The New Serpentine Sorting System : Volume Collaboration Event

In the Library, there are too many stories to read in a thousand lifetimes. One may not be able even to find the stories one wants in that amount of time. The docents help, of course, but there's only so many of them, and their ways can be… alien to us. So, it's time to take matters into our own hands. It's time to begin to sort the Library.

There are hundreds of thousands of us here, each with our knowledge, our own specialties. Together we can create a catalogue, a way for future Wanderers to explore the stacks with confidence, a way to bring us together. Over time we will build. We will give form to chaos.

We will give shape to the serpent.

🕮

ㅤ

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What is the Serpentine Sorting System?

The SSS is a collaborative writing event consisting of three simple steps: the community suggests writing prompts, these prompts are voted on, and the winner becomes the basis of a whole new canon, to be built together.¹

Stage One: Announcement

• The event is announced on site and across social media.
• A forum thread is created for everyone to submit prompts.

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Stage Two: Submission

• Prompt submission begins! Any user may submit ideas for a prompt or setting that will serve as the base for the canon.
• These suggestions go into the forum thread here.
• Submissions will be open for 7 days, or until we hit 64 prompt suggestions.

Note: See the bottom of this page for a full list of previous SSS prompts!

˅

Stage Three: Voting

• Once all the prompts have been collected, they will be placed into a Google form to be voted on.
• The voting will be conducted as a knockout tournament with two entries being placed against each other at a time in randomly selected brackets.
• Voting will last for 7 days.

Note: This stage is where it gets fun, you get to see your favourite prompts tragically eliminated or triumphantly moving to the next voting stage. Join the discord to convince people that, no, in fact, Crab World isn't better than 25th Century Ghost Warfare!

˅

Stage Four: Worldbuilding

• All users are encouraged to discuss what they think the setting or canon should look like.
• The Staff Team will read these discussions and regularly update a sandbox page with parts of the discussion that are popular with users and work with the overall project. This page will serve as a reference for users who weren't present for every single discussion, as well as the framework for what will become the Canon Hub.
• Worldbuilding will take place on the Wanderers Library' Discord.

˅

Stage Five: Writing

• Now is the time for writing. Bear a few things in mind:
  1. 1. 1. 1. 1. This is meant to be a coherent canon, with stories relating to one another in some form, whether it be directly, or through theme and setting.
              2. Don't be afraid to get weird—-unique ideas are how things stay interesting. Remember this is a *collaborative* canon, and your story should at the very least fit into the scope and general feel of the canon, even if you choose to go in a fun new direction.
              3. That being said, while our aim is to create a rich and varied setting, There IS No Canon. This means contradictions are inevitable, and don't worry about your story lining up perfectly with all of the others.

• Posting opens 7 days after the hub is completed.

*

Rewards

A limited-time discord role is available to those who post a positively-rated work within a month of Stage Five. Previously, Last Light writers won the title of Withstander, while Vitalis writers boast the epithet of Vitalis LLC Employee of the Month.

Besides that, all you've got to play for is honour, glory, and stories.

