Welcome to the Wanderer's Library.
The Wanderer's Library is a collaborative fiction exercise. It's a collection of stories that explore strange and fantastic corners of the world, hidden from ordinary eyes. Some of the stories take place in the distant past, taking the form of legends and fables. Others are from the modern day, hiding in the shadows just out of sight. The basic premise is that there are strange things that are not quite of our world. Some are dangerous, some are merely fascinating. They are all in some respect extraordinary.
A big game hunter searches for hunting in other worlds.
A creature lives in alleyways and junkyards, collecting bits of trash to disguise itself.
A red thing of many parts promises everything you have ever wanted.
Stories here should try to evoke a Sense of Wonder, a sense that there is a larger world beyond the one we know. In the world of the Library, these wonders are hidden, but never truly far away. But never forget that this is a wilder world than our own, and it's never entirely safe, either. Tread with care.
Give the rules a once-over. After that, choose your own adventure:
These are our rules-in-progress. Breaking these rules can result in being warned by staff, having restrictions placed on you, temporarily revoking your membership, or being banned.
General
- Basic internet etiquette applies here. Being harsh is fine, but don't be an asshole, and definitely don't go trolling. No harassment of other users. (Note: Writing badly will not get you banned.)
- When you post on the site: Please post completed works! (Or, you know, completed chapters or sections. That sort of thing.) Drafts go in the Wanderer's Sandbox.
- If you disagree with any staff decision, feel free to contact another staff member, but don't just keep trying til you get a different answer. If you feel a user is breaking a rule, please contact staff.
- Please refrain from contentless or pointlessly nonsensical posts (i.e. "shitposting"). This applies to critique as well. Repeatedly infractions will lead to escalating consequences
Commenting & Voting
- You may comment however you like on an entry, as long as you're not trolling, making a personal attack, or posting just to post (see "shitposting," above).
- You may vote however you like on any entry, as long as you're voting on the entry. Not on whether you like or dislike the author, or for some other reason not related to the entry's quality.
- Don't upvote your own article!
Editing
- You can edit others' articles for reasons for format, grammar/spelling, or other minor edits. Don't make edits for content without the author's permission. Not even if the content is terrible. This goes for staff too.
Deletion
- When a page rating hits -5, the page may be deleted at staff discretion.
- Users may delete their own work at any time. You can do this by going to the bottom of the page, clicking "Options," and clicking on "Delete."
- Click "delete completely" and confirm your decision. Do not click "Just rename."
Author Pages
When you have created three or more pages, you can add an author page linking all your work together. Author pages are indexed here.
Other
- We reserve the right to add, remove, or modify rules at our discretion. Considering this is a rules-in-progress page, this certainly will happen.
Admins:
Dr. Everett Mann: The mysterious stranger who founded this site. Master admin. Not often paying attention to chat, but can be reached through PMs. Very cool, if you can get ahold of him.
Gaffney: Central Eurasianist who is upset that you don't know about Central Eurasia. Will happily point out awkward phrasing, questionable licensing issues, or the problematic nature of Soviet narratives of Islamization in Kazakhstan.
Rumetzen: Managed to trick people into thinking he's a good writer through the tactical application of pathos. On a good portion of the time, and always up for looking at drafts. Better at helping with prose, dialogue, and the other technical aspects of writing than ideas or story. Also goes by "Rheumatism", which should tell you everything you need to know, really.
Moderation:
Roget: The longest serving non-administrative staff member, as well as your mother's cousin's best friend's former roommate, Roget is supposedly a pretty nice guy and usually willing to help you out. He is best at ideas and overall content rather than mechanical issues. Very active on chat so if you have a draft, be sure to pitch it to him. Also a moderator on the SCP wiki, so if you have an SCP draft he can review those as well. We don't quite know how he does it, but he always wins at hopscotch.
Bryx: Hired solely due to the fact that he has no life, to the point where he checks the Library multiple times a day. Likely to be one of the first people to respond to new users' forum posts, whether they want him to or not. Combined with his work for the SCP Foundation, he currently has five series going, all of which are on their first tale.
Staff MIA: Pair of Ducks, tunedtoadeadchannel, thedeadlymoose, TroyL, Vivax, Pixeltasim
The Wanderers' Library is a place for stories that evoke a sense of wonder. Everything from epic tales to short blank verse poetry to audio and visual works are welcome here. The framing device that binds all of these disparate stories together is the Library and its world(s).
So, what is the Library?
The Library is a place that exists outside of normal space, containing almost every book ever written, and many that never were. There are doors that lead to it all around the world, and in other worlds as well. If you climbed to the top of the shelves, you'd see more shelves as far as you could see. There are walls, there are limits to it, but it's far larger than any man-made building.
The Library exists, so far as anyone knows, to collect and make available books and information. All are welcome to check out books or other materials. Much of the Library's workings are mysterious to its patrons. Some parts, known as the Archives, are accessible only to a select few, while others may only be accessed by the Librarians.
There are a few simple rules to the Library. Return your books on time. Don't damage books. Don't steal books. Don't damage Library property. Don't harm those within the Library. The ranks of the Librarians are filled with those who could not or would not follow them.
