Though considered an honorary part of the Mage Academy campus, the Great Library is a good twenty minute walk from the school itself. Sprawling across carefully tended grounds at the eastern wall of the city of Wyllmochvar, the seat of the goddess is grand but otherwise corporeal. It is made of weathered grey bricks and decorated with mathematically relevant columns and spires, each edged in somber damask inlays of fine bluish stone. At night, the stone glows faintly with arcane light, reminding the city of the power that is stored within.

The yard out front is pleasantly tended, with a couple of graveled walkways snaking from the main path between shady oaks and willow trees. Stone benches are interspersed along the path and on one side, and there is a brook with a small waterfall. The landscape is designed more for fostering conversation and contemplation than for being particularly striking or beautiful. The main path is paved with stone and leads to a pair of oak wood doors.

The Atrium
The first, and often only, room that a visitor will see serves foremost as a study hall. On either side of the long velvet carpet that bifurcates the room is a symmetrical array of tables and chairs, a favorite location for some students of the Academy and never entirely vacant. High above sits an enormous dome with tall windows, shedding natural light where pale blue lanterns do not suffice. Between the floor and ceiling are layers of balconies that lead to deeper halls, connected in this epicenter by wrought iron spiral staircases.

To the left and right of the study area are long lanes of bookcases that stretch over the entire first floor, comprising of the Library’s general archive. A book on any topic imaginable can be found in this paper forest, and it is not unheard of for people to get lost in the narrow aisles. Notable exceptions include subjects of deep power and fragile or rare pieces, as well as private diaries and ledgers. The organization is unavoidably complex, but generally histories, novels, and other mundanities are contained closer in the center and magical subjects are located within their relevant wings. The books can be read at a borrower’s leisure, but cannot be physically removed from the premises without arcane documentation by a resident acolyte. This lowest floor is lined with tall windows, often framed by plush chairs for reading.

On the far wall, at the end of the velvet carpet, is a pointed archway with a shimmering threshold. Walking through the energy field is easy enough, but on the other side one is immediately affronted with the smell of blood and decay in the goddess’s throne room. She is not always found here, but nonetheless expects favors from supplicants and first-time visitors. This often takes the form of personal inventions, essays, enchanted items, et cetera, though Chae is known to enjoy a good old-fashioned sacrifice.

The upper floors of the Library are devoted to specific areas of research. Each department includes a main workshop at the end of the hallway, with doors leading to private workshops and study rooms, small instruction spaces, assigned dormitories, and material storage along the way. The main workshops are described below.

The Northwest Wing
Located on the second floor, the main necromancy workshop is often the best place to find the goddess at work. The floor is covered in a thick layer of cemetery dirt, with tables containing bodies at varying levels of life and unlife spaced toward the back. Experimental curses are suspended between pentagrams and an inventory of blood vials, organized by race, line one wall. There are a couple of large cages in the corner, usually unoccupied.

On the other side of a thick lead floor is the main summoning workshop, which is mostly composed of a giant, meticulously designed circle on the otherwise blank wooden floor. Crystals are embedded in the walls that can be magically activated to harness specific aspects of the great portal. Shelves full of notebooks frame the door, labelled by plane name and full of many different handwritings. Each contains specific coordinates for various parts of other planes as well as the creatures found within.

The North Wing
The disciplines of linguistics and arithmetic share the second floor of this wing, their workshop adapted into a lounge space for discussion and debate. The desks and coffee tables are often covered in more books and papers than workable space, but that seems to be how the acolytes like it. A short stage is raised at the back, holding a pair of podiums for presentations. The walls are papered and can be written on with ink quills, to be ripped down and replaced once or twice a week. 

The third floor smells faintly of alcohol, where the anatomy workshop is kept meticulously clean. Atop the polished floors is a single surgical table, complete with dissection utensils and observational equipment. The floor is raised steeply along the edges of the room, where onlookers may stand to get a better view of the proceedings. Vivisections can sometimes be heard all the way from the atrium, though there are in fact magics to disguise the noise.

The East Wing
The alchemy workshop, on the other hand, is heavily scented with more fresh reagents than even a discerning nose can identify. The room has shelves instead of walls, containing as many metals, dried herbs, liquids, and powders that an acolyte could ever need. Strange instruments made of ceramic and glass are set in intricate displays atop rows of tables. A big glass container, the height of three halflings, sits complacently in the corner, supplying fresh water from a long spout.

A giant, heavy table sits alone at the center of the low-lit enchanting workshop on the third floor. This room is plain, for its use can include in violent aftereffects, and often empty, for its craft is a tedious and difficult one. Still, this table is capable of channeling even the most subtle and secret enchantments into a worthy item. An inventory of low-grade gems is available for practice enchanting, as well as a separate, smaller selection of daggers.

The South Wing
Circles and lines casting intricate thaumaturgical symbols and runes are carved into the walls and floor of this second floor workshop, amplifying the effects of spells for ease of practice and manipulation. Candles, incense, mirrors, wooden totems, cloth scraps, stones, bowls of water, and countless other items are available for use. An inventory of magical orbs are also accessible as perfect mimics of a particular sound, smell, or other effect, so that acolytes can better reproduce them. 

Enough people were tossed through the third-story windows of the energetics workshop to warrant the establishment of a shimmering shield instead of glass, casting a spotty blue glow on the cushioned walls within. A complex arrangement of lines are marked on the ground to guide training sessions between acolytes. An undying force orb encases a lightning magic essence near the ceiling, serving as a source for the practice of electric magic.

The Annex
A last-minute addition to the Library juts out of the first floor of the south wing like a makeshift wall into the Library grounds. The aforementioned waterfall spreads into a narrow creek that feeds a large water wheel, which is connected to a sequence of gears inside the tinkering workshop. This is used to wind clockwork mechanisms and fuel the enchantment of golems. Spare parts, gears, springs, and various tools are stored in low cabinets on dirt floors. A series of stools and tables seem to always contain the clutter of some unfinished project.

As per Wyllmochvarian law, airship research and construction of airship parts is officially prohibited—though the goddess herself does not personally enforce this.