Arbor Low
From Grand Tribunal
About the Library
[Spreadsheet for Arbour Low's Resources, including how you can use them without needing an ST]
Library staff:
- Chief Librarian: Celement ex Mercere - An English-born Redcap who walks with a limp and has a white beard, retired after years of service due to a leg injury. He also teaches once a year. #
- Head Copyist: Edward Halez - A former scribe of Arbour Low, who hored on with the new employers. 5th Son of a knight, who wanted a boring life of relative comfort and safety.
- Junior copyist: Deliliah - A former nun fleeing the restrictive life of the convent and the cruelty of one particular abbess
- Junior copyist: Robert Scriven - A relatively young man just out of apprenticeship with Edward.
- Parchminous: Grant of Kent - A leatherworker and Parcemenous who fled accusations of murder. Extremely skilled with a blade
- Illuminator: Brother James - A monk banished from the Dominican brotherhood for heretical activities.
- Book binder: Bosemyllian - An apprentice from York whose master wouldn't recognise him due to a personal dispute involving the masters daughter.
- Languages teacher: Joseph ben Cresse ben Solomon - A Jewish tutor, formerly of London who sought sanctuary from impossible to pay financial demands by the crown, has take his daughter as an apprentice who attend all his lessons and teaches one season a year on her own.
- Magical skills teacher: Juliana of Ireland - Daughter of gifted magi. They were hoping for a gifted child and so trained her in all the skills they could prior to apprenticeship, but she never developed the gift and left home in shame.
- Head guard: Samantha "Sam" of Chester - A successful veteran and mercenary forced to retire when she became pregnant and she could no longer keep up the illusion of being a man.
- Night shift guard: William Baille - A former poacher, caught and branded.
- Guard: Richard Maydegode - Deserter from the King's army and skilled archer
- Guard: Nicholas Grenefeld - A local recruited from the nearby village with a tollerance for people with the gift.
- The covenant buildings
Outside:
- The well and privies as well as a stable lay outside the main building. Most of the grogs actually live in Ormskirk.
- The nearest village is Conksbury which lies about 3-4 miles away (an hours walk by foot) to the East North East. About 3-4 miles beyond Conkwell lies the small town of Bakewell, where most supplies are procured from.
- The Mermaid pool is about 10 miles to the West.
- The Nine-ladies stone circle is about 7.7 miles to the East.
Each of the four towers are three stories high. Whilst the wall segments are only 2 stories.
Ground floor:
- The North side is the main library. Usually kept locked and warded.
- There are a series of brass plaques on the wall of the inside of the library giving a short biography of all of the authors featured. (see Below)
- The East side contains the kitchens, grog quarters and a mess hall.
- The West side has a pair of reading rooms.
- The North-East, North West and South West towers are dominated by sleeping quarters for magi and personal studies.
- The South East tower is a newly constructed building and home to the librarians, with the ground floor containing the main administrative office.
- Whilst there is not a real wall to the East, a wooden palisade has been erected as a cheap means of securing the grounds against theives and the gate is closed at night.
Second floor:
- The second floor is accessed by the stairways from the courtyard.
- The South contains sleeping quarters for grogs and servants.
- The East contains more reading rooms.
- The North side has a scriptorium and sleeping areas as well as a locked and sealed restricted section of the library (Currently empty and just used for storing parchment and inks)
- Each of the towers contains the private labs of the Magi, reached by retractable steps of the ground floor.
- The South East tower contains the sleeping quarters of the head librarian.
- The top of each tower is primarily used for storage and can be accessed by stairs from the second floors of the North and South. There is no direct access to the labs below.
Underground:
- Beneath are cellars and the entrance to the Terram Regio that lies beneath the stone circle.
- Before the covenant
The Author plaques on the wall of the main library
- The works of Rolo ex Tremere
- Donated by order of Archmage Albertus of Lycaneon, Praeco of Tremere.
- Rolo was an 11th Century educator from the Transylvanian Tribunal, he dedicated his life to teaching the next generation of his house and created a matched set of 15 primers to ensure consistent terminology written in basic Latin, eschewing excessively technical language where possible.
- The works of Alekto ex Bonisagus
- Donated by Andrus of Durenmar, Alekto was a prolific copyist and schollar, a friend and contemporary of Andrus who died in 1248, these texts written early in his career were donated in his memory.
- The works of Amelia ex Jerbiton
- Donated by the author
- Current Princeps of Whitby, originally from the Rhine Tribunal. Renowned for her elaborate performance magic.
- The works of Pythagorus ex Flambeau
- Donated by the author posthumously
- Pythagorus ex Flambeau, author of the Victory Trillogy was an expert on the history of magical warfare in the early order. He passed into Final Twilight in 1210 and after a decade, these books were donated to House Mercere for dissemination in his will "Because magi these days have no idea how to handle themselves in a fight. Besides if you'r reading this, it obviously didn't help me."
- The works of Mary ex Merinita
- Donated by the author
- Mary lives in the Covenant of the Icy North and donated these texts to house Mercere, as she has since developed a far superior set of texts and wanted to put them to some use in the training of apprentices.
- The works of Stephen ex Tytalus
- Donated by Phillipa ex Tytalus who won these from Stephen in a duel. She had no use for another text on Parma, so donated it to House Mercere.
- Stephen was a strong proponent of reform to rules about apprentices regarding the Parma Magica and he advocated for it being taught before the end of apprenticeship. He was ultimately unsuccessful in changing the Code in this respect, but did produce several apprentice level guides to Parma Magica.
- A work by Aisling of Merinita
- Donated personally in Spring of 1252.
- Aisling is possibly the foremost expert in sexual magic in the Tribunal if not the Order. Based in the Covenant of Avalon she is famed for her beauty, expansive family and provocative style of dress.
Mundane Authors whose works are featured here:
- Aristotle - Born in Macedonia and educated in Athens as a student of Plato, Aristotle may be the most influential philosopher in history. His contribution is so great that he was named “The Philosopher” when his works were reintroduced in the twelfth century. Aristotle disagreed with Plato’s forms, proposing categories and syllogisms in their place.
- Euclid - A Greek mathematician who taught at Alexandria, Euclid’s work are the foundation for the study of geometry.
- Henry of Westingthorpe - An ungifted folk historian who, whilst unskilled as a writer himself was very adept at cataloguing and colating the works of others.
- Khadim Al Uther Ab Damietta - Allegendly a Djinn associated with a new African covenant called Damietta. Little is known of him.
- Father John of Kent - A radical English parish priest who advocated for greater literacy among the serf class died in 1169
