The Agendums of Ascent

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"I remember when they bought the building. Strange birds. Genial chap from the University; woman with singed eyebrows. They wanted me to devise a filing system for their books and papers, which I did. Elegant use of facets, I thought. Then yet another of their group scrapped the whole thing. He replaced it with some system based around seasons – and to top that all off, it plunges the whole mess into darkness. I hope he stubs his toe flailing around in there."[1]

The Agendums of Ascent is a library owned by the Calendar Council.

Le Quattro Stagioni[edit | edit source]

"Close to the Brass Embassy, you find the library in question. Its intricate masonry speaks of grand aspirations, but its windows are coated in Ladybones grime."[1]

The Agendums of Ascent is owned by the Calendar Council,[2] and newspapers from the area suggest that it is a staging ground for experiments involving the Liberation of Night.[3] The building was originally purchased by April and an unidentified "genial chap" from the University,[4] and they contracted an academic to design its filing system. However, another member of the Council overruled this plan, and indexed the collection by season instead.[5]

The Agendums' four main chambers each correspond to a season. They also contain a mechanism to shutter the room's lights and windows and plunge it into pitch blackness,[5] as well as a one-way door[6][7] so that visitors may explore the seasons cyclically.[8][9]

The Collections[edit | edit source]

"The room of Spring is decorated in a palette of greens, from the olive upholstery to the pine and mossy shades of the carpet and ceiling. The scheme may not please a Veilgarden decorator, but it vividly evokes Surface days."[1]

"The switch is concealed in a recess behind a shelf. When you depress it, the switch withdraws into the wall. A whirring arrangement of clockwork tilts the window slats, slowly narrowing the strips of light between them. At the same time, the interior lamps are snuffed, so the room plunges into darkness. There is no obvious way to reverse the process."[1]

The Winter Collection is painted in a frosty-white color that captures and softens all surrounding light.[10] It contains the archives of December,[11] January,[12] and February.[13]

The Spring Collection is painted and decorated in leafy and mossy shades of green.[14] It contains the archives of March,[15] April,[16] and May.[17] Darkening the chamber reveals a glowing map of London on the ceiling. The city's districts are highlighted in purple, some more intensely than others; according to the map's key, purple denotes "LIBERATION."[18]

The Summer Collection is lit by concealed flames that use an array of prisms and lenses to bath the room in golden light.[19] It contains the archives of June,[20] July,[21] and August.[22] Darkening the room raises its temperature[23] and reveals a huge schematic on the ceiling,[24] drawn in a glowing orange color that may be cosmogone, the color of remembered suns.[25][26] The diagram's enormous scale and complex system of wheels imply it is a blueprint for the Dawn Machine.[24]

The Autumn Collection is a cozy space decorated in earthy and autumnal tones.[27] It contains the archives of September,[28] October,[29] and November.[30] The room's darkening mechanism requires two switches to be pressed at once,[31] and when triggered it reveals an intricate star map on the ceiling, like a cloudless night on the Surface before dawn.[32]

The Special Collection is a hidden room whose entrance is only visible when the Winter Collection's chamber is darkened.[33] Lined with black velvet, this space contains a treasure trove of rare and ancient books, including a papyrus from the Second City.[34]