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🕮

Last Light

March 2021

+ See prompt archive

Number	Prompt Description	Author	Furthest Round Reached
1	A traveler's guidebook with essential information to remember when traveling to different locations across the multiverse.	Plilt	5
2	A collaboratively assembled (in universe) document comparative religious practices across the multiverse.	Plilt	1
3	Pirates from hell and the Greek hell rivers are oceans	Impperatrix	3
4	Dinosaurs	Impperatrix	1
5	Under the Shelves	The_Spider_Queen	1
6	Through the Forest	The_Spider_Queen	2
7	The behind the scenes workings of the Library, things like staff meetings.	Wesbot	1
8	The dreams of a dying eldritch god	Doctor Pann	3
9	D&D/tabletop game session in the Library. Any author avatar/OC Wanderer is welcome. Shenanigans will happen.	Seraphannim	3
10	Exploration log. Dwelling into a post apocaliptic scenario, in a soon-to-die Earth or even other planet. What happened? Zombie outbreak? Extreme weather change? A post When Day Breaks scenario? Is for the explorers to find out.	Seraphannim	1
11	A steampunk dystopia	Din-Bidor	1
12	Food throughout the multiverse: its preparation and cultural significance	Din-Bidor	3
13	Children's literature. Trying to write something that could appeal to younger audiences first and foremost while still being entertaining for adults would be a very good creative exercise.	Draven Addams	2
14	a character wakes up within a forest, the trees of knowledge fester here. He will meet characters that are made from living stories. Together they will explore the forest and help the character get home.	Averus Muto	1
15	The eldritch court, where mighty players play mightier games, and where the border between reality defining concept and person is so thin, it sometimes isn't there at all.	Linkinbrick	1
16	A place where the border between dreams and reality is disappearing, where metaphor bleeds into actuality; not for a single protagonist, but a whole society. What chaos reigns, when many individual perspectives try to assert themselves in reality? What order remains?	Linkinbrick	4
17	Cosmic explorers discover a Library in the ruins of a seeming dead world, and as settlements grow and Books are uncovered, the world slowly resurrects, and all manner of fantastical (and frightening) things pour out.	Lt Flops	2
18	if that's lame then what about… uhh…. crabs. crab world.	Lt Flops	1
19	Post fantasy. Like a world where all the cool stuff was in the past and the world is frankly moving on, in the middle of a societal shift, where the monarchies founded by the chosen ones are being dismantled, the wild forests tamed, the great beasts killed and harvested	Gecko	3
20	a canon centred around a cell of the Serpent's Hand that's been trapped in this place between worlds for years where ink and water bleed together, the sky a sickly yellow - and reality can change at the flip of a dime. Little hope of getting out. Strange beasts and shadowy figures haunt the Ways Between, all Red Masks and shivered robes; it is they who control the rules, and they who trap those that strive to leave. Lots of Orpheus/Persephone vibes to the place, as well as some King in Yellow, Magician's Nephew undertones. Develop this weird halfway world, and eventually get the remnants of this cell of the Serpent's Hand cell out of it; would involve following several parallel storylines and figures, loosely connected plotting, lots of eldritch fuckery, etc. etc.	Rota_Fortunae	1
21	A canon looking into the Library's connection with various real-world cultures and myths, exploring a potential alternate origin story (or series of origin stories, each loosely having similarities and differences) to how the Serpent's Hand found it in the first place (or how the library found them), laden with a bunch of historical exploration, interconnected figures that served important roles only to fade into old dusty archives over time, stories now lost in the ever-shifting shelves forever. Of course, this second concept would have the continuous inherent undertone of contradiction; the goal of it would be to intentionally build a hazy, semi-mythological feel to the origins of this site-centric relationship, always centring it on the theme that it's not necessarily the accuracy of such recordings of events that matter, more the fact there are stories at all.	Rota_Fortunae	1
22	A canon that centers entirely around Planasthai, looking into the lives of its reporters, what they report on, and how their scoops influence Library life.	CadaverCommander	2
23	A small New Mexico town in the middle of dusty nowhere is suddenly infiltrated by threats from another world. A single automotive mechanic and his friends are the only ones who witness these events directly, and must band together to figure out how to defend their town from things they can't begin to understand.	CadaverCommander	1
24	a world of ideas discarded from other worlds, things that leaked, stuff that just didnt Fit In elsewhere: the interstitial dumping ground of the multiverse's narratives that Go Nowhere	Carolynn Ivy does not match any existing user name	2
25	magic university/city but it's inside a dragon that's flying around in space	rumetzen	1
26	superheroes	rumetzen	1
