USER: #C1BA57 - THE LIBRARY

[unghost]

( COLOR )

This is Cairngorm.

I've noticed that books have writing in them again, which means the library should be back to it's original form. It'll be more useful to everyone if it's organized and has librarians in charge of maintaining it. I'm used to doing work like that, so I don't mind organizing it, but it might be more time efficient to ask if there are others with the skills to help.

Firstly, we should familiarize ourselves with the restored materials. I've only been able to find useless books about talking animals so far, but one of you must have found something other than that by now. It would take years for me to read everything by myself, so if you could summarize any books you've found and return them to the library, you would save us all some time.

Secondly, has anyone considered keeping record of what's happening here? We should start creating archives for future reference now that we're able to. That's assuming we'll be stuck here for however much longer. There are other things like records of the plants and animals we come across that the library would benefit from as well, if you have any. We should be keeping all information like this in one place.

If you have other things in mind the library should have, or are familiar with any of the texts you find, let me know. I'd like to start working on this as soon as possible.

Comments

[unghost]

Around 400? Give or take
But below 1,000 is still considered pretty youthful or at least not a grown up
So 16 years to me is almost nothing

Like mutations?
I guess they evolved to be like this for some reason

[unghost]

That's what I plan on doing too.
I'm hoping that there will be at least something valuable
At first I thought surely not every book could be about the same topic
But with everyone saying that's all they've found its a bit
Discouraging
It's not like there is much else better to do than read though

[unghost]

That sounds
Complicated
Interesting just complicated
We don't have any books like that at all on my planet
Or at least it was no one's job to write books like that

But while reading I realize there's so many animals in these books that I'm unfamiliar with so most of the points of these books are lost on me
Though the idea of an animal being able to blow a house down already sounded pretty unrealistic

[unghost]

Because it was no one's job to sit around writing them?
I mean that barely produces anything
It's basically just goofing off
Most of the 28 of us were busy doing real work

[troubadamsel]

As frustrating as it is, there must be some reason for it. They must have valued these stories, or perhaps there's a secret in them we're just not seeing.

[good_ideas]

i don't think it's anyone's job
it's more like a part-time thing isn't it?

besides
i think someone would say that you can't work all the time
goofing off occasionally is healthy

[ifionlyhadthecourage]

Hm, I suppose it might to someone who's not used to it. Though, most stories tend to come with a moral, so they're good to tell children to teach lessons. For example... the first that comes to mind the the story of the fox and the grapes.

There's a fox wandering through the forest and he finds some grapes dangling down from above.
"Just the think to quench my thirst," he thinks.
He takes a leap to try and get the grapes, and he misses. He tries again, and misses once more. Giving up, the fox turns up his nose and says, "They're probably sour anyway," then proceeds to walk away.

[inheritance]

No kidding. 16 compared to 400 is a pretty big jump. Most humans don't live that long to begin with.

Yeah, mutations. Maybe it's their way of dealing with all the weird stuff in the forest?

[unghost]

I think my kind have a very different idea of what books are for than the individuals that lived here
I doubt we'll find any text I'm familiar with
Or are you trying to say that it seems like people have actually read about your life before?

[unghost]

A secret?
What, like some sort of code?
If they had time to do something that elaborate they probably could have prevented whatever happened to them

[unghost]

How would I know if it's a part time thing?
I just told you that we didn't have books like that
Obviously we didn't work all the time but
No one really made up make-believe things outside of work except this one geek

[youwillbeunequaled]

[He can't help but laugh at that! But how could one convey such amusement through text...?]

People have actually read about my life! Or, more correctly, the life of my former master, which includes mention of me. Those people and events were important enough that children now study them in school. However, given the kinds of books being found in this town, I'm doubtful any of those historical stories will appear.

I see. It is a shame that it is unlikely for us to come across your stories in books. I am curious then though. What do your kind use books for?

[unghost]

???
Is the point that it's better to pretend like you don't want something just because you couldn't achieve it
That seems like a weirdly specific lesson to teach someone

[unghost]

How long do humans live for anyway?
I can't tell since all the ones I've met are within a decade of each other

I wouldn't be surprised if that were the case.
But it's also possible that a natural disaster before the civilization here was built caused them to evolve that way
That's what happened to the life on my planet

[ifionlyhadthecourage]

[ What? Caramia laughed, covering his face for a moment. He was glad this was just on the forum- he'd feel bad if Cairngorm felt like he was laughing at them. ]

No, no, the moral is that you have to work hard to succeed in your goals. Or, to a more grim extent, that it's easy to hate the things that you want and can't have.

[troubadamsel]

It's only a guess, but if I notice anything that would give that theory more credit, of course I'll mention it. Who knows what they were thinking during their final days?

[good_ideas]

that was just rhetorical
i'm not expecting you to answer or to know

but then what do you do in your spare time
read how-to books?
that's way too educational

[unghost]

So you are like a historical figure
?

[ They can understand the concept of that at least, having read about other famous gems from thousands of years before their own life. At least, it seems like kind of the same case. ]

We just used books for studying
We had texts written on geology, meteorology, astronomy ... things like that
There were historical texts too but I doubt any of that would be here
And if someone knew about it they would have recognized me by now

[youwillbeunequaled]

[Again, he chuckles.]

Something like that. I shall explain it to you fully when I see you in person next.
I have found a couple of books to bring, as well.

So you had many factual books, but no fiction.
In a way, I feel that's too bad. If holding facts is half of what books are good for, then holding stories is the other half.
But I suppose it's all a matter of what you are used to and what you needed at the time, and there is nothing wrong with that.

Although they may be strange to you, I hope you can enjoy the stories while you are here.

[unghost]

Why not just write that then
It's a waste of paper to teach that in such a roundabout way
Not to mention that hard work doesn't always mean you'll be able to achieve something

[unghost]

I was hoping we would find some sort of journal or account hidden in one of the books
Someone must have written something other than these stories
I don't feel like we'll ever make progress on what figuring out what happened without an account like that

[ifionlyhadthecourage]

It's mostly a lesson for children. Sometimes, children need examples to learn lessons, and they will sometimes be more inclined to remember things if told as a story.

[unghost]

Children...
Those are young humans?
Are they harder to teach than adult ones or something

[unghost]

We play cards sometimes after work
But I usually read about our history
There's thousands of years worth so there's a lot to go through

[ifionlyhadthecourage]

Well... no. Adults don't want to learn things, usually.

[ He's laughing at himself, actually. But that might be hard for Cairngorm to understand, so he quickly corrected himself. ]

That is to say, the stubborn ones are. Anyway, they're not hard to teach, they just learn a little differently because they don't know much about the world and need to learn through experiences, usually. Which is why we tell stories like that.