Fort Maria library

 

Several years have passed since Epona opened, and many more since Fort Maria library got closed. After an incident we know nothing about yet, the doors of the building closed to the regular residents and remain so to this day. Thanks to the help of a new friend, we managed to get inside this almost abandoned house for many Jorvik books and paintings. Today I invite you to explore the interiors and interpret the art of mysterious painters together!

Entrance

What does every weird library have? A mysterious entrance hidden in a bookcase of course! The secret entry leads us to a small room. There are armchairs, a desk, books and pictures. This little space prepares us mentally for exploring huge archives hidden behind and under the walls of the fort!

 

---

Corridor

Just behind the first room that appears to us after entering the building, there is a corridor that leads to a much larger hall. There are paintings on the walls and a little trolley. I wonder what the closed doors hide behind.

 

---

First hall

This is where some serious library starts. After leaving the corridor, we find ourselves on the ground floor of the first hall. There are shelves full of old books all around, tables here and there where the people of Jorvik could study the volumes before the place closed (and since it was closed a long time ago, there are plenty of mugs with cobwebs inside). Opposite of the entrance to the hall is a clock, and below it a huge book. Beatrix claims that the book is so old that people say the library was built around it. Unfortunately, the language in which it is written is very different from the way we speak now and it is impossible to understand.

 

From the ground floor, we can get to the upper floor, which also has a lot of bookshelves, but a lot more space for readers. We can find many armchairs, desks and tables around the floor and windows with an unknown view behind. There are various notes hanging on the walls here and there, that were left by the library's visitors. There is a strange roar coming from behind one of the closed doors, could it have something to do with the incident that caused the place to close? 

 It is here, by the decorative wooden dome, where we can find the entrance to the huge underground library with most of the archives of Fort Maria. At first it is blocked by a visual puzzle that must be solved before the stairs open up for us.

 

What's hiding behind the doors?

 

The answer to the puzzles could be found all around the upper floor of firs hall:

star, sun, lightning, moon

 

---

Underground

It's the time to visit the largest part of the building, the underground archives library. There are two floors around the ground floor, from which you can clearly see the center of the room with 4 bookshelves of different sizes in it. At the top of each bookcase, there are also devices that, if turned to the right circle sign, unlock the stairs leading to the higher bookcase. As in the rest of the library, there are many books, paintings, seats. There is also one corridor on one of the floors.

---

Paintings

I think one of the most eye-catching things about the library is its collection of paintings. They are beautiful and interesting at the same time, leaving us room for interpretation.

 

Who could this creature be? We haven't seen anything like this in Jorvik yet, but I was wondering if this could be a representation of the Life Wardens (ancient trees to protect flora and fauna of Jorvik) in a different way than we know them today. Linda mentioned in past quest that these trees 'had a different appearance and abilities, and were much stronger and more powerful in the old days'. Is it  their former appearance, a completely different creature, or an unusual and untrue interpretation of these plants by the painter?

★★★

It is difficult to guess who the person in the picture might be, but you can notice that they have branches on their arms, just like the Vala witch we met. So my guess is that it might be one of the natives of Jorvik. Could it be someone from Vala? I doubt it, because everyone points out that Vala is a group of women only.

 

★★★

 

The picture reminds me of going through the portal to Pandoria, the place in between looks quite similar. However, the books don't fit the resemblance and the building on the top reminds me more of the Ruins of the Old Temple in Epona.

★★★

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/Bm68RA

The most interesting thing about this painting for me is that where the horse of the girl shown in the picture put its hooves, a path of grass and flowers grew. It reminds me of Aideen, she created a beautiful island full of flora and fauna out of a rock. The image was drawn by Matilda, a concept artist at Star Stable. She described it as "Unused environment art from 2016" so I don't think it's a place from the game.

 

★★★

 

 

★★★

 

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/v1LKZd

The painting shows a druid and a horse that we get after completing the Soul Riding reputation, Rune Runner. This is the 3rd drawing made by Matilda and it was created to help the team define the druids' dress style, appearance and relationship with horses.

★★★

 

https://www.deviantart.com/aerhalev/art/Jungle-Land-Concept-922291172

This is probably one of the images that surprised me the most, the place on it seems quite different from the rest of the island, I would even think that it is not related to Star Stable at all, if it wasn't for the fact that there are 4 circle signs in the lower left corner... Is this also a sign of 5th Soul Rider?

 

The author of this drawing wrote:

"A concept I created while working on video games of a lost jungle land populated by an ancient civilization.
I based a lot of the ideas on the Toltec and Mayan civilizations, as well as other indigenous populations of South America."

 

It makes me wonder if the team is planning a jungle related game that will also have a connection to the Soul Riders?

 

★★★

 

 

This place cannot be confused with anything else, the picture shows the main character of this post, Fort Maria!

 

★★★

 

 

★★★

 

 

The harbors, the lighthouse and the little houses remind me of the Cape West Fishing Village, although I must admit that I am not 100% sure that it is the place on the picture.

★★★

 

 

The place in the painting is very different from everything we know on Jorvik, it is located in the clouds, and pegasuses are flying all around. Could this be the Cloud Kingdom that Mica Stoneground is looking for?

 

★★★

 

 

This is another place that I do not recognize, but as soon as I saw the building on the left, it reminded me of the Pine Hill Mansion. Although the river next to it does not match very well, according to the map from Helena Dahlgren's books, the mountains to the back are well situated. It's still my little theory though.

★★★

 

 

★★★

 

 

This is one of the more mysterious paintings. It shows a strange, monster-like creature, sitting, as we can guess, in the Fort Maria library. If you already have access to this area, you have already completed the newest story quests, so you should remember that Beatrix, the capran who led us to the library, was described by Scott Buttergood as the demon of Fort Maria, huge, with eyes as big as plates. The man saw the creature, or rather its shadow, at night, so his eyes and imagination could play tricks on him, because as we know Beatrix is not scary at all. 

Does this image also represent Beatrix studying the Fort Maria's books? The green outfit is correct, and the creature also has a book bag and hooves instead of human-like legs. It may have been painted by a person who was also terrified to see the monster in the darkness of the library. Or maybe caprans have powers that we do not know about, and when necessary they hide under the illusion of a terrifying image? For now, I would rather bet on the hypothesis of too much human imagination.

---

There is no doubt that the place is beautiful and much bigger than I thought. I am happy with the amount of details and the fact of showing us various secrets of the island through the paintings. I love the mysterious vibe, so such a library is a place where I would like to spend a lot of time, but I believe that the visual aspect of this location alone is not enough. There's one thing I'd change: the place is full of books that both Beatrix and Mrs Holdsworth talked about. Both of them made me really curious and I hope that someday we will be able to read at least part of the library's book collection, including something about the previous Soul Riders, Vala, other supernatural creatures from Jorvik, the history of the island, its important inhabitants from the past or the adventures of Mississippi Jones. This is a great opportunity to arrange a place so that it has a greater purpose than the background for quests or players' games, because currently it can get simply boring after not a long time.

 

★★★

 

Fun fact: The name of Fort Maria is a reference to the name of a ship from Christopher Columbus's first voyage (Santa María), as is Fort Pinta (Pinta ship). There may also be Fort Nina (last ship, Niña) somewhere on Jorvik.

 

★★★

 

So what do you think about Fort Maria's library?

Hugs ♥