Archive

Domain Summary

Cartographers, scouts, historians, and spies make their home deep within the Rocky Mountains. Eerie sounds echo through geometrically perfect snow around the Archive’s most well-known structures: the Orphanage, the Observatory, and the Library housing the Imperial Histories.

Life in the Domain

A popular saying in Archive is that all they have is rocks and snow. Life in Archive proper is harsh and unforgiving, but they wouldn't have it any other way. Challenge breeds strength, and only the strongest survive in the Seventh Age. Competition is common and encouraged. When not testing their survival skills, Archivists spend most of their time indoors. They engage in various pursuits, but all hobbies in the Archive have a pragmatic bent.

When they need a break from the mountains, Archivists visit the city of Memphis. In many ways, the two territories are polar opposites. Memphis is decadent, almost to the point of frivolity. It is an endless festival, full of music, dancing, food, and unsurpassed artistry. Those who live in Memphis lead lives of debauchery: sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll.

Dominant Races

Fae, Vampires, Mages, rare Shifters.

Paradigm: In Archive proper, a domain of subtlety, assassination, and information, the Ahl-i-Batin, Euthanatos, and New World Order can find a place. The regimented lifestyle holds opportunities for Hermetics. A few Etherites have Awakened in Colorado Springs. Memphis attracts Cultists of Ecstasy like no other, with Celestial Chorus and Taftani close behind.

Costuming and Archetypes

Survivalist Explorer, Eccentric Bookworm, Black Ops Soldier, Hardened Orphan

Politics & NPCs

The domain lord of the Archive holds the title of the Praenomen, the First Name. Currently, the Praenomen of Archive is Calamity the Winter’s Rose. Beneath the Praenomen, the Archive follows a basic feudal system, but is highly competitive. Any noble who proves themselves to be stronger or more skilled than another can advance in title. Such internal conflict is encouraged to eliminate weakness. Even killing another Archive noble is forgiven, so long as the proper oaths are sworn and the killer avoids offending more powerful nobles.

Any noble who hurts a child, is incapable of keeping a secret, or is even suspected of disloyalty, is re-trained, replaced, or simply vanishes. Skill, discretion, loyalty, and personal style are respected. The most skilled nobles are practically ghosts, letting glory hogs have the public spotlight while they operate in the shadows.

---Loading Oaths---

Umbral Realms

  • Low Umbra - Shroud 10 (Artificially raised)
  • Middle Umbra - Gauntlet 10 (Artificially raised)
  • Dreaming - Mists 0 (Far Dreaming - Mists 5, Deep Dreaming - Mists 8) / Banality 5
  • High Umbra - Periphery 5 (Vulgate - Periphery 3, Spires - Periphery 4)

Historical Information

Exploring the Fallen World

After the Fall, the world was forever changed. It was in these disasters that Archive found its purpose. The fall of civilization destroyed many advancements. The Archive has sought to preserve as much knowledge as possible, refusing to accept its loss. The Archive dedicated itself to seeking out the knowledge and advances of the last age. They raided ruins of cities and retrieved countless volumes. Their library, built in the mountains, in the ruins of Denver, was a stronghold of knowledge. Its purpose: to rescue humanity from an everlasting dark age.

Read more: Exploring the Fallen World

A Clashing of Domains

Nobles of the Devil’s Triangle learned that one of Archive’s nobles, Lulu Cooper, wished to leave the domain. Several of them met with the Archive’s Domain Lord, the Praenomen, in an attempt to negotiate her release. This parlay became a catastrophic failure when one, Wiley Harris, drew his guns on the domain lord. The Praenomen banished the Bermudan nobles for this insult. This did not end the matter, only exacerbated it.

Read more: (Foundation Era) Bermuda vs. Archive

A Western Coalition

What would later become the Empyrean Dysambigua began as several independent domains. The New Faith, Vancouver, and Archive, all attempted to bring Pascal into Dischordia. They worked to form a strong alliance dominating the western half of the kingdom.

