The Ingot Library
The Ingot Library is a historic and admittedly elitist building symbolizing and magic of knowledge and prestige for some, and the history of colonization and classism for others. While visitors travel from all over Milfoil to visit Ingot and specifically the Library, the Library proper is not open for the public. The farthest most will ever make into the building is the massive front foyer, where anyone can request a book, research topic, etc.; or if they hire a librarian to write a story, help with a project, etc., someone may access the drawing rooms along the hall behind the foyer.
Academics are often granted access to the full Library for the time they are in their studies, and an academic would be a fool if they did not utilize their access to its fullest potential. This is why students are most often the ones perusing the stacks, shelves, and winding halls, besides librarians and other staff.
There are still many areas in the Library that academics do not have access to, and these are reserved for staff. Library staff gain more access to more rooms as they gain seniority. All staff of course have their offices, most being located in the basement. Each office is similar in shape but vastly different in furnishing and personality, depending on the occupant. The archives have varying degrees of restriction, and are located in deeper levels below the basement (although the most restricted section is on the top floor, along the two most senior offices).
There is controversy surrounding the Ingot Library surrounding who owns it and what it represents. Umbra colonization of Milfoil began in the Anglerfish Harbour, so several small structures were erected along the path west of the Umbrae, but the Library was the first major landmark in the west for the purpose of holding knowledge, stories, art, skills, etc. of the Umbrae. The fact that Umbrae pillaged and intimidated the native species of Milfoil on the Umbrae's journey to colonize the continent, to have this house of knowledge that is so secretive and kept behind thick, extracted marble walls, is an insult to the native species. There are no native species living in Ingot City to protest, but since relations with the Merfolk are stronger in the City than in most other place on the continent, there are groups of Umbrae who are outspoken on the elitism of the Library.
The Ingot Historical Society (IHS) are the official owners of the Library, and their opposition, the most outspoken organized group of Library protestors is the Umbrae for Native Dominion in Organizations (UNDO). UNDO's mandate is to ensure that the native species' perspective is being taken into account in initiatives that effect them and/or their land. Their chosen way to act and protest is political and correct, however, their acronym, UNDO, suggests their longer-term goal which is much less palatable for the Ingot population: to undo colonization and repay the native species for the harm Umbrae did upon them in their journey to colonize their continent. The IHS, on the other hand, is more concerned with protecting their knowledge and being a hub for all things academic, worldly, researched, and creative. They argue that if the Library did not exist to house all these things, that knowledge would be lost forever, dispersed into smaller places of the world to never be shared with anyone.
Purpose / Function
According to the IHS, it is to house all things academic, worldly, researched, and creative under one roof so that Umbrae can learn about anything and they know exactly where to go to learn it.
According to the UNDO, it is to shut out the regular folk and the native species from Umbrae knowledge, and to assert dominance over the Glimmering Bay.
Design
Marble is the west coast's most expensive resource, and was mined before the Umbrae made a strict treaty with the Merfolk to stay out of the Mertail Bay except for recognized Umbra merchants. Before this happened, however, the Umbrae built the entire Ingot Library out of marble, and then some other structures in Ingot City.
The inside walls are kept bright white marble. The entire building is the equivalent of a five-storey building, but it is only three stories, with the top two being high-ceilinged. The roof is A-framed, similar to a cathedral, with a huge circular stained glass window in the centre.
Several smaller, complementary stained glass windows line the sides of the Library, all telling the story of the Merfolk legend of the underground city of wealth. The Umbra version of this story focuses on the wealth that the Merfolk found and share with the early Milfoil Umbrae, leading to an explosion of prosperity between the two races. The dominant colours of the stained glass story are gold, sapphire, aquamarine, and some purple tanzanite. The glass gems that hang from the Ingot City streets around the Library match these colours and cast colourful sunlight on the white marble of the building on sunny days.
Sensory & Appearance
Due to the Library's construction of marble and large windows, the inside feel depends on the weather outside.
On sunny days, the marble heats up a considerable amount, but reflects a lot as well, resulting in an airy, perfect temperature in the front foyer, with heat pockets where the sun comes in through the windows. There are also cabling systems throughout the Library to open or close the large windows, so staff often open these wide during sunny days. The main halls and drawing rooms, while much stuffier than the foyer, the window systems keep these rooms well-ventilated with plenty of sunshine and warmth.
On cloudy days, the inside of the foyer and especially the book halls and drawing rooms are stuffy and smaller-feeling. The marble walls are cold to the touch on all cloudy days, even in the summer. On especially cold days, staff light fires in the basement fire rooms, made out of marble as well, to distribute the heat throughout the building.
On all days, the basement and archives are musty and unaffected by the weather. These rooms are extremely sound-proof.
Denizens
On the outside of the building, there is a full staff who clean the marble twice a day to keep the marble bright white, and because there is a mysterious flock of sparrow-like birds that circle and poop all over it. This flock of birds do not fly south for the winter like other birds do, and have taken to pestering the Library full-time.
Inside, the public can venture into the foyer only. In the drawing rooms are librarians and their clients. Throughout the Library, librarians bustle away at their projects, and academics hide away and glide through the book stacks, shelves, and corners to explore their interests in depth.
In the offices, above and below ground, things are quiet as librarians and other staff work away. Soft music in ultra-soundproofed rooms with doors open can sometime be heard, but mostly these places are stuffed with silence.
Contents & Furnishings
Gem-toned velvets and gold trims of furniture; shelves made out of various stones, the most treasured books on shelves and stands of white marble. Books everywhere, each room difference and somewhat reminiscent of the topic covered in that room (e.g. the rooms covering the Umbra journeys through the sea will be winding in a bright, uneven-floored and narrow room; the rooms housing the knowledge of the forests of the Molten World will be tall rooms with ladders to stacks of books as tall as trees, with narrow windows and a stuffier-feeling).
Valuables
Some displays of real gems are set in certain halls and rooms, reminiscent of those glass "gems" on the streets of Ingot City, always situated to glisten with sunshine from the windows at certain times of the day. Some believe that these gems have their own agency who willed the librarians to place them in these specific spots to communicate a message of some kind to the people who browse those halls. Some who believe this have tried to guess what these messages could be, but it will always be a mystery.
However, these gems become sentient with the waking up of the land, including the marble that the Library is constructed from, and yearns to go home. Those who listen closely during this time can hear their yearning, their soft songs full of emotion not unlike those of the Merfolk, especially when the sun shines through them.
History
The Library was built during the lawless time of early Umbra colonization of western Milfoil, when Umbrae were extracting large amount of marble from the coast. It is the first large structure built on Milfoil by the Umbrae, and was the first of many Ingot buildings.
It is the subject of many civil protests, usually around the elitism and colonial history of the building. Early on after the full construction of it, one Umbra and their small fringe group tossed a pint of root-dyed paint each of yellow, dark red, and orange in an attempt to tarnish the pure white of the marble, symbolizing the ugly, tarnished truth of Ingot's prosperity. This can be seen present-day in splotches by the front entrance (dark red, symbolizing the blood of the native species), and around the back entrance the lead down to the offices in the basement (to symbolize the protectionism of knowledge).
Tourism
The Library is a huge source of tourism from around the continent, though the public can only access the front foyer. Across the street, there is a park and a small picnic-shop for those who wish to spend time eating and drinking next to the building.
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