Library's Edge

'The text in this article is taken from a Canonization form submitted on the Discord. It is NOT CANNON and is subject to approval on the Discord.'

Creator
ScottyMelons

Description
The Library’s Edge is the name for the general unfilled and unfinished sections of the Library. The Edge can be broken down into three main sections, the Barren Floor, the Builder’s Hive, and the Outside. (From now on, I will be referring to the main section of the Library as the Observable Library) Closest to the Observable Library is the Barren Floor. One’s first encounter with the Barren Floor can be jarring, as the once full shelves will suddenly become very barren of books. Travelling further down, you will enter a massive open room that spreads without end to the left and right. Behind will be the walls of the Observable Library, in front you can catch glimpses of the Builder’s Hive, and directly above is the ceiling hundreds of meters above. In this room are thousands of empty bookshelves, lined up in equal repeating rows like a perfect warehouse. The air is horribly musty and contains the smell of various woods and stains. Those who wander into the Barren Floor have the feeling of primordial emptiness within, unexplainable and unescapable. About a mile further down is the Builder’s Hive. The Hive is often best described as a messy pile of discarded wood and scraps, stretching around the perimeter of the Library, piled high enough to reach the ceiling. It is here that the Builders live and do their work. Scattered across the Hive wall are holes as big as hallways that lead to maze-like corridors. These corridors are layered the same way as the wall of the Hive. Also connected to the corridors are fully built rooms of wood, disturbingly normal from the rest of the Hive. Corpse of victims caught and taken by Builders are often laid here. No one is sure what lies past the Builder’s Hive. Librarians never dare venture close to the Hive, and only the fiercest warriors and wizards alive are capable of surviving the hostile journey. Over the ages, a few lucky, or unlucky, individuals have managed to catch a glimpse of the fabled Outside, only for the very site to drive them mad. The report from every individual for what is Outside always varies. One reported it as an inconceivable space of realms smashing together; another rambled on about an endless ocean of swampy goo; and another mournfully talked about a singular plane containing a massive desert of dust.

History
The Library, from when the first book was placed, has always had the Edge. It is with this Edge that we protect the Library from the Outside. And as knowledge flows in, the Library will expand to meet this influx. We must be ready for this, to build not only the Library but the Edge too. Knowledge must flow, as ink must drip.

However, the Library can never, must never, and will never stop. There is no time to stop and think and consider. No time to judge or choose. No time to wait and see. No, it is time to build. The Universe is a special place, being the source of endless and creative ideas, spurred by even the dullest of people. Knowledge is conceived by the mind of the individual, and there are certainly many, many individuals that have not even been conceived. The Library must account for them.

Will it ever stop? No, do not think when, think why. Why would it stop. It stops not when there is no more space, but when no more space needs to be made. It stops only when knowledge does. There is no more knowledge only when there is no more Universe. Now you see? That is when we stop. Yes, you see it now don't you little one? You will know when we will stop and read and think. Now, go and build. The Library never rests and neither shall we.

Lore Intersection
The Library's Edge is a defined location for where the Library ends. It also gives the Builders, whom are responsible for building, rebuilding, and expanding the Library. If the Library was an analogy for endless knowledge, then the Library's Edge would be where the knowledge ends. The Barren Floor gives the feeling of emptiness and loss, like you reach the end and you cannot conceive what else to find. The Builder's Hive is the impenetrable wall of confusion in trying to decipher ideas you can never understand. The Outside is the insane truth to everything that is understandable to only those why see it for themselves.

Perhaps the biggest concept the Library's Edge adds is that it literally defines an edge the the Library. The Library would no longer be infinite, but only seemingly infinite. Travel far enough and you will run out of knowledge. However, there is always room for more books and for the Library to expand. The Library continues to grow and grow as more books flow in, making the infinite Library even more infiniter.