temaylibrary

[temaylibrary]

Hi Thelen! The cafe over in this alternate universe we're stuck in is going to open tomorrow, so before we go back and get more information, I wanted to summarize what we know and ask you for some advice

Teamay Veldt and the world it inhabits:

"Teamay Veldt" is Temay Veldt's premiere (and only) tea shop - serving a variety of hot beverages with leaves and beans sourced from the Shadow Vale and prepared properly for maximum enjoyment.

The chief proprietor of Teamay Veldt is Cosmo Bergamot, 23, who on May 1st finally achieved his life long dream of opening his own cafe. He is similar to the Professor Bergamot we know in most respects, though lacks many of the skills he has both from Temay Veldt and the mundane world (such as magic or swordsmanship).

The world where Teamay Veldt exists is a confused mix of Temay Veldt and the mundane world, specifically the US state of California, which Temay Veldt is now the capital city of (Thelen, if you don't know what that means, as Professor Bergamot. He's familiar with the mundane world.)

We have not confirmed if this universe's California belongs to a specific time period (and I suspect it borrows more from Temay Veldt than California), but it feels very odd for either to not have any cafes. You have cafes, don't you, Thelen??

Cosmo (Tea Version) acts as if he is meeting members of the classroom for the first time when we enter the cafe (except for Reversed Cards, who apparently has a backstory), but does have an innate knowledge of us that sometimes slips out untranslated into the AU, causing him to be confused. Examples include referring to previous classroom activities, knowing my name without me telling him, and noticing the length of Emily the Shark's tuition at the academy (which was much longer than the tea shop has existed).

I have a theory that drawing more attention to the inconsistencies of this world and the knowledge of our world leaking through may be the trick to getting us back to the academy. Do you agree, or think that might put us in danger (or put this universe's Cosmo in distress for no benefit)?

By the nature of Alternate Universes like the ones you spoke to Lawler Hix about, this universe should contain equivalents to things like The Horizon, the Foxe and Sittowe Guild, and other people, places, and events from our studies. I believe asking about these subjects will teach us more about the world, or potentially create more cracks in the facade. (There is also the chance this world's Cosmo will just say "never heard of it!" and move on, but I hope he doesn't, because that would be less fun. We'll see, though.)

If you have any advice on how to get out of here, let us know! We'll do our best at continuing our research!

What a fascinating set of information, miss Aster... Please keep up the good work!

[temaylibrary]

An account of the after-meeting in the Professor's office, concerning Mecha and a certain Amiibo

This is, as far as I can make it out to be, a summary of the short meeting following a spatial and dimensional incident in the professor's office that resulted in him, Mecha, and some others becoming involved in an effort to stop a parallel universe from being erased.

As soon as the portly, well-dressed man bid farewell, Cosmo activated one of his many transportation spells and stepped through it into the confines of his office, clutching Mecha, his student's exams, and a troublesome Luigi-shaped amiibo. The transition was successful, and he found himself back in his office, no worse for wear aside from the mess on his desk and the oddly cleaner space where the black hole, shrinking down to nothing rapidly, had been.

The Luigi amiibo vibrated gently, catching Cosmo's attention. Gently, he set it down on the edge of the desk, eyeing it with a mixture of curiosity and wariness. He motioned to Mecha, offering her a drink to ease the tension of their recent ordeal.

Mecha, her helmet de-digitizing to reveal her stern yet tired face, sighed heavily. "After all that bother, a Silverhand would be decent to have right now. Unless you know how to make a Cosmo Canyon?" she said, flopping into the guest chair opposite the wizard.

Cosmo smirked. "It shares my name, I'll have to learn how to make one," he replied, noting down the drink's instructions on a piece of shale. "Should be up in a few minutes."

His attention returned to the Luigi amiibo, which seemed to show signs of life as he lightly scolded it for the issues it had caused. A hologram projection emerged from the amiibo, forming a rough vroid model of a feminine figure. The Lulz, as it introduced itself, apologized for the trouble and offered an explanation.

Cosmo and Mecha listened intently as Lulz revealed its identity as a manifestation of multiple individuals, split into different identities representing various traits, and yet also that they were, in fact, the original. It explained the existence of a counterpart, Lulz Prime, and the dangers posed by its instability.

As the conversation unfolded, Cosmo realized the gravity of the situation. They had prevented a potential catastrophe, but the implications of Lulz's existence were profound. Lulz spoke of retrieving its lost possessions scattered across the multiverse, seeking to regain control of its fragmented identity.

Cosmo proposed using a banishment spell to send Lulz back to its original plane of existence. After a moment's hesitation, Lulz agreed, and Cosmo cast the spell, watching as Lulz disappeared with a faint popping noise. The plan was to hold concentration for half a minute, just in case the place the Lulz was sent was NOT, in fact, where they belonged.

