Sophie_Hearthfire

As you leisurely float down the library waterway on the kobold-manned gondola, you get the feeling that something is following you. Even stranger, you hear something that sounds like ethereal and soft melodic chiming. The sound appears to strengthen from between the towering bookshelves as if an invisible source is stalking you through the library. The diminutive lizards running your tiny boat stop their tasks to stare in the same direction, deep into the bookracks. Orange flames flickering in the sconces set upon the shelves suddenly shift to a bright blue, crackling with flecks of white sparks. One of kobolds speaks in a whisper, "she is near. Please, do not fear. She is our matron." It's now that you begin to notice the eyes peering at you from the edges of the dark, the spaces between the books and shelves -- there's thousands of them. Each pair belongs to the silhouette of a kobold and no matter how far you look, there's simply more. In unison, their many voices address you.

"Forgive me for being so late to greet you. This is our library, our home. The kobolds and I reside in this homely mountain, constantly collecting and pooling knowledge into the room you see before you. We have been gathering information since the dawn of time, long before the first dragon of life blessed her first world." The kobolds pause for just a moment, all of them raising their muzzles up in the air and smiling as if they each received a pat on the head. "You are welcome to peruse our vast hoard with no cost. The children of the universe deserve to learn about the place they reside in. If you need assistance, then please, ask one of my kobolds. We are always happy to aid." You note that the kobolds greeted you with, "and I." Who was the, "and I?" Before you can ask, books are tossed down to the boat crew and they assemble in a line of three. They open the books, holding them so the pages are physically touching one another. Blank pages are revealed on the aged paper, but then something begins to move across the surface.

"Once again, please, forgive me. Greetings tend not to be so informal and disorganized." An inky drawing of a crystal-studded dragon animates over the pages of the leftmost book. She sits down and looks at you. The kobolds are silent as she speaks and her voice seems to be emanating from the book. "My name is Sophie. As the kobolds have already said, I am their matron. Should you need greater assistance than can be offered by them, I will be sure to see what I can do." The crystal dragon steps into the book binding between the pages, then jumps to the next book over. "I ask but a few things in return -- I know I said it was 'no cost' previously -- but they are merely common courtesies. Free -- in essence -- as I'm sure you understand?" The quadruped librarian bounds over to the final book and begins to write out her rules in large, inky text while speaking them out like a teacher. "One: respect others. You are in a library; keep your voice soft and respect the space of other patrons. Two: please eat, drink, and sleep in the designated locations. This is not only for the books' safety, but also your own and for other readers'. Three: no books may leave the mountain and do not destroy or deface the books. Please, return your library books from where you pulled them from." Sophie leaps from the book and manifests into the physical world, causing the boat to creak and groan under her hefty weight. Her gaze focuses heavily on you and that canorous chiming turns discordant. "You will be under observation at all times. And please, remember this simple fact: books and knowledge are recoverable and renewable." She leans in and whispers calmly and matter-of-factly, "your life is not." The dragoness then vaults from the watercraft, causing it to lurch and rock before she flies into the darkness above with deep, leathery flaps of her wings.

The blue fires return to normal, the kobolds in the distance vanish from your sight, the boat operators have returned to their working positions, and the boat rather abruptly stops its watery sway. All is back to normal. That is... save for that gentle tinkling of crystal-song.

Scholars of Eugenia rave about an impressive library hidden away in the world's largest mountain. Said to contain all pieces of literature to ever exist from various worlds, the ancient library is truly a bookworm's wildest dream. Those who stumble into it are said to never return as the bookshelves extend into a seeming infinity and tower far above even the mightiest of Eugenia's dragons.

The owner of the library, Sophie, is said to be even more mysterious than the library itself. How can someone maintain such a vast collection while also obtaining more from other worlds? Most importantly, how could one collect books across a gap of time bigger than the lifespan of every known living thing? It would appear that the dragon herself could be studied more than her own library!

Sophie, in her own eyes, found herself unremarkable. She and her kind have existed since time immemorial and exhausted every avenue of research upon themselves, leading to general apathy and boredom regarding their own species' traits. Before the advent of lifeforms springing up everywhere, the universe was dull and quiet. Everything was "as it was," orderly and understood. The crystal dragoness and her kobolds resided on a rock hurtling through space around an unremarkable star. They ventured out to collect data from anything and everything they could, assisted by their linked minds, but the cold and unchanging fundamentals of the universe could only offer so much. Their library's collection of knowledge was meagre, small, yet it contained within it all the known things about existence. All knowledge at this point was kept within Sophie's crystals, which could collect and capture thoughts from the dragoness to record and play back. With the arrival of the first goddess of life -- Amylyne -- and her children the spark for understanding and learning flared up in Sophie's soul. Creatures born of Amylyne's magic featured an immense diversity in their forms, their powers, their everything! And more impressively so, they all had their own stories to tell as language developed.

It would soon be that one of Amylyne's youngest offspring, Amylia, planted her seed upon Sophie's homeworld. Truthfully, this was a problem. The life created by the dragons needed a wide variety of elements and complex molecules to survive. Most importantly: water. Water, of course, would destroy and erode the carefully documented information held in Sophie's crystals. The parched world found itself drenched with this corroding liquid, torrential storms delivering it with the raw might of a living nature's fury. Quick to think on their feet, Sophie and her kobolds created mighty channels to direct the harmful fluid away from their home. The threat of knowledge destruction continued despite this: Amylia's plants encroached upon the library as they pushed out to grow and expand. With her home and livelihood threatened, Sophie confronted the goddess to ask her to kindly direct her creations away from her mountain. As one would expect... Amylia refused to oblige despite being the smaller dragon in the encounter. The hot-headed youngling goddess did what her instincts told her to do: eat the fellow dragon in order to make sure that life had a chance to grow!

The fight raged on for hours. It continued on into the night as Sophie desperately tried to avoid bringing harm to the life dragon. But, eventually, her hand was forced. With no options left and her own safety now hanging in the balance, the crystal dragon devoured Amylia whole. With the fight finally brought to a close in the worst way possible, Sophie weightily fluttered her way back home and settled into her cave. As the goddess within kicked and whined, the kobolds relentlessly tended to their matron's belly. The fight truly came to a close when that stomach went still and quiet, spelling an end to Amylia and her approaching plants. Were this any other pairing of dragons, this situation likely would've ended there. But, as strange fates would have it, Sophie discovered a new trait about herself that day. Amylia's history distilled into her crystals, storing the memoirs of her life within. A second fact was learned: death did not stop the lifedragon. Within a few days of the life goddess's fall, the plants returned to their usual activities. This was, of course, concerning to Sophie... and her concerns were solidified when Amylia landed within her cave. Still digesting the bulk of her last meal, a fight would surely go in Amylia's favor.

Amylia came not for revenge, however. To Sophie's surprise the young dragon threw herself onto the floor, rolled onto her back as a sign of submission. She wanted to talk, to learn -- Sophie's forte. And so they spoke into the night, the day, the months, the decades. As they learned about one another a mutual understanding came to be: Sophie could learn endlessly of Amylia and her creations and vice versa. The two struck a deal. Amylia would keep her plants from damaging the library and Sophie would allow Amylia's "children" to dig through her collection of knowledge at their leisure. The goddess also gifted upon Sophie materials for a simpler medium in which to store and record information, leading to Eugenia's first book. A transformation also took place in the grand library. Though water oft proved to be a destructive force, it could be harnessed for useful purposes. The great channels dug in earlier years were repurposed and extended into the library, creating narrow canals with which to gently sail down the immense complex.