The Festival of the Fictitious Folk
The Metafictional Convergence (By the Sisters),
The Night of the Living Myth1 (By the Remnant),
The Great Character Causatum (By the Archivists),
Dance of the Dramatis Personae (Alternative name, by Library Patrons)
Conspectus
A week2 of celebration, for those normally restricted to the tomes and arts of their origin, freeing them to walk down the innumerable Halls of the Library among the Patrons. This is a time when the line between fiction and reality - oft ill defined already - is allowed to blur even further.
Librarians facilitate this Festival with impressive spellcasting that frees the Fictitious Folk from their paper prisons and grants them autonomies on a level comparable to their mortal counterparts. This occurs even in the absence of a medium.
The Patrons' League considers the Festival a must-see for any new member of the Library.
Illustration
The trickster sprite Puck, in one of the Library's Arboreta, during the Festival of 1905.3
Knowledge
Traits: All worlds are comprised - at their core - of energy. The lens through which this energy is most commonly interpreted by us is a simple one: words.
Take, for instance, when one sees brown, ancient bark erupting from the ground towards the skies, spiralling higher until splitting into a delta of smaller ancillaries which finally blossom into bright, rubbery, geometrically shaped sparks of green. All these component parts, all the energy comprised within them, is summed up in a single word. In this instance, "tree".
In fiction, words are all the more volatile. Myriad ideas and emotions comprised into sentences, bound there by ink and paper for time immemorial. This energy disperses not when books are closed, instead building up, requiring a release which is provided through the Festival.4
By freeing the Fictitious Folk from their paper bindings and granting them physical form, this raw, pure energy is too released and allowed to disperse. The Festival serves not just as an opportunity to cavort and be merry, but is also an essential form of Library maintenance.
Nature:
History & Associated Parties:
Approach:
Observations & Stories
As one may expect from a carnival attended by the great characters of literary works, there is no shortage of stories from past festivals with which one could be regaled:
Several of The Bard's characters unwittingly found themselves in a situation befitting their original works. The appearance of Hamlet's Father to Romeo, the delivery of a witches' prophecy to Othello, and a case of mistaken identity between Duke Orsino, Prospero, and King Lear5 led to a highly fractious and convoluted brawl, requiring the attention of the Docents. Following this, all attendees were required to surrender weapons on arrival, and agree to adhere from hostilities for the Festival's duration - a rule which not all have abided by…
A particularly bodacious Festival was fuelled by The Mad Hatter providing attendees with a specially brewed batch of "tea". The event soon descended into Tarzan and Quasimodo swinging between the library's tallest bookshelves, Salome teaching Ebenezer Scrooge the Dance Of The Seven Veils, and Beowulf tearfully making amends with Grendel's Mother. The morning after, Heracles and Dorian Gray awoke entwined in each other's embrace, beginning a courtship which continues to present day.
Speaking of romance, not all have had such happy endings. Celebrating the manner in which they met, Lady Guinevere and Robin Hood were due to be wed at the 152nd occurrence of the Festival. Plans were quickly dashed though when the former was discovered in an intimate situation with Katherina Minola.6
Abraham Van Helsing has oft risked ejection from the Festival for violating the aforementioned rules surrounding weaponry and violence. Seeing the gathering as an opportunity for the hunting of evil doers, a series of dire misunderstandings led to Van Helsing chasing the Wizard of Oz through the library's halls, as the former denounced the latter's foray into vile sorceries. The situation was only resolved thanks to the hasty intervention of Zorro, Long John Silver, and Mr Toad.
Doubts
It is unclear how the traditional universal axiom of "Where there is a Will, there is a Way" operates for these Folk. No member of the Fictitious has ever been observed exiting the Library, or even conspiring an attempt — if indeed they can. The Archivists and the learned observers among them, however, do not consider this a question of If, but When. The Festival has increasingly struggled to release the energy needed to prevent it from building to unsafe levels, a fact which the Fictitious Folk are all too aware of. Some regard the possibility with fear, others with glee. The cause of both emotions stemming from a belief they may free to walk the earth of the Mortal Realm.
At recent festivals, there is a topic spoken of in hushed whispers, but one which not many will acknowledge aloud. There are rumours something - someone - stalks the Library's shelves, delving into and out of stories at will. Its motives opaque and obfuscated, what this means for the Fictitious Folk, and for the Festival, is unclear. It is a most interesting development which - when discussing the happenings of the Library - is a strong statement indeed.