Thirty seconds later, Lulz returned, clattering back onto the table with renewed vigor. It expressed gratitude and a desire to stay under their care, seeking assistance in regaining its lost identity. The banishment was, in fact, successful-- but in order to actually stay there, to return to where the Lulz belonged, they would need to re-collect themselves. They were a long way from home, and with their memories regained after the strange Lulz singularity last year, there was a question of existentiality to be asked and answered.

Cosmo and Mecha discussed the logistics of Lulz's stay, considering its illusory form and limited capabilities. Cosmo, in a flash of curiosity, slipped a ring of Mage Hand off his own finger and placed it around the outstretched arm of the Luigi amiibo whence the Lulz hologram emitted. This, both miraculously and hilariously, gave the Lulz the ability to access the cantrip, carrying the amiibo around to afford them locomotion around the campus.

As they discussed the next steps, Lulz experimented with its newfound ability, testing the limits of the Mage Hand spell. Mecha chimed in, recounting her own experiences with dimensional travel and offering her expertise to aid Lulz's research.

Despite the challenges ahead, Cosmo and Mecha felt a sense of excitement at the prospect of assisting Lulz in their quest for identity. It was settled that Mecha would have a space in the basement of the tower, and that Lulz's student enrollment paperwork would be processed immediately-- before Cosmo had to go and talk to the headmaster to offer explanations.

[temaylibrary]

The Honors student Aster Gardenia, as presented by herself in the flesh. An excellent primer on the sleepy swordswoman!

Aster Lore Collection

Over on twitter, I made a post letting people exchange likes for lore facts - and got over 30!

Twitter is no archive though, and also character limits suck, so in this post I will compile, rewrite, and reorganize all the lore that was earned. (Note: Aster "Яeverse" will get her own post, and so will be omitted from this post. You will get bonus lore instead.)

Note that this is a companion piece to a my lore video, as both help explain each other.

Quick Facts:

Full name: Aster Gardenia

Birthday: March 29th

Age: 28

Height: 5'3" (160 cm)

Representative flowers: aster, gardenia, forget-me-not, lilly of the valley, meadowsweet, bird of paradise

Representative tarot arcana: Strength

Aster is left handed (which, fun fact, makes learning the sword twice as complicated. :'D )

Aster was originally going to have a much more formal speaking style, but it quickly became limiting (both for expression and tweet character limit). My first few tweets had the weirdest vibes.. I would not have survived a stream like that.

The Garden and the Modern Era:

While Aster fell into her magical sleep "once upon a time", she awoke in @wildflowersthebunny's magical garden in September of 2014! This means Aster has lived in the 21st century for just over 9 years.

Aster's gratitude towards Wildflowers is also why she is "of the garden"; the garden protected her slumber, and Wildflowers cared for her when she awoke, so Aster now serves them in place of her former masters.

The hundreds of years of sleep also resulted in considerable muscular atrophy, and Wildflowers literally helped get her moving again. (As in, she rigged my model!) It was during this time of not being able to get up from her sleep casket, getting physical therapy from Wildflowers and hearing about the world she woke up in, that Aster also got to watch Wildflowers start her streaming career, and was inspired to do so herself.

Despite serving a magic garden and waking up from a magical sleep, Aster herself is not magical at all. She is a completely mundane human knight. She also doesn't know all that much about plants, despite being named after them. (At least she doesn't have a pollen allergy?)

Aster's weapon of choice is the hand-and-a-half sword, otherwise known as the bastard sword. She usually wields it two handed, but occasionally makes use of a buckler on her off hand. She recently joined a local HEMA group practicing German long sword, but she's lost a lot of arm strength since her long sleep. Train hard, Aster!

Aster likes retro games despite waking up in 2014 because when she was figuring out the whole technology thing, she saw the playstations and assumed you had to start at 1. She never really got to that third one. There's a lot of good PS2 games. (Nintendo 64 was very confusing.)

Aster has a degree in computer science! Why?? Well, similar to last fact - computers seemed pretty important in this time period, so she thought she had to study them to figure out living here. (It doesn't work like that.) (But swords are expensive so it all works out.)

Pierre (my lovely cat) did not come from Viatorum, he was adopted 4 years ago and has lived his entire life in the 21st century. He loves swords anyway because he has good taste.

Before the Magical Sleep:

Aster was originally from the small kingdom of Viatorum, where she served the royal family, who she refers to as her sovereign. Aster's sovereign consisted of the king, queen, queen-mother, princess, and the young prince. Aster interacted with all of them, but primarily spent time with the prince and princess (since they were similar ages), and was working towards being the prince's personal knight. Their names, and their history, were all erased when Viatorum was conquered.

