Watchman's Tree

The Watchman's Tree, also referred to as the Great Storehouses of Knowledge or the Covenant of the Rood, are nine occult libraries that are scattered throughout the world. Each library has different specializations to their collection, and a number of them have various Hours who serve as their patrons.

Hush House

'Hush House was a sanctuary. It survived the Black Death, the Wars of the Roads, the King's Dissolution, the Intercalate, the First and Second Worm Wars... not unscathed, not unscarred, but it still survived where even some gods didn't.'
'Weather Factory'

Hush House is a large library on the British island of Brancrug, which the player character takes over as Librarian in Book of Hours. Its patron is the alukite Rowena, a member of the Ligeia Club. It is associated with the Wisdom of Hushery.

• Previous to its function as an occult library, Hush House was also a Suppression Bureau prison, royal manor and abbey.
• At the time of Book of Hours, a fire has ruined the collection of the library, and requires the player character to help in its restoration.

Invisible Serapeum

'I've entered one of the outer elements of the Invisible Serapeum - a sunny pillared porch of paradoxical size, where a certain Dr Blackwood will offer me a seat and a glass of iced hibiscus tea.'
'Serapeum Peristasis'

The Invisible Serapeum is hidden in Alexandria, Egypt, invisible both from the outside and the inside, and considered one of the most difficult of the occult libraries to find. It is under the protection of the Forge of Days and specializes in topics associated with her power and history, particularly Horomachistry.

• Dr. Serena Blackwood served as the director of the Invisible Serapeum sometime during the 1920's after resigning as the tenth Librarian of Hush House.
• Sometime before the war (assumed to be the Great War), the Exile was invited to visit the Serapeum, which functions in Cultist Simulator as a vault.
• The Invisible Serapeum is featured in the Lady Afterwards, a tabletop role-playing game set in the Secret Histories Universe, hidden in the catacombs of the city.

Yeshiva Tigris

'For fifty years this secret yeshiva has taught the Four Traditions of the Bei Ilai: the imprisonment of spirits, the expulsion of monsters, the conclusion of tenacious curses and the sealing of troublesome portals.'
'Yeshiva Tigris'

The Yeshiva is located in Tiflis, Georgia, and serves as a Jewish Academy for the arts of healing and restoration, as well as methods of warding and combating spirits. It specialises in Preservation.

• Among its students was Moishe Farouk, an Egyptian obstetrician who was able to perform miraculous operations thanks to their teachings, and is significant to the events of The Lady Afterwards.
• Yeshiva appears as a vault in the Exile Legacy of Cultist Simulator which has imprisoned an undergoer who is the great-grandmother of Vasil.
• The Bei Ilai is mentioned in the Book of Hours as one of three forests in the Bounds through which "the roots of the House" pass into the Wood. "The Histories continue" as long as at least one tree of those forests stands.

Tomb of Lies

The Tomb of Lies is home to the Great Hooded Princes. The princes are associated with the subcontinent of India, but it is not certain that the tomb is located there. Eva Dewulf claims that the tomb lies "west of the Lion and north of victory", somewhere east of India. Its collection houses knowledge of the Fifth History and many mysterious topics, with a focus on Nyctodromy. The Tomb is guarded jointly by the Mother of Ants and the Horned Axe, though this relationship is “uneasy”.

Crossrow

In a garden city of the Far West lies Crossrow, which specializes in musical manuscripts, and is guarded by a figure known as Sunset Celia. It specializes in Birdsong.

Grove of Green Immortals

The Grove is a mountain-monastery of renegade Taoists, who specialize in horticulture and medicine, as well as Heart lore, Moth Lore, and Bosk. It’s patron is the Applebright, one of the gods-from-Nowhere.

• Despite being overseen by a god-from-Nowhere, the Grove is supposedly safe to visit due to an arrangement between the Applebright and the monks, though how true this is remains to be seen.
• The Grove is also home to "Singlefoots", large one-footed, horned creatures who may help or harm pilgrims. Alternatively, they may attempt to persuade humans to enter the Grove and become Singlefoots themselves.

Haustorium

An enclave in the New World, the Haustorium preserves that which is unwise to preserve, and specializes in the forbidden subject of Skolekosophy. It was founded by an alliance of Catholic friars and Incan magicians.

• The Haustorium is said to be extremely dangerous, even to correspond with.
• Robigo, a Name of the Crowned Growth, is said to be a "special friend" of the Haustorium. Arun Peel even claims the he is the protectress [sic] of the library.
• The Haustorium is one of the sponsors for visitors to Troewen in the Locksmith's Dream live event.
• The Deaths of the Moon, a "haustorial tract" seems to refer either to Robigo or the Growth itself as "Our Protector, the Generous of Hosts" whose generosity is "ungentle".

Labyrinth of Lions

'Greatest among the powers who illuminate is one called Watchman. He it is who says ‘Mercy is found only in shadow.’ But he does not say that mercy is nowhere found; and shadows lie long at the Labyrinth of Lions.'
'Tabriz, January 1866: My dear nephew'

A Labyrinth tied to the Shadowless Kings and the Lionsmith. It is specialized in Illumination.

• A letter from Arthus Thomas Moore, who served as lieutenant of the British Empire’s 3rd Bombay Light Cavalry during the Battle of Khushab against Persian forces, describes the conflict and his rescue at the hands of Lt. John Grant Malcomson, who seemingly rode a beast of the Lionsmith during the battle and later guided Moore to the Labyrinth.

Monastery of The Fifth Cup

The Monastery of The Fifth Cup is said to have the smallest collection of books out of the libraries of the Watchman's Tree. Named after a Georgian legend, it specializes in Ithastry.

• The injunction to "be careful of the materteral lady you might meet in dreams, and of her perilous proverbs" may refer to "Snare of the Tree: The Collected Proverbs of Aunt Mopsy" and to Aunt Mopsy herself, a Name of The Mare-in-the-Tree whose dialogue is laced with odd proverbs when visiting the Library during Numa.

Other Notes

• Further information regarding a number of the Nine Libraries exists, though such knowledge currently requires an enigmatic approach to discover.
• Information from earlier during the development of Book of Hours about the Libraries may not reflect the final design.
  • One instance of this appears to be the Nameless Library mentioned early in development, which appears to have been replaced with another.

Sources