⏵ player information
name and pronouns: Em (she/her)
age: 30+
contact: biowafers, biowafers @ discord, PM this journal

⏵ character information
name: The Archive
canon: The Dresden Files (books)
age: 14
canon point: Before Changes
history: Ivy at the Dresden Files Wiki, The Archive at the DFW, and The Oblivion War at the DFW
abilities:

• Magic: the Archive is a magical powerhouse. Not only does she have immense power, but she has thousands of years of skill and knowledge to wield it. Without any interference she would have been able to hold off the attacks of seven Fallen Angels. Magic as she wields it consists of taking magical power and shaping it into a spell that has a practical effect on the world, only she doesn't need to vocalize spells to cast them, just a hand motion. These spells can be anything from lighting a candle to moving large objects to vaporizing foes. More information about magic at The Dresden Files Wiki.


• 5,000(ish) years of written knowledge: the Archive is a repository of mankind's written knowledge. Everything from the original calculus proof to someone's grocery list are etched in her memory and she can recall them with perfect understanding.


• Recording of writing: anything that is written down is instantly known and perfectly understood by the Archive. This power is not active in Etraya.

personality: "Ivy" and "the Archive" are two different "beings" inhabiting the same body, and "Ivy" cannot exist without the context of "the Archive." Since her infancy she has been the receptacle of the Archive and has grown up with 5,000(ish) years of written knowledge and memories of the past lives of the Archive. This means that even since her earliest days she has known that she should not have friends, should not experience things, should not have what people refer to as "life." This has caused her to isolate herself from everyone, and everyone else has respected that boundary because she is the Archive.

One heavy burden Ivy has had to bear her whole life is the death of her mother. Ivy’s grandmother died in a freak car accident which left her mother suddenly burdened by the Archive when she was pregnant with Ivy. Resentful of both her mother for leaving her this burden and unborn daughter for having a life of freedom ahead of her, Ivy’s mother chose to kill herself and pass the Archive to her daughter as an infant. Ivy has grown up her whole life, from her very earliest memory, knowing that her mother hated her. This has had a great impact on her feelings of what she deserves as a “person” and has pushed her to be more of “the Archive” than “Ivy.”

However, it is impossible for her inner self to truly live that way. She has secret desires and impulses, things that are appropriate for a girl her age. When she was seven she excitedly pet a cat after telling someone she would kill them if they didn't show up to a duel. At twelve she threatened to draw a cost benefit analysis chart for her enemy in crayon (she was trying to belittle them). She likes Happy Meals and cookies. She prefers calculus over her immense magical power. In her deepest heart she does not want to be isolated, she wants to have friends and loved ones, to not be so alone. Despite her best efforts she can't stop being a person.

Being a person comes with downsides, however. It means she can be emotionally vulnerable. She can be hurt and manipulated. Due to her isolation she doesn't have much practice falling down and picking herself back up again, her only real experience with this is being tortured by some Fallen Angels. Ivy has memories of other lives failures, knows all the advice that's ever been written down, but that doesn't equate to having the experience herself. Everything she experiences is on shaky ground, she has no solid emotional platform to stand on, but she logically knows this and it contributes to her willingness to distance herself.

But in spite of all this the Archive is still a large dictator in her behavior. Due to it she is bound to neutrality: even if she wants to help friends by giving them information, she cannot. It's not as if she doesn't want to, but she is actually bound to not do so. The accumulation of 5000 years worth of lives has led the bearers of the Archive to distance themselves from people because the burden of that many years worth of feelings historically has driven past Archives insane. This is what influences her isolation and enforces the idea that this is correct, despite the fact that somewhere in her brain she knows there is some benefit to interacting with people and growing emotionally. The Archive also does whatever it can to protect itself. Apart from neutrality, she is able to override the instincts of the Archive if her emotions are strong enough to do so, but due to distancing herself this is a rare occurrence.


samples: one, two