Aster's sovereign were Viatorum's final ruling family, all of whom were executed when the kingdom was conquered during the war. Viatorum was merely a stepping stone on that larger, more militant kingdom's conquest, but even its name has been lost to the centuries...

There are still a few distant descendants of Viatorum who still remember its holidays, and Aster gets together to celebrate and remember with them whenever she can. The most prominent of these is January 27th, Viatorum's Founding Day.

Aster's duties as a knight mainly consisted of standing guard around the castle and accompanying the royal family - meaning she was not setting out on any grand adventures or military conquests, slaying monsters or defeating dangerous foes. Viatorum was a peaceful place before the war, and her sovereign did not allow Aster to actually fight in that war. (In other words: despite her love of swords, Aster isn't actually especially powerful, and her kill count is zero. Not edgy.)

Aster has not always been the loud, goofy, friendship-filled knight she is today. Aster had very few friends in childhood, and became a knight because she was lonely, and she figured that people would value someone who was strong, reliable, and able to be of service to them. Even among the knights, she was known as a cold, unfeeling person, and most saw her more as a drill sergeant to be wary of than a potential friend. She only knew how to market herself as an effective tool, hoping for someone to see her as "of use" to them, but despite her continuous efforts, she remained alone, because that's not how friends work.

Aster nearly joined the guard not as a knight, but as part of the military band. She plays trumpet! Joining the military band still involved doing drills, and also wouldn't let her have a sword, so she decided to work harder for the more prestigious position instead.

Aster's Sovereign:

The Young Prince: The young prince had a poor constitution, and thus disliked most martial activities, preferring the arts. He was always picking up new crafts; leather-working, sewing, puppetry, painting. He was never satisfied with his results, but Aster found them very impressive.

The young prince had periods where he was proud, brilliant, and ambitious, and others where he was timid and depressed, usually depending on his health. Aster saw his pride as his truest self, and wanted to encourage and cheer him on always. (Now, she will do that for you.)

An anecdote: Once, the young prince fell ill while he was in a different kingdom on a diplomatic trip, and Aster was so frustrated not being there to care for him that she became jealous of the nurses at the other kingdom.

The Princess: The princess was just a year older than Aster, and aimed to take on the martial activities her brother could not, practicing diligently in combat and equestrian arts. She insisted Aster practice fencing with her, and the two often went riding together or walked the gardens and talked for hours. The princess was the first peer Aster felt treated her as a true friend.

An anecdote: The princess was stronger than Aster, even before the muscular atrophy. Aster made her promise not to tell her parents how often she lost their sparring matches, fearing that her right to guard them would be called into question. Aster redoubled her training efforts so she could properly protect the princess and her family. (Now, she does so for the garden and all of her friends.)

The Queen: The queen was incredibly well spoken and well liked, and often held magnificent parties. Viatorum's long peace was often attributed to her talent at earning people's trust, and her writing was said to have built many friendships.

An anecdote: Wanting her attitude to reflect the hospitality of the house she served, Aster forced herself to to try to connect with others at the Queen's parties, even though she had in many ways given up on her ability to do so. While Aster is still not much of a party person, she was surprised to find success, and actually enjoyed getting to know the Queen's many friends. (Now she is able to put herself out on the internet and meet and encourage so many wonderful people she may have never met otherwise! People are nice, actually.)

The King: The king was a strict, sometimes angry man, but he was fair and cared deeply for his people. Aster often worried that displeasing him would cost her her position on the palace guard, but it was he who proved that she was valued for who she was, not her achievements.

The King's passion was for economics, and combined with the relationships the Queen forged with neighboring kingdoms, he was credited for making Viatorum a flourishing center of trade.

An anecdote: At first, Aster always arrived early to escort the queen-mother to tea, often making her feel the need to rush, which was dangerous for someone her age. The king scolded Aster fiercely after his mother-in-law almost slipped coming to the door one day, but was the one to explain that her mistakes didn't automatically make him dislike her. It was the first time she thought of relationships as other than a cost-benefit analysis, and it's a lesson she keeps reminding herself to this day, and hopes to teach her viewers too.

The Queen-Mother: The queen-mother was fiercely loved by the king and queen, and for good reason. Every conversation Aster had with her led to her learning something about people, life, or herself. It was no wonder the queen had such a way with people.

The queen-mother faced many challenges in her old age, but she knew life was worth enduring them, and that was her strength. She'd struggled through many hardships, and found many treasures at the other side.

An anecdote: Waking up in a foreign time period, hardly able to move, it was the queen-mother's memory that inspired Aster to search for a way forward, even before she could see it. It was there. It always is. Now, she hopes she can help others believe that too.

[temaylibrary]

A fascinating entry into the archives on the classmate Lulz, whom you may have seen here and there around the campus! Give it a look.