27	The World Tree is burning down.	Doctor Pann	2
28	Too many birds were hit by one stone	Snapdragon133	1
29	Ancient gods try to find ways to stay relevant and keep worshippers in the space age.	Gabriel McQueen	4
30	Every single way closes and refuses to reopen for a 20 thousand years. For one day every year, 2 people from opposite sides can switch places.	AnActualCrow	1
31	Fragmented dimensions/realities of a singular, collective universe quickly begin meshing back together after previously being shattered apart	JakdragonX	2
32	A universe where the inhabitants think their own bodies into existence	Wesbot	1
33	All non-paranormal humans disappear. Everything left makes do	EleneeFishTruck	4
34	The stories a river sees over the thousands of years that make up its lifetime.	GremlinGroup	1
35	a group of paranormal, juvenile delinquents get ejected into a post-apocalyptic universe who's environment is experiencing time backwards	JakdragonX	1
36	low-ranking workers of the afterlife struggle under the employ of an uncaring Managenent	MaliceAforethought	5
37	Lost character hops Ways, trying to find home but ends up deeper in the Library	ProgressMade	1
38	Sapient life develops, not on a planet, but on a planet-sized living organism that moves through space with its own intentions.	Gabriel McQueen	2
39	The Library seems to be expanding in a manner akin to the Dark Matter expansion of our universe; pretty soon interaction between patrons will be nigh on impossible.	Piano_WL	1
40	The amount of active Ways, of any kind or destination, suddenly increases tenfold; likewise, the knocks all become significantly easier to accidentally set off. Cue shenanigans.	Piano_WL	2
41	Someone gets lost between “our” reality and the Library. A team of patrons and Library staff must work together to rescue them, and the lost person must hold out in a bizarre, utterly fantastical alien world.	Deleted User	1
42	Now it's just me, and I need to figure out what happened, Where did all the monsters go?	YellowISlol	2
43	Hijinks in literally just historically accurate Indonesia between mid60s–late90s, where ideologies were suppressed, corruption were rampant, and inconveniences had a way to just disappear.	Rigen	1
44	The sands around the city are shifting; strange things are uncovered, and ancient bonds are broken as lords rush to claim the treasure	MaliceAforethought	3
45	Floating towers connected by bridges where books, ink, and words themselves attack	ProgressMade	1
46	The Citadel of Black Glass houses the gods, in the hope that the other polises will be left untouched by them.	Akhlys	3
47	A world in the delusions of a comatose person.	alexdoesnotexist	1
48	Pirates!!! But specifically ghost/zombie pirates! On a phantom ship! Having adventures! Yarr!	Draven Addams	2
49	Modern-day tech is, in the post-apocalyptic dark ages, considered magical and kept secret from commoners.	Deleted User	2
50	A Broken-Masquerade-like scenario in which magic and rituals become commonplace and natural among civilians and become integrated into human society.	Deleted User	1
51	a world divided by houses. Each house is composed by a academic central wich is responsible for a specific kind of magic source. For exemple, a house wich use energy from pain or simple exchanges. on that scenario, you see a lot of groups that benefit from 2 or more houses.	Zéfiro	1
52	Humanity finds and (shakily) befriends a civilization living on the other side of the earth's crust.	Deleted User	2
53	And as we stepped off the lunar lander, we watched the Earth explode.	UncertaintyCrossing	2
54	We all remember the end of the world, don't you?	UncertaintyCrossing	1
55	magic, intrigue, and wonder in the eastern bloc and its satellite states	Carolynn Ivy does not match any existing user name	3
56	A world that does not have nighttime in any form.	alexdoesnotexist	1
57	Some creatures don't need wings to fly.	YellowISlol	1
58	There is an endless city. It stretches towards the horizon, on and on and on. It is a city of cities and it has a source. And the closer you get to the source, the closer you get to the fable - The First City.	Varaxous	6
59	Every singularity points in one direction: the end. The stars of the multiverse blink out, one by one, and everything fades to black. But there is an exception. Only one. And all of creation flocks to this final island.	Varaxous	👑
60	Earth is soon going to be struck by a mysterious, world-ending cataclysm, and an organization has been founded to explore and monitor parallel universes— from very similar to FUCKED UP— to see if they can find a way to stop it.	Ellie3	1
61	And yet, the solution to their problem never shows up despite their countless journeys, always just slightly above the horizon	Deleted User	2
62	There's been a conspiracy since time immemorial to open a massive inter-dimensional portal the size of a small country. And judging on the huge hole that just opened up in Colorado, it seems to have worked.	Fish Salad	2
63	Medieval warriors, kings, peasants, and priests have appeared after a massive accident at an experimental research facility, and they're not exactly happy with the state of the modern world…	Fish Salad	1
64	Everyone in this world is the Chosen One to do something	Snapdragon133	4

