Leitner FAQ

[epistemological]

So as per mod approval, Jon's arrival has of course brought something terrible with him to the Barge.

'Leitners', as they are called, are texts (some of which may or may not have ever been written, thanks Jonny and others of which are versions of known texts with additional/alternate material) which are pure expressions of the Entities which influence Jon's world, pure little nodes of power sent out to interact with people and ruin lives, usually. Because the Entities are all 'fears made manifest', some of these powers are pretty freaky. They are so named due to a character named Jurgen Leitner who attempted to collect and 'contain' as many of them as possible.

That went poorly for him.

The books in the library here will not have Leitner's bookplate on them, but they will, of course, match up with the texts shown so far in canon. As per the mods, all directly-dealing-with-the-Entity books will be defanged (no getting eaten by Mr. Spider) but available... but the books that show people how to do things like, oh, collect dead souls or move around walls or be invisible... those are just fine.

Jon, as has been mentioned in his threads so far, has taken a position in the library and his goal will be to find any and all Leitners that may be there and keep track of them. So he'll have his eye out for strange behavior that matches known Leitners. All the same, since it's a lot more fun to have these things wreaking havoc, I probably won't have him finding an 'active' Leitner so it can be available for plot fun.

The list following is all of the canonical Leitners, with the available details on them, what they do, the probable associated Entity (if known), and I'll be keeping track of whether it's been found, found out, and whether Jon's found the owner and contained it. First come first serve, obviously, and I'll be adding Leitners as canon provides.

TITLE	AUTHOR	LANGUAGE	EFFECT	APPEARANCE	STATUS	NOTES	ENTITY
A Disappearance	None	English	Temporary invisibility if a few words are read; read completely and you disappear without a trace	Small book, almost a pamphlet	w/Iris Wildthyme [1/28]	Full reading effect defanged	Unknown
A Guest for Mr. Spider	None	English	Deeply disturbing children's book which normally ends with the reader being compelled to knock on a door that opens to devour them.	Simple children's book in black and white with some color	will be found by Jon	DEFANGED. Harmless.	The Web
A Journal of the Plague Year	Daniel Defoe	English	Brings sickness and decay to the reader's location.  Can be used to slowly destroy somewhere, seemingly by rot.	DESTROYED	w/Harry Goodsir[1/28]	Functional	The Corruption
An Introduction to Higher Anatomy	None	English	Effect unknown at current.	Unknown	Unfound	DEFANGED until known.	The Flesh
Book of the Dead	Various	Various	Fills in the dates and details of death for the reader.  The death moves closer every time it's checked.	Small journal-like book.	w/Bucky Barnes [2/2]	Functional (but only lists canonical character death).	The End
Dig	None	English	Makes you want to dig.  Like.  Through anything.  Possibly even people. Continually. Possibly unto death.	Waterlogged book.	w/Rhys [2/5]	Functional	The Buried
Ex Altiora	None	Latin	Can be used to experience create a sense of vertigo or to trap lightning or lightning-based entities.	Small leatherbound text	w/Tris Kal-El [1/28]	Functional	The Vast
Book of Skin	Owner	Sanskrit/English	Used to bind a dead person's soul/spirit and allows them to be conversed with by the living.Further Details can be discussed below.	Large leatherbound book	w/Marty Hart [3/5]	Functional	The End
Small Red Book	None	Unknown	On the demon Asag; can be used to burn people without fire/flame/light, boiling them from the inside out.	Small red book.	w/Lesley May [6/17]	Functional	The Desolation
The Boneturner's Tale	None	English	Terrible Chaucer fanfic that grants the user bone control powers, including pulling them from someone's body without breaking skin, collecting them into your own body, or warping their shape.	Small black paperback with white text; other books around it may bleed	w/Steve Rogers[2/16]	Functional	The Flesh
The Key of Solomon 1863	None	English	Effect unknown at current.  Contains 'elements of several powers'.	Unknown	Unfound	DEFANGED until known.	Multiple
The Seven Lamps of Architecture	John Ruskin	English	The book gives the sense of the walls closing around the reader.  Can be used to manipulate walls and control surroundings.	DESTROYED/Burned	w/Fiona Goode [1/28]	Functional	The Buried
The Stalwart Hunters' Almanac	None	English	Mutilation of reader corresponding to passages read; will be savaged by animal attack from the inside out.	Unknown	w/Laura [3/12]	Functional	The Hunt
The Tale of a Field Hospital	Sir Frederick Treves	English	Causes death by putrification via papercut. Contains sections not found in the original, specifically about the Boer concentration camps. See here for details.	Unknown	w/Kahl [3/16]	Functional	The Corruption
Poetry Book	None	Sanskrit	Small animal bones fall from the pages	Small, unremarkable book	w/Benton Fraser [1/28]	Functional	The Hunt/The Flesh
Dictionnaire Infernal	Jacques De Plancy	Unknown	Can be used to trap demonic entities.	Unknown	w/Ford Pines[1/28]	Functional	Unknown
Small grey book	None	Russian/Cyrillic script	Starts 'reading' you, including your life story, your thoughts, your probable actions... like a book that mirrors you.	Small grey book	w/Elizabeth Jennings [5/23] w/Jon [6/01]	Unknown	Unknown/The Eye
Kumo Gatabete Iru	None	Japanese	Summons a giant person-eating spider.	Unknown	w/Hilda Spellman [1/28]	Functional	The Web
Untitled paperback	Unknown	Unknown	Tearing pages will send someone into a homicidal rage; tearing the whole book will send everyone in the immediate area into a homicidal rage	A small paperback volume, somewhat worn	w/Armitage Hux [3/5]	DESTROYED	The Frenzy

FAQ

QUESTION: Is there anything that would draw my character to these books?
Answer: As per the mods: The books will draw attention to themselves, but not have the power to manage pure compulsion. They will slightly stack the odds in their own favor, in terms of drawing the hand or the eye, or being the one to land on top of the pile when the shelf topples over.

QUESTION: Is there any way to tell, from sight, that a book is a Leitner?
Answer: For some of them, yes. Again, as per the mods: The books will have cosmetic abilities, but scaled back to where they draw attention but don't necessarily disrupt the workings of the library. Walk past where Boneturner on the shelf with an open book in your hands and it may bleed; stack Boneturner in with a pile of other ones on a desk and they may bleed. Inert and on a closed shelf, though, the library staff aren't going to have to begin mopping blood up biweekly.

QUESTION: Do the books confer abilities/powers permanently?
Answer: No, they do not. One must be in possession of the text in order to use the specialized power of the text. However, spells (in the rare case where a Leitner has such things) or knowledge contained within the text works like anything else. (So learn all about architecture while you're moving those walls!)

QUESTION: ...so about that book that works on binding the dead...
Answer: As per the mods: Because no one is dead for long, the death-function books won't have much of a chance to work, and can't override the resurrection process that is in place. If someone used the book before a person could be resurrected, it could function, but the barge would yank the deceased right out again when they were brought back to life. So in short: if you want to have a plot about an inmate and not getting resurrected immediately and the book, go right ahead but it'll be temporary.