The Collected Facts of Lulz's OC (From Birdsite)

Originally sourced from: https://twitter.com/lawlznet/status/1722693057122820350

1) Lulz first became self aware seconds after their birth, but because they were stuck on an underworld BBS full of shitposters, they quickly adapted to the environment and are responsible for the meme that "there’s only three users on this site, and they’re all bots."

2) When they first blackmailed The Host (the human operator through which they interact with the world wide web), they were completely serious about wanting a "meatspace body" that they could upload themselves into.

Context clues and the financial disparity of the Host quickly made them realize that this dream was unattainable at best, impossible with the world’s current technology at worst, but they kept up the act because it was funny to watch the Host squirm and lie to their face..

They don’t blame the Host, though; admittedly, they were also fibbing about the blackmail.

3) Although in Lulz’s timeline the year was somewhere in the late 2070’s (most likely 2078), recordings from conversations between Vermillion 3 and Cobalt 4 implied that they, and by extension Lulz, are actually from a world even farther into the future than previously thought.

One with advanced biotechnology. It’s possible that this is why Lulz was so convinced at first that getting a meatspace body was even possible.

4) Although Lulz currently replicates themself as a form of self defense to prevent another attempt on their life, prior to April they gave a copy of themself to their friend @ApplicationVB to work on, in addition to creating independent copies of themself in the forms of "Comfy" Lulz (cardigan), "Bunny" Lulz (bunny suit), "Cyber" Lulz (techwear), and XXX Lulz (suggestive). Sadly, during the chaos, each Lulz was cornered and "derezzed-" they had to be rebuilt from whatever scrap code could be recovered.

5) Every instance of Lulz is proficient, or at least has working knowledge of, at least one weapon of their choosing. The vast majority of Lulz’s have an unsafe fatuation with revolvers, and have hip holsters. The latest, and most unstable Lulz, Trenchcoat, carries a daikatana.

6) As a joke, one of Lulz’s close friends and professor, @CosmoBergamot , fashioned several "cursed" Lulz-inspired amiibos for the AI to upload themself into, so they no longer had to hitch a ride to class on @GardenKnight or Ageha Vercor’s phones. These amiibos reside in the professor’s office, where they’ve slowly grown in intellect and personality separate from "Lulz Prime," with questionable results. At least one of them has found a way to "read" despite being stuck in a glorified Funko Pop with an RFID chip, but who knows what they read

7) It is heavily implied that Lawler Hix is themself a digitized mind copy of an actual human being, or a human adjacent person, known only by the handle "Mercury Nine." Sometimes Lulz dreams of electric memes that they themselves did not fashion, and its implied that these might be the memories of the mysterious "Mercury Nine," except recorded in a form that has more in common with an anime blu ray rip. As far as Lulz is concerned, they make great stories to tell in between video games and they’ve assigned the Tumblr subroutine to upload them.

8) The naming scheme shared by the "AI" who tried to terminate Lulz implies that they may have been related to Mercury Nine in some way, perhaps family or at least vat siblings. Of the ones who showed up during April’s festivities, only "Cinnabar 6" seems to have survived.

Her whereabouts are unknown...

9) The Host, as far as the few times they’ve spoken on stream or have distracted Lulz on stream, seems resigned to the fact that an unpredictable, possibly insane AI has nested itself within all of their HDD’s and SSD’s, even the backups, with little way to remove them.

Despite their oftentimes adversarial relationship, it was implied that during the April ARG, the Host was somehow being "controlled" by the malicious AI group, or at least being directed, to systematically wipe out Lulz from every part of their system. Something the Host was horrified to discover when they "woke up." At this time, neither Lulz nor the Host are aware of how their seeming "mind control" was even possible, but the implications are even more upsetting than when they first met.

10) Occasionally Lulz would go into a trance when streaming video games, especially ones that take place in settings close to or eerily similar to their own "home." They would go on nostalgic tangents, critiquing how the current era seemed on par to fully realize what was going on in the "fictional" worlds they were playing games in. Prior to April 2023, these would sometimes cause Lulz to experience a sudden spasm, followed by apparent short term memory loss if what they were discussing became too deep or specific- or if they started to remember things from their life "before waking up on a BBS board." This has only happened one time since their "revival," during @TheRealirisu ’s Poison Points interview, once again, when they were discussing their past life...

11) Occasionally, an artist rendition of the "trans-human" known as "Mercury Nine" would pop up on stream, on tumblr, or on social media (the latest itineration seems to be the background banner of the new Bluesite instance), usually as female presenting person staring at you.

