Count Visconti
WHO: Count Visconti
WHAT: Bibliophile and owner of one the most extensive private libraries in all of Celeste.
WHERE: Library of Visconti, Tower 3
AFFILIATIONS: Society of Elders AKA Temple of Sages, Aozora House
TRIBE: Laureates
MISSION: To rival the most renowned libraries in the world with a rare collection of ancient scrolls, spell bibles, and forbidden tomes.
QUOTE: “The story isn’t in the book. The story is the book.”
STORY: Please allow me to introduce myself, I am Count Visconti, a member of one of the most ancient families of the old world. We once ruled the city of Milan and much of the Lombard region in a land that came to be known as Italy. Some of the family became known as the Sforza’s. That was thousands of years ago before the Earth was destroyed and reformed. Thanks to my family and to a love of history, I was able to secure many marvelous tomes of unimaginable knowledge and power. Though my family and indeed I myself am much older than many will give credence. Though I choose to go by the name Visconti, I could go by many others since I began at the cradle of civilization in the ancient Assyrian temples. It was from there I learned from a book bound in scared and tattooed flesh the secrets of immortality.
I have been an observer and collector of all knowledge that can be recorded by man. I prefer what can be kept in books but have learned to adapt to all forms and languages. I have spoken to many beings of unknown origin, I have seen the things through portals that have made others like Yuchi in the Observatory go mute.
From me, there are no secrets, nor things in the universe that shock me, though some things remain a curiosity.
The true Observer, whose book I cherish above all others, written by a hand out of time and space yet here it sits upon my shelf, this attempt to explain things that cannot be comprehended by the simple structure of the human mind, it’s very existence much like its author defy every known law of physics. The book came into my possession not through a purchase or a find. It simply came into my possession as I walked the streets of Alexandria on my way home from the magnificent and sadly long ago destroyed library. As I walked caught up in my own thoughts, it was in my hand. No one put it there, I could feel it’s very birth in my hand as it materialized. Slipping it into the pocket of my robes I continued my way home. There I stayed reading this mystical tomb from cover to cover, over and over, sometimes it is the same, sometimes not. You can see how such a book would become ones favorite!
As the centuries passed this book sometimes revealed events that I could avoid and helped keep me safe. It lead me from time to time, to treasures in the form of people or knowledge or simple material wealth. It has also remained the same for long years imparting nothing other than a familiar story, studied many times for traces of a path to follow.
When I woke in the newly forming Celeste having been rescued by the Sweepers and missing a hand I found in the other my most prized book. As we built up from the wreckage of what was once Earth, we found many of my vaulted books and the Sweepers are always keeping a keen eye out for any books that I can add to my collection. Though as Celeste has grown into a true Metropolis, it now has publishers, and other libraries along with many wonderful stores of information. I have a new cybernetic hand thanks for my friend at the robot clinic. (Though I suspect those Quantum physicist in the Twilight are in possession of the original, likely in some misguided attempt to take the hand that the book first appeared in with the hopes of obtaining the book for themselves).
Once, I was less of a recluse than I am now. Visiting the many bars restaurants, and art houses. Cultivating my relationships with my neighbors in a way the Italian’s of old had the mastery. Now aside from the occasional visits to the The Sphinx House to look at the new pieces discovered there and of course to the fashion shows at The Westwood along with the occasional after party at La Dolce Vita. I stay in my library home built of the very things I love, books. I get my outside information from my many Jerri friends. They are hawkbill sea turtles and koala’s, mountain gorillas and soala’s, snow leopards, kakapo’s, sea otters, siberian tigers, javan rhino’s, giant panda’s, vaquita’s, sumatran elephant’s and Flamingo’s Each of them a Jerri out in the world doing good. They represent the best in humanity and subsequently, I have given them a key to my library. Each species has access to different rooms based on their goodness. It helps me pass the time and they are able to enjoy the treasures within, to help them on their way.
You are welcome to come to me in my Library of Visconti as it is known. There are many things that you may wish to discover and for the right price, I may be willing to share.