Mollusca Consulate

To access most of the other Consulates, one enters the Warren Public Library, which is accessed directly from the main maglev station where the Cottontail makes its official Warren stop. There are two separate entrances. One descends a long stone staircase; the other provides access to an elevator.   Entering into the library, one is immediately struck by the spectacular glass ceiling. The feeling of being under daylight, however, is an illusion provided by advanced sun lights between the glass and the solid rock that nestles the Warren within.   One descends either elevators or staircases to each of the five floors, all of which are lined ceiling to floor with books. All floors but the bottommost are railed walkways.   One touches pink carpet on the bottom floor, which is also stacked with neatly arranged bookcases. Lamps on top of the bookcases provide additional illumination at this extremely deep level of the Warren.   One then walks through a secondary room on the bottom floor, which holds all the community access features of a modern university library. There are group research tables and a small sound booth.   Large glass doors open out from the library, and there, one finds themself in an incredibly ornate and beautiful hallway, decorated in red stone with brass filigree - or perhaps, it might even be gilding. Directly across from the doors is a large public washroom. To the right, behind another blast door, is the access to the transcontinental portal.   To the left, one corridor veers off around the library, descending into the Molluscan Consulate. The access opens up into a vast, open cavern on the shores of an underground lagoon. The cavern walls are lined with thick. leafy vines, bearing faintly glowing golden berries, providing most of the illumination. It is a stunning effect.

— Princess Rowean, "Inside the Warren: An Architectural and Tourist's Guide"

On the shores of the lake are a small number of terrestrial dwellings. Each is effectively a little house in the cavern, designated for those few Molluscans who are not wholly aquatic.   Beneath the water, one sees the glowing lights of an underwater village. Structures are mostly formed of durable concrete and stone, mostly in a similar turquoise shade as the water.   This is salt water, and a plethora of ocean life swims and grows among the buildings; most notably, the many eight-legged creatures that swim and scurry to and fro. Some are quite spectacular, with bioluminescent shapes suggesting stars in the night sky, lurking in the darker depths. Others seem to have an almost perfect ability to blend in with their surroundings... and a mischievous tendency to play tricks on the unwary.   A small coral reef has begun to form, but it is new.   It is likely this underwater lake is accessible to Okanagan Lake at some point, but only the Molluscans seem to know where.

— Princess Rowean, "Inside the Warren"