Bookholm Catacombs

Bookholm is a city built entirely on literature. This is not simply a metaphor describing the main economic activity of this city. The caves that cut deep beneath Bookholm are filled with the forgotten literary productions of the past.

Bookholm started disposing of its books in the caves many centuries ago, and has continued ever since. The result is that, the deeper one goes into the catacombs, the farther one goes back in Bookholm’s literary history, and the more rare and valuable the books become.

German author Walter Moers has made Bookholm and its subterranean labyrinth the backdrop of his novel The City of Dreaming Books. Reading about it is fine, but nothing compares to an actual visit, but be cautious because the catacombs are a dangerous place where beasts and killers lurk, ready to do harm to the unwary traveler.

Three of the peaceful bookworms who live 

in the catacombs: Doylan Cone, Wamilli Swordthrow and 

Aleisha Wimpersleake.

Only one traveler is known to have traversed the entirety of the catacombs alone and survived: Optimus Yarnspinner, a literary dinosaur of the species Lindworm was cast into these tunnels against his will, and yet managed to make it out alive and sane. He is now feted as a hero of Bookholm.

Optimus Yarnspinner

The most dangerous of the underworld inhabitants are the bookhunters. They have dedicated their lives to searching through the catacombs for forgotten classics, and will stop at nothing to be the first to bring one back to market. They prey on each other and on anything else that gets in their way.

Be aware of the other creatures that dwell here: Nocturnomaths have multiple brains and do their best thinking in complete darkness; the Homuncolossus is a golem made of paper who haunts the deepest caves; and at the center of it all lives the Shadow King who claims the entirety of the catacombs as his realm.

If anybody has visited Bookholm or its catacombs, and has survived to tell the tale, please do so in the comments.