THE LIBRIS REX
One of Umberwell's most powerful institutions is the Libris Rex, the grandest circulating library in the known world. The librarian-explorers of Libris Rex often fund expeditions to forsaken ruins to retrieve lost knowledge and to preserve rare texts. The current head librarian of the Libris Rex is Radahma, an angel who craves the taste of childhood memories.
THE ETHERGRAM COOPERATIVE
Magical messages can be sent far and wide instantly by the gnome-run Ethergram Cooperative. Ethergrams are transmitted by the gnomes of the Cooperative directly into the intended recipient’s mind. Sometimes ethergram transmissions are intercepted by the Great Old Ones of the Far Realm and other Elder Evils, who instead relay horrible cosmic truths instead of the intended message. Whether they do this altruistically, as a prank, or for sinister reasons best left unplumbed is currently unknown—and most sensible folk fear the day when speculation about this topic turns to certainty.
THE CHILDREN OF FIMBUL
Despite its vast feeling of permanence, there are those who wish to extinguish the lights of Umberwell. The Children of Fimbul are a sect of druids who believe that they must usher in the end of days to restart the natural cycle of death and rebirth. The Children of Fimbul cult is led by a watersoul named Melora Rime; she was formerly a slave in a far-off land, and the cruelty she experienced has shaped her dim view of the immoral decadence of civilization.
