Glass Archive
Inside the Archive
The Glass Archive is calm and peaceful - almost preternaturally so. It's quiet, insulated from noise in the hallway by the methods of construction as well as magical methods. Privacy was very important when it was a room intended for the meeting room for the Temple council, so extensive wards were put in against eavesdropping. They have been maintained or occasionally augmented by magic-users who frequent the archive. The room is also bright and warm - lit by warm colored light from the stained glass windows when the sun is shining, and a multitude of warm mage lights suspended from the ceiling when it's not. Though the room could be cavernous under other circumstances, the way it has been filled with towering bookshelves turn it into a cozy haven for the acedemics who shelter there. Near the windows, a space has been carved out for sitting and reading. The clergy scrounged up two cozy, oversized armchairs and a couple of sidetables, and brought in a couple of reading lamps for late-night soujourns into the worlds of words if they don't want to use the room lights. To prevent a chill from the stone floor, they gathered an eclectic collection of old rugs to layer on the floor.
History of the Archive
Before the expansion of the Temple compound to account for growth as well as the opening of the boarding Secondary school, the room that is now the Glass Archive was designed and built to be a meeting room for the Council that runs the Temple. It was not a convenient place for that after the renovations, so the meeting room was moved. Unfortunately, it was determined that it would be too expensive and tricky to move the stained glass, so it was left behind for whatever the room was to become. The room was temporarily vacant. It was used for storage of delicate items during construction. Once the secondary school opened, and the Temple's librarian realized that her previously adult-only library was going to be also utilized by children (perhaps unsupervised) as young as eleven or twelve, she started moving and storing some of the books there: books that were old, one-of-a-kind, expensive, inappropriate for children, etc. It became the norm well before it was approved officially as the archive.Technical Specifications
Design
The Glass Archive is a single room, which is fairly long and shallow. Dimensionally, it is about forty feet long and twenty feet deep. The ceilings are tall, with exposed wooden beams. The floors are stone, and the walls are plastered and painted a color that is deep and warm and in the dark, and bright and warm when the sun hits it. The entire far long wall across from the door is the larger-than-life stained glass mural of each of The Six deities of The Senary. There is a single large, fancy wooden door in the middle of the long wall that lines up with the interior hallway.Entries & Exits
The Glass Archive has a single door intended for entry and exit. It is not kept locked, but it is spelled and warded against entry by anyone with bad intentions towards the contents of the library. The second entry and exit point of the archive is not commonly known - or used. There is a door portal embedded into one of the short walls. It originally was keyed to the Council who used the room as a meeting room and opened to locations of their choice. Now it is keyed to the library, used by the Librarian to move things in and out of the collection. The key is also occasionally used by other users of the library to come and go.The Glass Archive
Alternative Names
Glass Library
Parent Location
Owning Organization
The Glass
The stained glass windows in the Glass Archive are original to the Temple itself, and in great condition. Though the original artist is long since deceased, she is celebrated by a portait in the Archive. It needs suspiciously little maintenance, but those who realize that try not to think too much about it, or they attribute it to excellent craftsmanship.
The Users
It's not a commonly traversed room, and located in an out-of-the-way hallway away from other heavily used rooms, so you kind of have to know it's there to find it, or stumble upon it accidentally; and the regular denizens aren't in a hurry to change that and don't often recommend or invite new people inside. The most common users of the Archive are the serious academics who regularly use the books located therein. Other users include the rare few who stumble across the room and then just keep coming back - some with no use for the books at all, just who find solace in the environment.
Not-So-Secret Door
Few use the doorway portal other than the librarian, but the key is known and accessible, and can be shared upon request. Kevian Spelloyal, who uses the archive regularly both for access to the books as well as just because he loves to sit and read there, has and uses the key regularly to move between the rooms he shares with his husband and the Glass Archive.
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