Curator's Note: The following hard recordings are static images of a dynamic thematic field, any perception of which will be entirely determined by the beholder's background and culture. These recordings, taken with much difficulty already, are sadly confined to my own ingrained culture superficially resembling (and often passing for) "Western Human." Perhaps the recordings themselves carry dynamic perceptive properties, but I will of course be unable to test this on myself. Documentations on the validity of this hypothesis would be appreciated from any who pause to listen.
The Main Hall
Everyone knows the Main Hall. Little more can be said about it that has not been described in countless works and speeches and songs.
I believe if one listens to this music while entering the Hall, they will find it the perfect "theme song."
"Welcome, Wanderer"
The Natural Atria
Away from the hustle and bustle of The Stacks exist places of peace.
Quiet places, rooms and fields of greenery and bluery and reddery. Collections of flora and fauna reflective of their worlds of origin. Entire micro ecosystems, some of which contain the last of some kinds of life anywhere.
The thematic energy in these places is hard to describe, but it leaves me feeling as though all is well, nature still finds ways to live and love. What follows is a recording from one of my favorite Atria, where I often sit reading a good book and enjoying the quiet. Atrium 515-North: The Forest of Hugging Trees.
"The Hugging Trees are actually symbiotic floral entities that feed on cooperation. They survive by forming feedback loops with one another in which they simultaneously support and strangle, growing and twisting until they grow too weighty to help, after which point they shrivel and wither to a point of equilibrium.
Atrium 515-North is a wonderful place to visit alone; it drags the cooperation out of you and leaves you feeling calm, collected, and free of obligations.
Visiting with friends is prohibited, for obvious reasons"
-MaliceAforethought
"Repository of Peace" - Composed by Avelon21, Produced by Piano_WL
The Zero-Gravathenaeum , Fondly Referred to as The Wanderer's Station
Doubling as a research space for isolated system physics and other null-gravity experiments, this place is officially listed as an atrium but is really a completely empty universe that the Library co-opted into itself. The area around the entrance is surrounded by arbitrarily many bookshelves orbiting the doorway in a spherical shape.
Outside the infinite layers of shelves, yet just a brisk glide away, exist null-g sport courts and scientific installations, and beyond that is an entire universe full of absolutely nothing. Empty space. Apparently it's very peaceful out there, one could take a thousand year nap in perfect silence. Personally, I wasn't fond of the lack of grounding, but the young ones seem to love it.
"Null-G"
The Marketplace
One of the largest atria in the common Library houses The Marketplace. A location for trading, selling wares and services, and exchange of any commodity, from magical to mundane. The environment here is lively and chaotic, but it retains a sense of safety due to the abundance of heroes walking about. They gather here, searching for advanced equipment or the starting points of noble quests. Representatives of The Merchants (capital M) are most often found here, keeping a modestly sized, but lavishly furnished, cabana.
The Market floor, filled with open air stalls and pavilions, has a distinctly "Earth south-eastern" feel to it. Over time, it actively and passively gravitated towards that distinctive cultural flavour, because to be frank, the way they do it is the most fun. Bartering is a necessary skill here, as is watching out for pickpockets.
"The Marketplace"
The Housing and Commons Areas
This recording was by far the easiest to obtain, as there is actually music playing in the Common Rooms. It, of course, changes in exact content based on species and background, but this is as real as it gets here.
Hearth fires, comfortable chairs, coffee flowing like water. I'm told the music I was hearing was something called "LoFi Hip-Hop," a sort of jazz infused, relaxed music full of recycled samples which really completed the scene, the young academic's dream. I'm not ashamed to say I fell asleep in there.
"Wandering Alone"
The Sea of Words, Affectionately Known as The Wanderer's Depths
Home to a population of aquatic and semi-aquatic Wanderers arguably more massive than the air-exclusive community, this colossal Ocean is a dimensional partner to the common Library and holds vast repositories of knowledge. In this place, entire novels can be housed in a single enchanted bubble, carrying compiled information inside. The light patterns formed by the surface of these bubbles act like book covers do to us, with infinite possible variation. An entire art form, nearly imperceptible to other species' (especially human) eyes.
