behavior: Tuber Mystic is pleasant, polite and extremely knowledgeable in all things related to botany, horticulture and herbalism. She simply appeared one day in her current location, and claims not to remember anything before despite her immense wealth of plant-based knowledge. Anything you wish to ask her – from the lore of the Two Trees in the Garden to the best vegan recipes – she has the answer to… so long as it is plant-related.
Warning: How long can you talk about plants without getting bored? Well, think again, because that is all she’s interested in discussing. She recommended the best weed I’ve ever had, so it’s totally worth it.