Location
Candlekeep
Citadel of the Avowed
A fortress-library raised on a volcanic crag above the Sea of Swords, protected by ancient wards and governed by the Avowed.
General description
Candlekeep preserves written knowledge behind black gates, strict rules, and layered magical defenses. Seekers may consult requested works in controlled reading rooms, but they do not browse the library freely. Quentin Lorekeeper regularly uses the library for his research. His true residence is a cave far below Candlekeep and beyond the reach of its wards.
Reference details
- Region
- Sword Coast
- Settlement Type
- Fortress-library
- Inhabitants
- The Avowed
- Approach
- The Way of the Lion
Key facts
- Candlekeep stands on a volcanic spur roughly 100 feet above the coast and overlooks the Sea of Swords.
- Lights burn in its high windows at all hours, and the chant of Alaundo's prophecies carries from the battlements.
- Most visitors see only the Court of Air, the guesthouses, and controlled reading rooms called the Necessariums.
- A seeker normally gains entry by donating a book, scroll, or manuscript not already held in the collection.
- Seekers may remain for one tenday. After leaving, they must wait a month before returning.
- Quentin's cave is below the fortress but outside the warded complex. It is not one of Candlekeep's bedrock cellars.
The volcanic crag
Clustered stone towers crown a sheer horn of volcanic rock above the Sea of Swords. A central keep rises above terraced gardens, outer walls, and smaller towers. The Way of the Lion is the only road to the gates. Mariners can see Candlekeep's lights far offshore, and approaching travelers hear the Avowed's low, repeating chant of Alaundo's prophecies.
History
Candlekeep was founded around -200 DR. Alaundo the Seer arrived in 75 DR and remained for the rest of his life, recording prophecies that extended the Roll of Years far into the future. After his death, his home became a sanctuary for his predictions and then for written knowledge of every kind. His disciples began the continuous chant that still sounds from the citadel. A persistent legend claims that Alaundo's stolen skull allows its bearer to contact the dead seer.
Entrance-gift and gate ritual
A visitor presents a unique book, scroll, or manuscript at black metal double gates three times a human's height. The gate priests identify the work and consult the collection registry by magic. Truth-seeking magic detects deliberate deceit. Rare editions, annotated copies, and works with useful provenance may qualify even when the underlying text is known. Heralds, certain archmages, and priests of Oghma, Gond, Deneir, and Milil may be admitted as friends of Candlekeep without a gift.
Orders of Accordance
Every visitor is addressed as seeker and must accept four rules: no fighting, no stealing, no copying works, and no damaging or altering any written work. Violators are banished and denied return. Deliberate destruction of knowledge may draw a final and lethal response from the citadel.
The Avowed
The Avowed maintain the library as a cloistered scholarly order. The Keeper of the Tomes governs Candlekeep. The First Reader safeguards scholarship and expands the collection. Up to eight Great Readers supervise fields of study and share access to the Inner Rooms. The Gatewarden directs security and supplies. The Chanter and three Voices maintain the recitation of Alaundo's prophecies. The Guide trains new acolytes. Scribes and Scribblers perform research, copying, and archival work.
Notable locations
The Court of Air is an austere cobbled courtyard between the gates and the guesthouses. Necessariums are the reading rooms where seekers receive requested texts. The Inner Rooms hold dangerous spellbooks and rare magical works. Bedrock caverns below the courtyards contain wells and siege stores. Terraced gardens rise around the central keep. Stables, granaries, warehouses, an infirmary, a temple to Oghma, and shrines to Deneir, Gond, and Milil line the inner walls.
Great wards
Candlekeep's layered wards resemble a mythal. They suppress fire except in candle wicks and wax, destroy molds and book-eating pests, and restrict teleportation, dimensional travel, and destructive magic. The Keeper, First Reader, and Gatewarden carry ward tokens in their staves of office. An unauthorized boundary crossing alerts every token-bearer to the breach's exact location. Miirym, a spectral dragon, guards the lower reaches and caverns.
Research and commerce
The Avowed copy mundane books, spellbooks, and other magical texts for substantial fees. Their copies bear Candlekeep's castle-and-flame mark. Scribes also compile topical manuscripts from older sources, conduct research for seekers, purchase books, and commission expeditions to recover lost works. Seekers pay for controlled access and expert labor, not permission to wander the stacks.
Quentin Lorekeeper
Quentin regularly works in Candlekeep's library under his human identity. The Avowed know him as an eccentric scholar and repeat visitor, not as a resident of the citadel. His actual home and hoard occupy a natural cave far below Candlekeep. The cave lies beyond the reach of the great wards and outside the Avowed's bedrock cellars, allowing Quentin to come and go without crossing a ward boundary from below.
Also known as
- the citadel
- Citadel of the Avowed