Archibald Thornweave

Archibald Thornweave was born in the Silverleaf Kingdom, which fell 312 years ago. He served as royal librarian for 400 years, curating one of the greatest collections of magical texts in elven history. When the kingdom fell to invasion, he was in the deep archives cataloging.

The Fall of Silverleaf

Emerging from the archives, Archibald found the palace burning, the royal family dead, and armies slaughtering civilians. He tried to save the archives but managed to rescue only 47 books. He watched over 200,000 volumes burn—the life's work of generations, the knowledge of centuries, reduced to ash.

This loss shattered him. He wandered in a grief-stricken fugue state for 80 years, unable to settle, unable to find purpose. He blamed himself for failing the kingdom, for not saving more, for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Redemption Through Service

Miriel found him living as a hermit, surrounded by his 47 saved books. She spent three years gently coaxing him back to functional life, then offered him purpose: build a new great library at Founders Academy. He has served as Chief Librarian for 230 years, still carrying guilt but finding peace in preservation.

Under Archibald's care, the Founders Academy library has grown to a five-story tower containing approximately 50,000 volumes. The collection includes common texts, rare grimoires, ancient histories, and modern research, all organized by Archibald's personal system (which makes perfect sense to him but confuses everyone else).

His office is at the top of the tower—the best view, furthest from noise. The library includes special climate-controlled rare book rooms and reading rooms on each level. Archibald treats every book as irreplaceable because, to him, they are.

Notable Ability

Archibald can find any book in the entire library within 3 minutes without consulting any index. His memory of the collection is perfect. Students joke that he can hear a book crying from three floors away—they're not entirely wrong. He has a preternatural sense for when texts are being mistreated.

Late at night when the library is empty, Archibald works on a secret project: slowly reconstructing his lost kingdom's archives from memory. He has recreated 1,847 texts word-for-word. Students who stumble upon him writing think he's just cataloging, but he's preserving what was lost, one word at a time.

This work is both penance and purpose. Every text he recreates is a small victory against the destruction that claimed his kingdom. It's his way of ensuring that even if the physical books are gone, the knowledge survives.

Archibald mentors students in research methods with infinite patience. He offers an optional seminar called "Advanced Research Methodologies," teaching students how to find information, cross-reference sources, identify forgeries, and preserve knowledge.

He cannot tolerate damaged books or careless handling. Once, he made a Master-level student cry for dog-earing a page in a 600-year-old manuscript. The student never mistreated a book again. Archibald later apologized with tea and a lesson on proper bookmark use.

Personality

Gentle and soft-spoken, Archibald occasionally drifts into memory. He becomes animated when discussing rare texts or discoveries. He's deeply protective of the library and treats every volume with reverence. His relationship with books is profound—they are not just objects to him, but vessels of knowledge, memory, and hope.

• Former royal librarian of the fallen Silverleaf Kingdom
• Witnessed the destruction of over 200,000 volumes
• Rescued only 47 books from the burning library
• Wandered in grief for 80 years before finding purpose at Founders Academy
• Can find any book in the library within 3 minutes without an index
• Has perfect memory of the entire collection
• Secretly reconstructing lost kingdom's archives from memory (1,847 texts recreated)
• Mentors students in research methods with infinite patience
• Cannot tolerate damaged books or careless handling
• Has a preternatural sense for when texts are being mistreated