The Librarians the care-takers of the Library, who oversee its day-to-day maintenance. A patron is most likely to encounter one of three types on a given day.
The Archivists serve at the desks in the Main Hall of the Library. They have no eyes, but they know instinctively where to find any book in the Library. They also distribute the Library cards, check books out to people, and keep track of who has which book. If you look behind the desk, you'll find they have no legs, but instead are connected directly to the chairs that are rooted in the marble floor.
Pages reshelf the books in the Library. They have anywhere from six to ten arms, bowed legs, and squat bodies, making them excellent climbers, able to reach the highest shelves without need for a ladder. They rarely so much as touch the ground.
The Docents guide patrons through the Library, showing them where to find books, as well as stalking the stacks for violations of the rules. They are perfectly silent, and in fact have no mouths. Where their left hand should be, a chain grows, connected to a brass lantern that never grows dim.
The Docents in particular serve as the first line of defense for the Library against hostile entities. Some say that they are able to sense the presence of hostile beings even before they enter through a Way, although this claim is controversial, to say the least.
The Ways are connections between various worlds and realities. The Library is a nexus of ways insofar as almost every world is connected to it by at least one Way.
Each Way is a door of sorts. It can be anything from a literal door to an arch to a mirror. To go through, you have to "knock" at it; that is, do a specific action or fulfil some specific criteria. Maybe whistle in the right way or bring a seven-leaf clover or unspool a VHS copy of Enter the Dragon. That sort of thing. You "knock" at the Way, step through, and find yourself in a new world.
Not all Ways lead to the Library. Some lead to other worlds, some lead back to different places in the same world. The greatest minds, including those in the Serpent's Hand, have been unable to figure out how they work. If there's a logic to how they function, no one has been able to discover it yet.
The Serpent's Hand is a group of individuals who believe that the supernatural should not be suppressed or kept secret. Their individual ideologies can vary a great deal, as can their methods. They're more of a loose political movement than a concrete organization. The membership varies from normal humans who want to show what they've learned to others to those gifted with extranormal abilities, and even to non-human entities that desire the acceptance of human society.
While there is some debate about the age of the group, most agree that it has existed in one form or another since at least the late 19th century. For reasons that were unclear, the Hand was unable to access the Library for some time. It was only in 1967 that the Library was "rediscovered" by the Hand.
Despite the Hand's close association with the Library, there is no official link between the two. The Library serves as a base of operations and general meeting place for the Hand, but the Hand has no ownership over it in any meaningful sense.
There is no centralized command of the Serpent's Hand, with dozens of different factions and splinter groups each acting out their agenda under the name of the Serpent's Hand. This lack of organization is a function of the Hand's sole criteria for membership being "a willingness to consider oneself a member of the Hand." More than anything, the Serpent's Hand is an umbrella for those who wish to understand the worlds a bit better. It makes no demands of its members, nor gives any promises.
That being said, there are certain figures within the Hand who, through deeds, scholarship, or charisma, are more likely to have their voices listened to. One such figure is L.S., a leader of one of the more radical factions of the Hand. Engaging against, rather than just avoiding, groups like the Foundation and the Global Occult Coalition, L.S. has made a name for themselves, despite never being seen.
Now, if you came here from the Foundation, you might know the process for posting tales, but if you've never been, here's a rundown.
Coming up with ideas
Now, the Wanderers Library is a pretty open form for writing. We have stories from just about every place under the sun, and creating them can be pretty fun. Unfortunately, this open-ness can also lead to idea paralysis, where you have no idea where you want to go. Here are some tips:
1. Talk to people in chat and in the forums.
2. Perhaps check out The Things You Find for inspiration. Or, if you're looking for something more multimedia or long-form, try the inspirations thread.
3. Remember, there are an infinite number of topics you can cover, and the easiest way is to find inspiration is in life. Perhaps write a story about something you saw around the house that struck you as odd or interesting. If you have a "what if…" moment, roll with it.
4. Don't be afraid to experiment. If you want your piece to include photographs, drawings, advertising, or weird formats feel free to do so. If you need help you can look us up on the chat, hit the forums or send PMs. We like people who are willing to incorporate non-text in pieces on the site.
Posting
1. To start out, you have to write a story. "A story" can mean almost anything. A collection of pictures with a few lines of text could do it (and we've got some pieces like that). Artwork, poetry, prose - the sky's the limit.
2. Get your piece reviewed by some of your peers in the chat and in the forums.
3. When you feel it is time to post, go to the "Add a new page" module on the bottom left hand corner, and add the title of your story. Then, you will be taken to a page with that title, where you can post the story.
4. You're done! Go off and add it to the current announcement thread, and maybe bug the folks in chat to go read it. If you have an author page, don't forget to update it when you create a new story.
Make sure you have a rating module!
[[>]]
[[module Rate]]
[[/>]]
After that, you can announce your creation in the forums and chat. Remember to decide which book you'd prefer your piece to go in! (Or you can pick a few options and let staff decide).
You're almost done! There's just one more step…
Tagging
1. A staffer will be along to tag your article, and ask you what shelf you want it in. The shelf tag list can be found here.
2. Please, let the staff tag it unless you know what you're doing.
3. You're done!