*

Vitalis LLC

November 2021

+ See prompt archive

Number	Prompt Description	Author	Furthest Round Reached
1	Stories told about a king at his funeral.	rumetzen	1
2	Intergalactic death game run by an alien species.	rumetzen	1
3	The rise and fall of the universe's greatest empire… within a black hole.	Egileye	2
4	A villain saves a city from raccoons.	Egileye	1
5	When dragons and spells meet tanks and turrets, the Great Wars of Auron.	Reasonably Psychotic	1
6	A Packet of Caesar Salad Dressing.	Reasonably Psychotic	1
7	Tales following the lives of the customers of an intergalactic luthiery.	Tyumen	2
8	Aliens commission ancient human civilizations to build monuments for them.	Tyumen	2
9	The Wanderer's Library is full and needs more space… luckily, other universes seem to have plenty of room.	Fish Salad	1
10	Every solar system has an exact copy of Earth orbiting it.	Fish Salad	1
11	Too many birds are killed with one stone	Snapdragon133	1
12	A company attempts to download the entire universe into the internet	Snapdragon133	1
13	Low-ranking workers of the afterlife struggle under the employ of an uncaring Managenent.	MaliceAforethought	👑
14	A beautiful city, unrightfully stolen, now sequestered in the world-sized hoard of the Last Dragon.	MaliceAforethought	1
15	A city entirely constructed of glass	Rigen	1
16	Star system filled with sculptures the size of planetary bodies	Rigen	2
17	A plethora of bygone empires time travel to the same era to become relevant again	Maxyfran73	3
18	Cities built on dead gods, floating across space, fight each other for resources	Maxyfran73	1
19	The Devil wages war against a sadistic AI for control of Hell	margssentif	5
20	Cosmonaut dog Laika is revived in the distant future by a passing god; what adventures will she go on?	margssentif	2
21	far in the future, it is discovered that the universe is filled with white holes, and thousands of explorers risk their lives diving into them for glory, for interdimensional plunder, or just for the hell of it	CadaverCommander	2
22	tales from those who have returned from the Midnight Highway, a star-lit and endless road where you can find a detour to anything, or go nowhere fast	CadaverCommander	4
23	Sabotage of the air generators when humanity is living in country-sized domes on a toxic planet.	ProgressMade	1
24	An endless city appears in the sky over our heads one morning…	ProgressMade	1
25	Heaven has invaded the mortal realms.	Deleted User	3
26	People wake up on an island floating in space.	Deleted User	1
27	The universal language that unites the residents of the galaxy isn't math or science, but food.	Trotskyeet	3
28	The lives and cargo of the smugglers of the Multiverse	Trotskyeet	1
29	The Bartello Theatre house is renowned across the City of Sleet and Hail for its performances of untold beauty, magic, and horror.	Doctor Pann	5
30	The Wren's Empire has fallen and the corvids and sparrows engage in a ferocious war for control of all avian kind.	Doctor Pann	2
31	Solarpunk: In the comfortable brightness of the not-so-near future, humanity is doing great, and starting to ask the big questions again.	Linkinbrick	2
32	The figurative is starting to become literall, and people are beginning to see the stories they're in.	Linkinbrick	1
33	Throughout the cosmos, all Gods become mortal as their infinite stalemate with death comes to an end…	LAN 2D	2
34	A new solar system is commissioned to imprison the universe's most depraved (and ambitious) criminals.	LAN 2D	4
35	A city where the monuments are eternal, but nothing else is.	Deleted User	4
36	Whatever the magical equivalent of psudeo-science is.	Deleted User	2
37	When a benevolent crab society comes down from a place in the sky, a low-fantasy world discovers the ground beneath its feet is one in a series of concentric worlds, each host to yet more fantastical places.	Lt Flops	2
38	Many years after the world falls into ruin, the remaining people discover that magic has come alive.	Lt Flops	1
39	Mekhanites try to convert a clockwork dragon	Anonymous Artificer	1
40	An ancient slug whose saliva grants super-powers to those who imbibe it- and a curse.	Anonymous Artificer	1
41	A group of entities whose very nature poses a threat to books and information sues for their right to access the Wanderers' Library.	Din-Bidor	1
42	Food throughout the multiverse: history, culture and religion explored through a society's most emblematic dishes.	Din-Bidor	1
43	An afterlife reincarnation court where souls make their appeals to be reborn	destinysday	3
44	Nature begins to take an active role to correct the natural order: and we're in the way.	destinysday	3
45	The Orchestra that plays the Music of the Spheres has descended into chaos. The resultant discord has dire consequences, especially when the celestial spheres rattle and fall.	Zikzargil	2
46	Music, the perfect food for the soul. Quite literally, for the mangiatore symphonia. When they decide to consume the Nine Muses, will it mark the end of music, or will the Gods of Decadence take their place and destroy symphony forevermore?	Zikzargil	1
47	Interdimensional merchant guild. Could have stories about deals, collecting resources, and types of entities they interact with. It would be open ended enough to have a lot of different tones I think	Naleth	1
48	When the rain falls is when the crying of the ghosts is heard.	UncertaintyCrossing	1
49	When he was done with Europe, Napoleon turned his sights to the heavens.	SunnySundays	Late
50	One day the ants all woke up.	SunnySundays	Late

+Translations

Footnotes

1. You can see the full timeline on the right!