References[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 The Calendar Code, Fallen London
  2. ↑ The Calendar Code, Fallen London "His eyes flick over your shoulder. "That's not just any library you're talking about. [...]. Put together by upmarket anarchist types. Twelve of them in total. [...] between you and me, I reckon they're up to something big." [...] You press him for details [...] He [...] bolts for the bar."
  3. ↑ The Calendar Code, Fallen London "Something strange happened on this section of Ladybones Road. Was it to do with this mysterious library? [...] About two weeks ago? [...] There, [...] a short report of a 'temporary darkness' on Ladybones Road. The phenomenon lasted for about forty-five seconds. Although candles and lanterns seemed to remain lit [...] their light was invisible to all."
  4. ↑ The Calendar Code, Fallen London "I remember when they bought the building. [...] Genial chap from the University; woman with singed eyebrows."
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 The Calendar Code, Fallen London "They wanted me to devise a filing system for their books and papers, which I did. [...] Then yet another of their group scrapped the whole thing. He replaced it with some system based around seasons – and to top that all off, it plunges the whole mess into darkness. [...]"
  6. ↑ The Calendar Code, Fallen London "A one-way passage [...] After you step through, the door closes flush with the wall behind you. There is no handle."
  7. ↑ The Calendar Code, Fallen London "Another one-way door [...] Impressive craftsmanship, if a vulgar gimmick."
  8. ↑ The Calendar Code, Fallen London "One way [...] There's no point in turning back now."
  9. ↑ The Calendar Code, Fallen London "You have worked out the routine by now. [...] This fourth door returns you to the first room."
  10. ↑ The Calendar Code, Fallen London "The Winter Collection [...] The room of Winter is painted a gentle shade of white. Every gleam, [...] is captured and softened by the frosty walls."
  11. ↑ The Calendar Code, Fallen London "Study a book about astronomy [...] the final chapter explains the motivations of stars as if the author knows them personally."
  12. ↑ The Calendar Code, Fallen London "Read a radical textbook [...] The bulk of the text dwells on methods to radicalise students of that discipline; [...]"
  13. ↑ The Calendar Code, Fallen London "Examine a bloodstained volume [...] manual for hand-to-hand combat. [...] The author's [...] style suggests these techniques are far from theoretical."
  14. ↑ The Calendar Code, Fallen London "The Spring Collection [...] The room of Spring is decorated in a palette of greens, from the olive upholstery to the pine and mossy shades of the carpet and ceiling."
  15. ↑ The Calendar Code, Fallen London "Read a book of nonsense [...] play. Or fool. Victory is thus inevitable."
  16. ↑ The Calendar Code, Fallen London "Examine a folio of ordnance [...] Its contents seem to be weapon designs."
  17. ↑ The Calendar Code, Fallen London "Study a book of love stories [...] stories of old lovers separated by dark waters, and of hearts turned to stone."
  18. ↑ The Calendar Code, Fallen London "In the darkness, you can make out delicate, glowing lines above your head. [...] You have to crane your neck to examine the map. [...] you recognise London. [..] you notice a different shade of luminescence, a rich purple woven through the streets [...] In some neighbourhoods it seems sparse; in some it glows freely. On the rudimentary key, inscribed in the same shade, is the word LIBERATION."
  19. ↑ The Calendar Code, Fallen London "The Summer Collection [...] The room of Summer is bathed in golden light. An intricate array of prisms and lenses refracts and diffuses the light of concealed flames."
  20. ↑ The Calendar Code, Fallen London "Peruse a manual of pleasure [...] Despite its eyebrow-raising title, this little volume is concerned with simple amusements."
  21. ↑ The Calendar Code, Fallen London "A gap on the shelves [...] you find an old bookmark of smudged yellow paper. [...] You've gained 1 x Carnival Ticket."
  22. ↑ The Calendar Code, Fallen London "A volume of polemic [...] A closer reading reveals a position which shifts and transforms from page to page."
  23. ↑ The Calendar Code, Fallen London "[...] the blind closes, shutting you in to the room of Summer. Was it so stifling before? Not like an oven. Not like that at all."
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 The Calendar Code, Fallen London "The entire ceiling is a schematic, traced in orange phosphorescence. [...] Wheels of fire [...] precise diagrams of clockwork, [...] Beyond the main wheels, the cogs are so delicate, and the lines so thin, [...] Whatever this device may be, its workings are incredibly complex. And if that scale marker is correct, it is also immense."
  25. ↑ Items description, Sunless Sea "C lights COSMOGONE, the colour of remembered suns."
  26. ↑ The Calendar Code, Fallen London "The room of Summer swelters in darkness. It is alive with the memory of a faraway sun."
  27. ↑ The Calendar Code, Fallen London "The Autumn Collection [...] The room of Autumn is a restful and airy space, with comfortable chairs of tawny leather and low mahogany tables."
  28. ↑ The Calendar Code, Fallen London "Decrypt a book of ciphers [...] You recognise from the lexical quirks that somebody is quoting Mr Pages. [...] What follows is an exhaustive deconstruction of each sentence, [...]"
  29. ↑ The Calendar Code, Fallen London "Brave a book of nightmares [...] These appear to be genuine nightmares, [...] Each is followed by a discussion about how it can be exploited to manipulate political thought. [...]"
  30. ↑ The Calendar Code, Fallen London "Examine a book of blank pages [...] The stories to be written on these pages depend on the actions of today."
  31. ↑ The Calendar Code, Fallen London "Clues from your reading suggest two switches here, set into the skirting board. They must be pressed simultaneously. [...] The mechanism chatters and the lights are slowly snuffed out."
  32. ↑ The Calendar Code, Fallen London "A star map [...] the cold scintillations paint a familiar skyscape. [...] you could be back on the Surface, staring up into a cloudless sky; awaiting the first touch of dawn."
  33. ↑ The Calendar Code, Fallen London "Trigger a final darkness [...] The mechanism turns; the light dies; and there it is. A vertical line of luminescence [...] As the line widens, the books and shelves part to reveal a narrow entrance to a chamber lined with cases."
  34. ↑ The Calendar Code, Fallen London "The Special Collection [...] Jet-black velvet lines the walls; rare books are arranged like tomb treasures. [...] volumes of celestial mysteries, secret rituals, hand-drawn atlases. [...] the papyrus [...] elegant glyphs painstakingly inscribed with ink thousands of years old."
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