The true vastness of the Sea comes through in the recording taken from a submersible 2000 kilometres out and 200 down. It is important to note that land-faring species were only recently allowed knowledge of, let alone entrance to, this place. It is, for all intents and purposes, an entirely separate Wanderer's Library, and should be treated with the respect such a title is owed. As far as you are a guest in our common Library, you are only an observer here. Swim carefully.
Descriptions of a Lost "Antichamber" to the Sea of Words, Source Unknown:
"In an area without shelves, there is a clear lake. Wind never ripples its surface, and pollutants never stain the water, which is always the most pleasant temperature for any being who brushes it. It trembles only when a bubble journeys upward from the dark floor. The bubble shoots like a star through the gentle water, leaving thousands of tiny children in its wake that begin to rise with it. They snap as they hit the water, and gentle noises can be heard by most. Those with hearing of the right attunement hear in that snap a stunning echo, a thunderclap of insight, a message that pierces their skulls like an arrow. Driven through their brains, they understand poems thousands of lines long, songs with dozens of stories, books with uncountable secrets. Most die from this knowledge. The survivors become apostles, translators of what they have unlocked, the only way the world can know the bubbles from the lake, can hear the screams of the Titan chained in its depths."
-Rumetzen
"Let the Current Take Me Away"
This music was composed using electronically processed aquatic mammal song. All sounds in this track were derived from underwater recordings of whales or dolphins.
The Computer Library
A relatively new set of structures to form to always have been there, this place is the hub for technologically active Patrons. It contains any computational device from handhelds to supercomputers. Frequented in large part by Discera students, this is a bustling hub of research and creative energy. Any database is accessible, massive simulations can be run, and the ebook enterprise is getting it's feet on the ground despite heavy resistance from some of the more old fashioned Wanderers.
Upon consulting some of my younger colleagues, I have found that the music here has a distinctly "8-bit" theme. That is, it contains timbres culturally reminiscent of old videogame soundtracks. Simple sine, saw, and square waves, just three mono-phonic lines with repeating metronomic lines.
"Capacitor City"
The Last Bastion of Reason
I don't want to talk about it. The file hasn't been checked for non-coherency contamination, so listen at your own risk.
"curves"
This music uses a sound created by Avelon21 for use in this page, listed under CC.
The Rafters
Of all the mystical and dangerous locations I have visited during the course of this project, The Rafters were the most personally perilous. Simply due to my own clumsiness, I nearly fell to my death nigh on a dozen times. However, the journey was completely worth it.
The view from The Rafters could be described as no less than majestic. The tops of bookshelves as far as the eye could see. Pages leaping and Phoenixes soaring through the basically open air. It is at this point unclear whether my emotional state contributed to the state of the resulting music, or if The Rafters know and are proud of their own breathtaking beauty.
"You wouldn't think there's a ceiling to the nearly infinite Library, but follow the Pages upwards and sure enough you'll find the area known as the Rafters.
Not a lot actually makes their homes up here - probably due to the fact a fall from this height would be disastrous - but patrons and critters alike who are graced with flight or climbing abilities often use the tops of shelves and supporting beams as rest stops on their journeys throughout the Library. As long as you don't fall, it is arguably a much safer place to stop and rest due to the amount of patrons being lower and the amount of staff being higher.
Besides the stellar view, Cromwells, Pages, and Lantern Koi tend to be the most common inhabitants of this space, as they are seen either flying or climbing by, or perhaps resting and socializing with one another. If you do find yourself up among The Rafters, be sure to be polite, as one angry shove or Cromwell divebomb might spell an end to your Library adventure."
-UncertaintyCrossing
"Soaring Still"
The Basement
This one confuses me, because the Library Basement may not actually exist. I couldn't find it. I spoke to many Wanderers, collecting various rumors and hearing stories enough to fill a novel. But none carried any more truth than any other, and certainly nobody had a tangible location for me to try.
But something followed every time someone discussed what they 'knew' of The Basement. There was a musical energy that accompanied the very idea of the place. I have never encountered this phenomenon before, and so I thought I should transcribe it along with all the others. The following recording is a synthesized average of these energies which I came upon during my search and conversations. The file named itself during the render, at metadata level.
"Don't Look for Me"