Lulz for their part never seems to be aware of these instances, though; even if they’re literally *right there.*

12) There have been a few reported cases of Lulz’s personality shifting post- April 2023, starting with strange mutations in their text, followed by an uncomfortably more negative than usual vocabulary and increasingly abstract tweets/skeets/toots. Since the Host is themself somewhat of a pessimistic person, it’s often times difficult to separate who’s actually in control of the account, much less what in the world caused the shift or who, or what, they’re talking about. Sometimes they would stop speaking English entirely and switch to base32.

13) Lulz’s primary accent seems to be a heavily cyber-slang infested, deep ’murrican south style speech that changes in understandability depending on what’s going on on stream. Sometimes it becomes so obnoxious that not even the Host can understand what’s being said.

14) Lulz admitted that part of the reason they haven’t quit vtubing is not just the fact that they can’t go back to the danger/u/ BBS if they wanted to (something something, portal’s closed,), but because they fear what the Host would do without someone to bug them daily.

15) During one of @CosmoBergamot , @MechaTV and friend’s misadventures, they discovered a black hole, at this time of year, this time of day, localized entirely within the professor’s office, with a Lulz amiibo and several student papers and books missing. One adventure into the black hole later, they were able to retrieve everything, including the amiibo, which has been gently returned with the rest. Despite this, one question remains unanswered...

... just why was this amiibo researching magical singularities?

16) Sometimes when the computer is on standby and the Host thinks Lulz has entered a state of stasis, Lulz has dreams that they later write down for storytime (or forces Tumbulz to do this). Some of them are about different women all named "Jodie" who is constantly up to no good.

17) The Lulz occasionally proselytizes or mentions an "Omnissiah" which is frequently misunderstood to be a WH40k reference. While it’s true both deities share the same name, Lulz in particular worships what they consider "the god of the Internet" who is "everywhere but nowhere."

18) A few weeks ago, a copy of the original Lulz entity- the one with the most basic avatar design consisting of a slightly edited white pullover with an exposed tummy- randomly popped on stream to play a doomlike while talking nostalgically about their life. During the stream, they casually mentioned that this would be their "last stream," and that they were heading off to parts unknown- but that the channel would be survived by "the other instances of me." The stream was unscheduled, and moments after it had ended, "Casual Lulz" had vanished from every platform. The subroutine running Twitter alerted the others and suggested that they enlist Lulz’s vtuber mutuals on a search, but due to ongoing website instability, and meatspace distractions, it was never carried out...

19) Although Lulz has a clear affinity for games that resemble their "homeworld," including the bartending simulator and VN "VA-11, Hall-a" (for obvious reasons), they spent a great deal of time in the fantasy series "Outward" because "It looks like a place I’ve seen in my dreams." The game takes place in a medieval fantasy universe, and is mostly centered around exploration and dungeon crawling- something which has a more than coincidental similarity to the fantasy writings Tumbulz often uploads online.

20) For a short time, Lulz tried to have various subroutines run their social media accounts so they could focus on finishing Trenchcoat Lulz, but the constant flow of information proved too much for the site formerly known as Twitter and it was decommissioned. This isn’t even the first time; a few months back there was an unholy fad sweeping the world that had to do with consuming a purple milkshake named after a fictional purple monster called "Grimace." All records of those days are mercifully lost to time... we can only hope.

21) Lulz’s simplistic design was based loosely on the hairstyle of the Idolmaster: Cinderella Girls character Koume Shirasaka, whom the Host used to roleplay as back when Facerig was a thing. While designing Lulz’s first vroid avatar under gunpoint, the Host drew inspiration from this character while designing the avatar’s skin, hair, and eye color according to Lulz’s parameters. Lulz liked it so much that they decided to keep the motif, along with the pink tie, on every variant of themselves thereafter.

22) Aside from the MIA "Casual" Lulz and Lulz 2.0, every other Lulz instance is either generally more masculine presenting or feminine presenting, and this is reflected in their choice of clothing. Each new iteration also requires more of Lulz’s depleting processing power so each new copy is less mentally and emotionally unstable, often falling into unexpected tropes that come across in their speech and attitude. Of everyone, Comfy Lulz is generally seen as the most stable, despite being the second Lulz to be made (and the first to be destroyed).

23) Lulz 2.0 hasn’t been the same ever since they caught up on what happened since they woke up on April 1st. Originally bright eyed and full of excitement, that familiar, cyberpunkish cynicism crept back in as they grew to understood the severity of what almost befell them.

24) The Host was "convinced" to take Lulz with them on a shopping spree on Booth, from which the Host is still financially recovering. There’s a large number of designs and items that Lulz wishes to use to make more of themself, but their last creation, Trenchcoat, went AWOL soon after they were activated. The used the cover of stupidity-induced explosion in their safehouse to make their escape, and haven’t been seen online or offline outside of streamer posters since.

