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The In Character Information Megathread!

The City is an old, old City that is constantly being added to and built up into the sky. Some historians believe the City People were not the original inhabitants of the City. Although many theorize that the City People have been building the City for so long that its exact beginnings have been lost, a fair number of ancient texts assert that the City had been partially built long before the City People arrived.

The City is always shrouded in darkness. The nights are pitch black, and the rise of the weak sun is never enough to bring daylight, only a sort of semi-twilight. Oil lamps burn in the streets "day" and night.

At present it has the look of a mid-19th century European city with its cobbled streets and crowded crooked streets. The City has grown up and around its original cathedral-like structures. It has a stunning collection of towers, equipped with intricately carved spires, transepts and flying buttresses. The gargantuan supports of the older, larger buildings often act as bridges and streets that are lined with newer, smaller houses and shops.

The City is divided into three sections: Lower, Middle, Upper. Each has a different feeling and focus.



Agricultural with the beginnings of an industrial section, most of the City's produce is grown here. There are no farms for animals here, because there simply are no animals. However, there is evidence that there were animals once long ago. The very oldest books are bound in leather, there are plenty of animal-bone artifacts, and there are even texts describing how to care for herd animals and other livestock. The City People are rather perplexed as to how their crops pollinate and grow without the help of insects and birds... but there's no denying there's something eerie and magical about a world with a forest made out of paper, so it's best just to accept it and not think too hard. Essentially this means that everyone in the City is vegan, not by moral imperative but simply because that's how things are.

The lowest level is less a part of the City and more like its countryside - it expands across the ground to the edge of the forest in fields, farmland, an small interconnected houses and bridges. Still, there isn't a lot of ground between the forest and the City and with the population slowly expanding because of the Book Children additional space for more food has been needed. To solve this problem, gardens and small-scale farming projects have begun to spread up the length of the City.

To provide water to their crops and the people in the city, a series of aqueducts and pumps draw water from a number of natural springs that bubble up in the Lower Layer. There is also a river that flows out of the forest from the north and winds its way through the City to the other side.

Neighborhoods in the Lower Layer: Gellisham is the only town-like area of the Lower layer. It's basically a few shops selling farm equipment on a single street.



This is the most crowded and disorganized layer of the City and in many ways the oldest. It is a maze of tiny, crooked, cobblestone streets and doors snugly tucked against each other and between the bookshelves. A tangle of shops, homes and everything in between, the bulk of business is done in the middle layer. It has the look of a city that's eating itself from lack of room to expand, though construction projects are continuously active, expanding outwards and connecting multitudes of towers with vast bridges, spiral staircases, lifts and flying buttresses. It is basically a ******** in the Middle: Sutfirth and Strathness, Eyncastor, Cheppinhew.

Sutfirth and Strathness are twin districts that are a general mash of small shops and residences, but mostly residences. They are the largest districts in the City and within them are many smaller neighborhoods. They exemplify the tangled look the City is known for, being the most crowded and twisted of all the districts with bridges and walkways going every which way and streets that seem to crawl up the length of the City at an almost perfectly vertical angle. It is said there are so many layers upon layers of buildings in Sutfirth and Strathness that on any particular walkway you can look up or down and see at least twelve other streets and bridges in either direction. Sutfirth is known for being a little shadier than Strathness, and to be sure it is a little sootier even if the number of chimneys rising from each district seems the same. Bordering on Sutfirth is Cheppinhew and bordering Strathness is Eyncastor.

The pulsing heart of commerce in the city, Cheppinhew's wide open streets host a variety of weekly cluttered, noisy markets selling everything. Every single thing known to man. When a particular street isn't filled with stalls, the shops themselves are open with owners peddling their wares. Though decidedly commercial in its purpose there are still some people who live here - shop owners above their businesses and poor students who can afford nowhere else.

Eyncastor is fairly small compared to the other districts. Though it hosts a great number of specialized services it's mostly known as the mechanical district. Clockwork engineers do their work here and for the most part they can make their strange and fantastic devices in relative peace and quiet. It is certainly the calmest district of the Middle Layer. It's also notable as being a hub for the arts. Musicians and artists congregate in pubs and lounges here if they're not posh or well-enough known to be invited to the fancy parties in the Upper Layer.


The uppermost layer of the City is the grandest and most cathedral-like. Where the elaborately carved towers of the original middle layer end, the upper layer is just getting started. The upper layer is always a work in progress, building itself up and up into the sky. For some the Upper Layer is a little disconcerting since it has the least ground to stand upon and is primarily a series of walkways and bridges with the buildings as hangers-on. It is comprised of the most beautiful building materials, polished to gleam as best it can in the low light of the perpetual semi-twilight. There are beautiful gardens, immense study halls and breath-taking views of the city and the forest. Here is where the City's administration takes place and where the most prized and rarest books are housed. The City's premier academy hosts the lectures and discourse of the City's most respected theologians, philosophers and forward-thinkers. Only those counted among them, as well as politicians and esteemed citizens, may live here though anyone may visit.

Notable neighborhoods in the Upper Layer: Fin Magna, Laghminster

Fin Magna is the name of the foremost place of learning in the entire City. It is an academy of the highest caliber, a triumph of knowledge composed of a triumvirate of... whatever. If you've got the money and you've got the smarts and, most of all, you have the drive to step on anyone who gets in your way then you'll find a way to attend the lectures in these esteemed halls. The posh neighborhood surrounding it carries its name and houses the faculty of the academy, their esteemed guests, and many, many rich benefactors in lavish townhouses.

