Crownspire Library

The Great Library of Crownspire is both a public center of learning and the greatest known repository of arcane knowledge in Kingsreach. Anyone may enter its first floor, but the tower rises through increasingly powerful circles of magic.

The guiding rule of the library is simple:

The higher one climbs, the greater the knowledge.

The First Floor: The Common Library

Admission: Free

The first floor is open to everyone.

Its vast halls contain histories, maps, legends, religious works, monster lore, noble genealogies, military records, journals, and accounts of forgotten ruins.

A large common lounge provides tables, fireplaces, food and drink, and quiet places where adventurers and scholars may meet.

No arcane spellbooks are kept on this level.

Floors 2 Through 10: The Arcane Tower

Each floor above the Common Library corresponds to one level of magic-user spells.

1. Floor 1: Common Library, free
2. Floor 2: 1st-level spells, 10 gp access
3. Floor 3: 2nd-level spells, 20 gp access
4. Floor 4: 3rd-level spells, 30 gp access
5. Floor 5: 4th-level spells, 40 gp access
6. Floor 6: 5th-level spells, 50 gp access
7. Floor 7: 6th-level spells, 60 gp access
8. Floor 8: 7th-level spells, 70 gp access
9. Floor 9: 8th-level spells, 80 gp access
10. Floor 10: 9th-level spells, 90 gp access

Access is progressive. A mage must qualify for and pass through the lower floors before gaining access to higher collections.

Once inside an authorized floor, the spells themselves are free to read and memorize. A mage who merely wishes to study or memorize an available spell pays no additional spell fee.

Scribing a Spell

A mage wishing to permanently copy a library spell into a personal spellbook must scribe it.

The library charges:

10 gp per spell level

A 1st-level spell costs 10 gp to scribe. A 5th-level spell costs 50 gp. A 9th-level spell costs 90 gp.

This fee is separate from the cost required to gain access to the appropriate library floor.

The mage may personally copy the spell if equipped with the proper magical inks, quills, parchment, and other materials required by the campaign's spell-scribing rules.

Normal rules governing whether the character can learn the spell still apply.

Library Scribes

Professional arcane scribes are available for mages who lack the proper ink, parchment, materials, or skill needed to make the copy themselves.

A library scribe charges:

10 gp per level of the spell.

The scribe provides the required writing materials and carefully copies the spell into the mage's personal spellbook.

The work normally requires one full day per level of the spell.

A 1st-level spell takes about one day.

A 3rd-level spell takes about three days.

A 6th-level spell takes about six days.

A 9th-level spell may require nine full days of careful work.

During this time, the spellbook remains in the custody of the assigned library scribe.

Floor 11: The Masters' Level

The eleventh floor marks a dramatic change.

There are no higher spell levels displayed upon public signs.

There are no posted admission prices.

There is only a guarded stairway and an inscription carved above its entrance:

"Knowledge grants power. Mastery grants responsibility."

Floor 11 is known as the Masters' Level.

It is the beginning of true magical mastery and the home of the Mage Masters of Crownspire.

These are among the most powerful and learned magic-users in Kingsreach. They serve as teachers, researchers, royal advisors, guardians of dangerous knowledge, and masters of specialized schools of magic.

Reaching this floor is not something that can simply be purchased.

A mage must have proven worthy of entering the company of the Masters.

Above the Eleventh Floor

The floors above the Masters' Level are invitation only.

Gold cannot purchase admission.

Rank alone does not guarantee entrance.

Even powerful archmages may spend their entire lives without seeing what lies above.

Invitations are granted by the Mage Masters themselves.

A mage might receive an invitation because of extraordinary magical achievement, service to Kingsreach, discovery of lost knowledge, recovery of an ancient artifact, or completion of a task important to the Masters.

What lies upon these floors is rarely discussed.

Some say they contain spells unknown to ordinary magic-users.

Others speak of laboratories where new magic is created.

There are rumors of portals to distant planes, collections of Elder Kingdom artifacts, living spellbooks, imprisoned magical beings, and chambers where the Mage Masters study the deepest mysteries of the First Flame.

Even the number of floors above the eleventh is uncertain.

From outside Crownspire, observers sometimes count twelve towers.

Sometimes thirteen.

On certain nights, when strange stars appear above the city, witnesses swear there are more.

The Mage Masters never explain the difference.

Among students of the Crownspire Library there is an old saying:

"The first ten floors teach a mage how to use magic. The eleventh teaches why. What lies above is known only to those invited to climb."

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