The Archive Spindle

Intended Purpose: To serve as an eternal vault of Camp Hope’s written, digital, and engraved knowledge—a fireproof, tamper-proof archive designed for centuries of use.

Original Purpose: Originally imagined as a grand scriptorium and living index where Scribes would transcribe, code, and preserve texts using Glossoformic etching—a language readable even in damaged cognition or lightless conditions.

Due to a lack of functioning lift access, several external scaffolds were reinforced permanently to allow partial access to the first and second tiers. The western quadrant now hosts a temporary wooden lean-to dubbed "The Watcher's Alcove," where an archivist and guard maintain daily vigil over the sealed core.

A towering cylindrical shell, its base a fusion of pre-Fall ceramic-steel and compacted earthcrete. The outer walls are clad in copperleaf tiles designed to oxidize beautifully with time, inscribed with cryptic aphorisms and hexagonal reliefs.

Internally, the architecture follows the Spindle Spiral—a continuous, slowly ascending ramp encircling a central shaft meant to house the rotating lift core.
No windows.
No banners.
The only color is the burnished patina of age.
Austere. Sacred. Functional.

• Outer doors are bio-locked to specific retinal codes (most of which were keyed to the missing Engineers).
• The unfinished core is surrounded by motion-triggered archive suppression gas, meant to protect sensitive materials from fire, theft, or decay.
• Upper tiers are monitored by clockwork sentries, an experimental security gift from the Engineers—three of which remain functional, two of which are... ambiguous in purpose.

The Archive Spindle was meant to be the Scribes’ magnum opus—an indestructible vault of mind and memory. Its inception marked a rare moment of unity between the intellectual factions of Camp Hope.

However, shortly after foundational work began, the team of Engineers designing the rotating lift core—called “The Hinge Architects”—vanished during a test outside the walls.

Their absence halted further vertical expansion. What remains is a half-finished marvel, wrapped in scaffolds and guarded by memory, suspicion, and dust. The core schematic they left behind is encrypted in Glossoform and attempts to decode it have failed—despite the best efforts of the Scribes and even a few bribed coders from the Engineers.

While not open to the general public, The Archive Spindle draws scholars, pilgrims, and curious thinkers from across Camp Hope.

• The Pilgrims of the Spiral walk clockwise around the base reciting texts aloud, believing the words themselves aid in stabilizing the structure's soul.
• Some Engineers visit in secret, staring up at the blackened lift core housing as if waiting for it to move.
• No accommodations are offered. Those who visit sleep on woven mats beneath the copper overhang, in silent reverence.