Laghminster is the administrative district of the City. It has courthouses, offices, all your standard fare. Normally scattered throughout beautiful hanging bridge-gardens. While there are still some beautiful townhouses in this neighborhood it's far more business than residence.

Creatures much like humans who begin their lives on the outskirts of the City. They are constructs created with a mysterious purpose. Their bodies house the spirits of stories and books granted a new life by the forest, a place which the City People regard as holy, and they retain many of the characteristics of their book's subject or story. Often their personalities are shockingly different than what you would expect of the source material. Book Children cannot recall any of their previous life, how they were destroyed or why they were reborn, but they can recite their entire book from memory. They tell their stories to the City People who transcribe them to add to the books in the library. Although they are called Book "Children" they are not always children, many of them are of an indeterminate age. Book Children do not grow old or die but neither can they reproduce.

Book Children do not know who created them, they merely wake up fully formed at the edge of the City and the forest.




Are Book Children only based off of fictional stories?
No, they just need to be based off a story. Even a non-fiction book tells a story. A book on geology tells you the story of the earth's history, after all. See the stickies in the Quest subforum for more in-depth details.

So these are cosplay pets?
No! Not really. Most of them embody the spirit of the entire story or book. Some stories - especially popular ones or stories with a wide cast of characters - are split into several pets who resemble or reference the characters in the book somehow. This makes it so that a popular series (for instance) isn't tied to just one pet and one owner. But cosplay pets are going to look exactly like the character from the book, which is not likely to happen. Even with character-based Book Children the artist is going to change around the character's design as they like. They may even change their age or gender. EX: Hansel and Gretel are very young children in their original story, but they are drawn as adults in this shop.

Overall these pets are not intended to be cosplays and most of them will usually seek to capture the entire story. If you want to learn more about making character-based Book Children click here.

Do Book Children believe in their stories?
Not unless they're crazy, lol. Book Children wake up with no memories but they do remember every word of the story they were born from. However, they have clear enough identities to know they are only just beginning their life now. Even if they look like a character from a story, they would know they are not actually that character reincarnated or anything. They may be born from stories and characters, but they have free will and they are just themselves. Their personalities, names, likes and dislikes are their own.

How do we know how old they are?
It's up to the player to determine the age of their Book Child. Book Children always remain the same age from their first day of life. They do not start out as babies or children that grow to a certain point and then stop. They just have always looked the same way. Maybe it's a book with a childish narrative or a simple writing style, so you decide the Book Child has a younger appearance. Maybe the book is really deep and sophisticated so they're older looking. How mentally mature they are when they come out of the forest is entirely up to the player, but a Book Child's "actual" age is measured in years, not physical appearance. The oldest Book Children within the City around are about 250 years old. The First Child's sudden arrival (and disappearance) is dated to about 700 years ago, leaving a gap of quite some time between him and the rest of the Book Children.

Book Children can't die?
Right. You can shank 'em, push them off buildings, burn them to a crisp, attempt to chop off their heads, but their body will always regenerate before whatever you've done can kill them. The wound will close up before bleeding out, the head will never fully separate from the body, etc. Handy! But the downside is they will still feel all of it and their wounds will leave scars behind. Ouch!

Can City People see the book children before they eat and sleep in the city? Or is it more a mystery why their food is floating and disappearing?
City People can see the newly arrived Book Children, but to new Book Children the City People are basically ghosts. Invisible and incorporeal. Which would make things look like they're moving by themselves to the Book Children until they eat and take a nap. It also means that new Book Children can walk through City People without even knowing it. But there's always people watching the forest looking for new arrivals so that there will be another Book Child there to meet them and help them get adjusted.

Can Book Children use magic?
They cannot! Book Children are (so far) not the least bit magical ... if you don't count the whole "immortal with super fast healing and ink for blood" as magical, that is. Sometimes their art has little floating accessories or sparkles or what have you, but that's really just for flavor and not actually canon magic.
You should expect to see this change with the progression of the metaplot though.

Forest Guards

The forest guards (guardians, sentinels, what have you) are a rare sight from the City. Their primary purpose seems to be to direct newborn Book Children to the Library City and to keep City People out of the forest. There seem to be three of them judging by the reports of Book Children, each with a different shape. The forest guardians do not seem to have the ability to talk... or perhaps they are simply not inclined to do so. They are silent watchers.

Though they are quite large and rather ugly and intimidating, their manner is gentle and measured. In the cases of particularly stubborn children they may attempt to pick them up and carry them to the edge of the forest, but for the most part they just nudge gently and follow along behind the children as they make their way to the City on their own. When a Book Child is born they awaken alone, but before so much as an hour as passed a guardian is usually with them to help them find their way.

Atelhe - The largest guard and the one most Book Children encounter, it is clearly visible above the treeline and can be observed from the City's upper layer as it moves around in the forest. Trees and stones are carried on its back.

Avautrus - The only guard with wings, and the least frequently encountered by new Book Children. It can sometimes be seen flying low above the trees in the distance.

Akhwan - The smallest guard, not easily spotted from outside the forest. It is the size of a small elephant and covered in shaggy hair. Sometimes described as the scariest, given its many sharp teeth and eerie eyes.

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