Read more: (Foundation Era) Western Coalition

Archive Joins Appalachia

The harsh and forbidding nature of life in the mountains attracted few nobles to the Archive. Despite their many allies, the domain could not sustain on its own. Both Appalachia and the New Faith approached their allies with invitations to merge. The Praenomen, opened negotiations with Radu Bistri of the New Faith. After weeks of deliberation, the Archive agreed to join under the New Faith's banner. Yet, when it came time to sign the agreement, the Praenomen snubbed the New Faith.

Read more: (Foundation) Archive Joins Appalachia

The War of Nightmares

Four Dischordian armies, each led by one of Balor's lords, marched against the Nightmare Lands of Greenland. They were met on the field of battle by Aitu, the Crimson Weaver, and his own cadre of generals.

Read more: (Foundation Era) War of Nightmares

Archive's Coup

Growing unrest among the Archive’s nobles, and waning faith in the Praenomen, culminated in a coup. At the end of the surveyor's era, nobles of Archive and the Devil's Triangle conspired in rebellion. Calamity of Archive and Doc of Casablanca, ambushed and killed the Praenomen. Taking the mask that held his power and his soul, they shattered it. Calamity gifted the broken mask to Radu Bistri, to end the hostility between the two domains.

Read more: (Surveyor's Court) Archive's Coup

An Alliance is Formed

Aranta-Shadur and Empyrean Dysambigua competed to win the Imperials' surveyor challenge. Each conquered significant territory, and there was no clear winner between the two. The opportunity to tip the balance in their favor came as other domains faltered. Whoever swayed these struggling domains to their banner would be the victor.

Read more: (Surveyor’s Court) Archive / Empyrean Alliance

War of Aether

Along with the rest of Dischordia, Archive fought the Aether on many fronts. The Archive was at the head of the game of cat and mouse. Their expertise in secret operations made their agents indispensable to the war effort. They were never on the front lines, but often behind enemy lines. They accepted the most dangerous assignments in the most volatile of situations. 

Read more: (War of Aether)

Court of Empires

Early in court, Calamity was key to the Sultanate of Glass joining Dischordia. A few whispered words into the right ears planted the seeds of a political marriage. The wedding between Princess Maeve and Ambassador Fadil brought the two kingdoms closer. Ultimately, the Sultanate merged into Dischordia as another domain. Calamity's own marriage, to the Voice Jacob “Doc” Winters, made her the first Commoner Queen. Following the wedding, she withdrew from most courtly matters to manage her domain. Yet the lord of Archive would remain well-informed of events that transpired.

War of Maelstrom's Rebuke

During the Court of Empires, diplomatic relations between Dischordia and Lazarus' Kingdom failed. Dischordian nobles learned of a dark ritual planned by the Prince Alyosha Buljiev. In response, Dischordia launched a coordinated attack on Buljiev's domain of Carpathia. Their attack, seen by Lazarus' Empire as unprovoked, precipitated the conflict. The hostility between the two kingdoms erupted into the War of Maelstrom's Rebuke.

Read more: (War of Maelstom's Rebuke; Archive)

The Sublime Cataclysm

The tides of the war began to turn to their enemy’s favor. The Dischordian lords of prepared a spectacular attack to bring a swift end to the conflict. Sultan Suleiman, a master of spirit magic, led the largest ritual the kingdom had ever seen. New Faith ritualists, students of the Arcane Academy, and a million occultists gathered from all domains aided him. The sky itself bled with the power they summoned. Chunks torn from the spirit realms themselves bombarded Lazarus’ Empire. As each realm struck, it laid waste to thousands of miles of Lazarus' territory. Millions perished in an instant, as the realms destroyed immense swaths of land.

Read more: (Sublime Cataclysm; Archive)

Treaty of Maelstrom's Rebuke

The war ended one year, to the day, after the events which marked its beginning. Delegates from Dischordia and Lazarus met to solidify a treaty and bring the war to a close. Every kingdom sent diplomats to witness the signing, but each had ulterior motives. Each hoped to see their kingdom's goals reflected in the final document. The Treaty detailed terms of ceasefire, such as returning prisoners and withdrawing troops. Yet it also contained several initiatives which advanced specific agendas.

Read more: (Treaty of Maelstom's Rebuke)