Less common Staff

Less common Staff

Wesbot 27 Nov 2020 20:39

There have been mentions of types of staff beyond the usual Docents, Pages, and Archivists in some stories, such as the Boilermen, and I am planning on adding a kind of psuedo-staff myself in the form of the Nurses, but I am interested if anyone else has ideas for other types, or examples of ones that have been mentioned before.

Re: Less common Staff

Psychotobe 27 Nov 2020 20:47

One that comes to my mind is cleaner staff. Exactly what it sounds like. Staff that's task is to ensure the library is tidy and that nothing unclean gets on the books or shelves. Course intentionally causes messes gets their ire very very quickly

Re: Less common Staff

Seraphannim 27 Nov 2020 21:28

Personally I really like the idea of other Wanderers helping newcomers by showing them around and even being kind enough to give them some food, water and a space where they can be in while they get used to this new place, specially to ones that came from dire and hostile enviroments. Volunteers overall that just want to be kind and show newbies the ropes in case there isn't any Librarian around or just are too shy or confused to ask first.

Another one that comes to mind about these Volunteer thing would be something akin to teachers. Maybe some experienced blue types that don't mind sharing their knowedge with begginers or people wanting to learn magic, or perhaps someone with a degree of history and a knack of explaining that would like to show students what they know, specially ones from other dimensions and realities where Ancient Rome wasn't even a thing.

Malice is here with his headcanons again

MaliceAforethought 28 Nov 2020 16:10

The only ones I've ever written about here are the lost docents of the Memocide, blind and feral, wandering the empty shelves with broken lanterns. Not exactly 'staff' in their own right, but still kinda interesting, I guess?

In any case, I have a lot of staff I just haven't put to paper yet. I started writing a compilation of staff a while back, but never got far enough to post it — I've put some of the unwritten ideas below.

+ Deploy tactical headcanon

• Scribes — Horrifyingly dedicated humanoids, pressing keys and bleeding ink. Copy out volume after volume of Library books, keeping the books plentiful and the shelves well-stocked. Some handwrite, some type, but all of them are highly averse to interruption.

• Scriveners — Strange half-avian cousins of Scribes, responsible for keeping track of the goings-on of the Library. Just as dedicated, but significantly rarer and doubly secretive — they make their nests from piles of notes and records, and are loath to give them up unless the Library itself desires it.

• Nodebearers — Not one I came up with, but very interesting. Minions of the Augur of Signals, little creatures which scurry around transmitting signals and laying cables. Frequently augmented by hideous quantities of communication technology. Don't bother them unless you want the Augur itself to take it up with you personally.

• The Augur of Signals — Also not mine, but still one of my favourites. A radio elemental by the name of Nizos, which entered the Library some millennia ago and single-handedly constructed its communication network. Physically, they're a mess of receivers and transmitters, so entrenched in electromagnetism that they boil the air around them and require evacuation of any shelves they happen to pass. A creature with a singularly alien mind.

• The Waxworker — My favourite, and a good good boy. A mysterious armoured golem called Wendle. Single-handedly responsible for keeping the Library's candles burning, though how he manages to caretake an infinite space in finite time is anyone's guess

And also, a little poem about Wendle which I wrote a while back. I love him very much.

+ Show poem

in metal plates and sealing wax
swift rolling, strolling through the stacks
melting softly trail-tracks
the dark wood-valleys shine

he visits each and every one
each furrowed tallow podium
and how does Wendle get it done?
he simply takes his time

Last edited on 28 Nov 2020 16:10 by MaliceAforethought Show more