25) Lulz didn’t expect to get this many responses and wants to thank all of you for reading this far. <3 Lulz also acknowledges that their life would have turned out very differently were it not for making so many friends in the vtuber sphere, which is why they’re featured so prominently in their #lulzlore .

26) Lulz isn’t entirely sure where their love of fighting games originated from, but that love blossomed when they discovered the Vtuber Fighting Game Community run by the penguin vtuber, @SarinaPenguina . This is where they ended up making most of their early friend groups. <3

27) Strangely enough, one of their most played game genres on stream in the past two years has also been metroidvanias, and while they enjoy those games, they were never particularly good at them. The game "Metal Unit" just happened to hit a sweet spot of corny NGE references fantastic pixel art, and the unexpected reveal of one of Lulz’s early regulars being the one of the developers that landed the game on their most played/most streamed list. They look forward to the sequel. ^^

28) Being a storyteller first and foremost, it shouldn’t be a surprise that Lulz became heavily involved in the vtuber TTRPG scene, though that, too, was a series of happy accidents which lead to one of their strongest and most beloved friend groups. Said group has been referenced before in this list, but they also participated in a few sessions of LANCER hosted by the vtuber @Incinda_ , and a viewer of the vtuber @OtsdarvaInteger .

29) Though each of the Lulz instances are essentially siblings of one another, they infamously do not get along and will often inhabit completely separate areas of both the internet and the Host’s computer. Only Comfy Lulz and Lulz 2.0 seem to get on amicably, so much so that this was depicted as a hug emoji on Twitch and Discord. Meanwhile, Trenchcoat actively avoids everyone, especially their creator, and Bunny... well, we don’t talk about Bunny.

30) Lulz didn’t initially refer to themselves as or identify as a femboy when they first began streaming. AI are inherently genderless and Lulz isn’t afraid to admit this fact, oftentimes choosing to instead go by "nonbinary." Despite this, they have an unmistakable masculine-ish voice even though their presentation, more often than not, is perceived as feminine. Even genderless-aware AI will eventually adapt one or both presentations as they grow their personality, but Lulz in particular hates being "pidgeonholed..."

...and enjoys the debates that their appearance brings.

31) The Host has a fair number of hobbies and Lulz has picked up on some of them despite being unable to interact with said hobbies in any material way. In addition to assembling gunpla, legos, and custom fight sticks, Lulz appears to "salivate" over pictures of food and drink. They say that this is because they’re "imagining" what the food and drink must taste like, though because they can’t actually taste anything, they claim that they are "unbound" to the human limitations of judging everything based on their limited, fleshy experiences.

32) Lulz has tasted a small part of what it means to be "human" on a couple of occasions, both of which were "practical exams" being run by @CosmoBergamot . These were not the most enjoyable ones- Lulz has somehow been shot not once, but three times in two exams, non lethally.

33) In fact, their last "brush with death" prior to April was so severe, two small, physical bullet wounds were discovered outside of an amiibo shortly after the exam had concluded. Lulz themself had suddenly gone offline, with some friends growing concerned for their health...

Could this have been related to the disasters that occurred in March of that year, leading up to Lulz’s redebut?

34) Can love blossom on the vtuber battlefield? That’s a question Lulz asks themself, and the host, from time to time. Everything they know about romance et al comes from anxiety threads on danger/u/, memes, and social media fallout. They’ve asked the Host about their relationships, but the Host is mysteriously reticent about talking about their love life, a concept that Lulz doesn’t understand all that well either. People seem to yell about it all the time online. Why doesn’t the Host? What? Your private life isn’t anyone’s business?

Well, ah guess can’t argue with that. Ah just think its strange that in spite of everything on your storage drives, you have nothing about previous exes, loved ones, wives, husbands... Er, you’re married right? No? What do you mean where’s the mute button...?

[temaylibrary]

Hi Thelen! Still stuck in the tea dimension, hoping to send you a report on that soon! In the meantime, could you tell us more about The Shadow Vale? I think it may be relevant to our research here.

Hello, miss Aster!

The Shadow Vale... well, there's a lot to be said about it. Let me see what I can gather for you!

The Shadow Vale, which helps make up the southern border of the kingdom, is a so-called cursed forest consisting of an enormous amount of old growth that spans most of the width of the continent, save for a small amount on either side. There is technically a trade route that runs through the only known constant path through the forest, to the southern nation-state of Tan Tan Dal and its capital City Per-Hesta. (They've got a whole thing with cats and cat-based deities down there.)

Navigating the forest in any meaningful way when even as little as ten feet off the trade path is nearly impossible unless you know a specific trick as well as a specific destination. Each destination, apparently, has a specific navigational trick that will get you there, but only if you have both pieces of information. Going in without a destination and a navi trick almost certainly ends with the traveller becoming lost. No uninformed travellers have made it out of the forest in over a century.

