New Tanaan and the Plane of Knowledge

A haven for knowledge

The second part of the official Planes of Power lore series says New Tanaan lies outside all ordinary physical and political borders, a refuge for knowledge and for those who look for it.

Travelers to the Great Library founded the city of Tanaan hundreds of years ago. Where the library came from is lost to time; it has stood in the middle of the Plane of Knowledge for as long as anyone has kept written histories. Homes grew up around it, and the town outgrew its beginnings as a village of scholars and became a full city.

More than three hundred years ago New Tanaan elected a council and declared itself a neutral city state. The council took the top chamber of the library for its hall.

Sources: EverQuest.com (2008): The Fabled Planes of Power Lore, Part 2: The Plane of Knowledge

Three districts and a peace

The city has three districts: Kartis, the Dark District; Tanaan, the Neutral District; and Selia, the Light District. The Great Library stands at the center, with the Dark and Light districts on opposite sides, and a marketplace fills the square around it. Part of the neutral district is given over to privately owned guildhalls.

A magically enforced peace covers the whole city. No visitor can use a weapon or cast harmful magic, and people of every race and every faith can walk anywhere in safety.

Crime is almost unknown, yet the citizens still pay for a militia that runs the city’s daily business and enforces the law when needed. New Tanaan is also a crossroads between Norrath and the deeper planes, with gateways to every major city of Norrath scattered around it.

Sources: EverQuest.com (2008): The Fabled Planes of Power Lore, Part 2: The Plane of Knowledge

The council

An elected council governs the city, though most councilors are too wrapped up in their own studies, journeys to other planes and pet projects to bother much with civic duty. It seats one delegate from each district and the keeper of the Great Library, who has lived in Tanaan longer than anyone.

Councilman Srethix is an iksar from Kartis who claims to have read every book on sorcery in the library of Myrist. His aide, a troll shadow knight named Garuuk, has doubts about him.

Councilman Taldarius, a human from the Tanaan district, is a paladin by trade who has spent time in the presence of Marr and had his sword blessed by his god. His aide is a young halfling named Fimli.

Councilwoman Kerasha, a wood elf from Selia, is a druid who follows Tunare. Her aide, Eino, is a grandmaster monk devoted to the way of life Quellious teaches.

Sources: EverQuest.com (2008): The Fabled Planes of Power Lore, Part 2: The Plane of Knowledge

The Grand Librarian

Grand Librarian Maelin is a very old gnome, among the first adventurers from Norrath to reach the Plane of Knowledge, and he means to read every book kept there. His aide is a fellow gnome named Grimel.

The first part of the same series is signed by Maelin Starpyre, Grand Librarian of Myrist; the title suggests the same gnome, though the two parts give his name differently. In it he writes that three tiers of divinity are known, the demigods, the gods of Nature and Influence, and the Great Gods of Elemental Power, and that there may be a further tier still.

Sources: EverQuest.com (2008): The Fabled Planes of Power Lore, Part 2: The Plane of Knowledge · EverQuest.com (2008): The Fabled Planes of Power Lore, Part 1