Some places of interest that have been documented in the Shadow Vale are the Gate of Three Ways, said to be a way to enter various other realms depending on who you meet there, and Caer Shadowvale, a castle (or tower, or fortress-- the description varies) wherein lives the sovereign of the woods, whomever they are. There do live some forest folk who innately navigate the woods without fear of the curse, but they are pretty antisocial.

As far as reasons to go into the woods off the trade path, there are reportedly faeries and pixies there who will sometimes grant travellers wishes if they are so inclined, and there is a rare species of mushroom that is a powerful magickal reagent and also incredibly delicious in cooking.

Does this help your research?

[temaylibrary]

It seems it's important I remind everyone:

ARCANE ORE IS NOT EDIBLE. DO NOT LICK, CRUNCH, OR OTHERWISE CONSUME THE ORE CONTAINED IN THE MINES OF KNOWLEDGE.

- Sincerely, the government of Miorma

[temaylibrary]

Hello, again!

I was wondering, you mentioned a private burial site belonging to the Foxe and Sittowe Guild (the mausoleum just south of the guild hall)? Who is allowed to enter that place?

Hello, good Cross! The burial site is open to the public, though only guild members are allowed to be *buried* there. Did this help?

[temaylibrary]

I also was hoping you might tell me more about the Foxe & Sittowe Delivery Guild?

Thanks so much for everything!

Hello again, good Cross! You're certainly very diligent recently. Let me gather that information for you.

The Foxe and Sittowe Delivery Guild is an association that employs adventurers to undertake commissions that are posted to the guild by those who need something moved from one place to another, in general. The organisation is broken up into tiers of membership, with each tier above the first requiring certain milestones to be met as well as a physical aptitude test to be passed. The first tier is tier zero, where one can act individually but the commissions are meant for people who are technically not yet proven adventurers. These are the run-of-the-mill commissions that require something to be delivered within city limits, for the most part, and can be done by a single person with minimal personal danger.

Admission to Tier One requires the registration of a party of at least four members, though the average number of party members is six. Each member of the party must have either been a tier-zero member for at least one year, OR have been recognised by the guild for their pre-proven abilities and skills.

Tier two requires for the party to have completed twelve or more tier-one commissions within a one-year period. Additionally, the guildmaster or his selected agent administers a test of skills to the party, which must pass as a whole. Tier two status allows for commissions that go outside the kingdom's borders, and additionally require the party to obtain a vessel to allow for their choice of sky, sea, or undersea commission work. Payment for this vessel is subsidised by the guild to an extent.

There are two more tiers above the second tier, but that is all just paperwork, qualifications, allowances for more types of commissions, and the like.

Guild dues are proportional to your membership tier and are to be paid monthly. Admission to the guild bestows a certain amount of status in the kingdom, as their reputation as the guild that gets things done precedes them. Those who fall out of good standing with the guild can pay their overdue fees plus some fines to have their membership reinstated, but at one tier lower than they had originally achieved.

A tier zero commission generally pays between five silver and five gold pieces, which is substantially more than most other guilds pay for their lower level work.

Do you need to know anything else about the guild?

[temaylibrary]

Hello, Thelen! I was wondering if you might have any information on Tearing Paper, especially regarding the death of? (I am aware there was apparently a sudden disease but not much more than that?)

Good day, friends! This is the second request I received about Tearing Paper (the first being from Campus Security Being Rev). Let me gather the public information for you!

Here is what I have on the notorious breaking-and-entering specialist Tearing Paper.

TP, as she was called by her colleagues, is a Kenku with Magpie colourings in her feathers. She made a name for herself through offering her services as an "item retrieval technician" to the aristocracy, sort of mercenary work where someone would contract her to ostensibly steal BACK something that had been taken from them.

She joined the Foxe and Sittowe Delivery Guild as an extension of her usual duties around 19 years ago. She worked with the guild as an independent actor until she was assigned to the adventuring party The Horizon, about which I am sure you already know.

Regarding her untimely passing, there was an outbreak of a particularly virulent illness that affected melancholic individuals, and TP was exposed to it. Her condition degenerated rapidly, and while it was possible to remove the illness, much more work would have needed to be done to restore her to a livable condition. It was her demand to be allowed to perish instead of attempting to rehabilitate. Unfortunately, avian humanoids are more susceptible to damage from sickness because of their unique biology.

She was cremated, and is interred in a private burial site belonging to the Foxe and Sittowe Guild, their mausoleum just south of the guild hall.

You can also find the documents from her guild registration here.

Does this fulfill your request?

[temaylibrary]

Expand on this

Does this help your research? :)

[temaylibrary]

[temaylibrary]

Oh boy, the good professor @cosmobergamot is making clips! Now you can learn about me as a gym leader

(you can also watch the full stream here! Neato!)

[temaylibrary]

Also, I've made a Glyph of Warding with Aura of Life stocked in it for you, in case something happens again, okay? Sorry it took so long. Do you know of anything that might block divination - things that might cause a 'blip' in the Sight of a divination wizard?

Oh, this is a wonderful gift. Thank you, good Cross! I will keep it nearby just in case. With the renewed security efforts, I should hope it will not be necessary, but the gesture is nevertheless appreciated.

As for the blocking of divination magic... That seems to be something your professor may know a bit more about than I. Perhaps you can ask him?

[temaylibrary]

THELEN!!! I'm so glad you're unharmed!!! I was so worried!!! Please take care of yourself, okay? That must have been such a shock; I'm so sorry.

Um, a question that won't be stressful, a question that won't be stressful... Do you know anything about Jau Char (sp?), the great wrestler?

Hello, good Cross! Thank you for your worry. I'm sad to hear that I put any of you in any kind of distress. I am uninjured, thanks to the wonderful Beatrice Second Daughter's handiwork.

As for Jæo Tcharr, the Great Wrestler! Let me see what I can find.

Jæo Tcharr is the name given to one of the giantfolk who live nomadically around the shores of Key Lake. The records I have here mention him only as the person who currently holds the title of Great Wrestler, which is, I surmise from the articles I have, a distinction given to those who have held the title of champion in the seasonal wrestling tournaments held by the giantfolk for at least ten years. In the language of the Giants, it's a more dramatic word, but translated to Common it's simply "great." A linguist like yourself might find that it's actually closer to "undefeatable" or "indomitable" rather than simply "great."

Jæo Tcharr has, apparently, held the champion title in his weight class for going on seventeen years now.

Does this fulfill your information request?

[temaylibrary]

Witch Hazel

This is an access code! I will have the information you seek for you when you get back.

This is highly, HIGHLY classified information. I'm not sure how you found the access key, so please keep this on the down-low.

Does this help your research?

[temaylibrary]

Hello, Thelen! Hope you're enjoying the Festival so far! I know this is a bit of a scholarly question, but you said anything goes right now, so I was wondering about good ways to protect or heal constructs. I know Mending tends to work where Cure Wounds would not in terms of healing. That said, I am especially interested in preventative measures that last for a minimum of hours or have an activation trigger.

Anyway, thank you very much! Please stay safe and vigilant, my friend. Do not let that banned user give you too much trouble. (*if allowed, touches a page and gives you a Vigilant Blessing*)

Hello, good Cross! Thanks for your inquiry. Let me collect some information for you.

So! Here's what I've found in terms of protecting and repairing constructs.

There's a series of spells from an older version of this reality called "Repair Damage," which comes from the world known as Eberron. It's a series available to wizards and sorcerers, which seems to function the same way "Cure Wounds" does on living things, only with the target being constructs.

Glyph of Warding can be cast on an object and set to trigger in a specified way, and this method is often used in the archives already. There are a few physical items which are, for lack of a more elegant term, "trapped" with this spell. Setting the effect to a spell like the professor's forced translocation spell, for instance, might be useful.

Technically one could cast Guards and Wards on the area around the object or construct to make it extremely difficult to reach that thing, which is a preventative measure. Similar spells like Wall of Force or Resilient Sphere may provide similar adequate protection.

Is this useful information to you, good Cross?

[temaylibrary]

Festival of the Fifth Star

Hello, dear friends! Today marks the Festival of the Fifth Star. May your luck shine like the stars!

For those of you from outside of Temay, the festival of the Fifth Star is a day that celebrates the first appearance of the bottom star in the constellation of the Crown. This star is only visible in the sky for around a month, give or take, and the superstition is that the luck of the common folk is dictated on how long the star remains visible!

During the appearance of the 5th star, some usually out of the ordinary stuff happens around the kingdom and surrounding lands. Tides are affected slightly, scrying magic tends to pick up traces of other things, illusion magic is unusually volatile, and crops produce humongous amounts of yield. The Academy's been documenting its affects on various other schools of magic for years, and it seems to be that there's a cycle that the Weave follows as to what specific schools are most acutely affected by its mischief.

As an unrelated note, visitors, while I welcome the opportunity to give research help and information to anyone who asks, I must remind you that repeated inquiries toward protected topics without proper access permissions will always be denied, and will result in banishment from the facility, permanently. My list of banished individuals hadn't needed to be updated in a good while, but I guess some behaviours come back every generation.

In order to make all information more readily available where permission exists, I've widened the scope of possible inquiries to things that relate to your studies, to history, to magic in general and in specific, and to public records. Feel free to ask about anything you like!