Archibald Winthrop

*“Do you have permission to quote that text?”*— Achibald Winthrop
**Archibald Winthrop** (Senglast "*Lieblingfarhtćye Artćibald van Exyzisryochglasi*", Senglast cyrillic *"Лиеблингфархше Арчибалд шан Ехйзисрёчгласи*")  is the head of the Librarians Guild of Cynedom, and a member of the Mage Council. As the Head Scribe-Master, he overlooks and commands the operations of the other Libraries, including the Eversail Library. As Calligraph's superior, he assigned Calligraph the mission to investigate the Vistan Haze Crisis, as well as making attempts to reign in Syntax's influence on the mission.

## History

### Childhood

Winthrop is originally from Cynedom's northerly town of Syltse, bordering on the kingdom of Nornland. Receiving a more traditional Nornnish upbringing, Archibald was born a somewhat sickly child. Often being held indoors, he spent most of his days receiving tutelage in magic from his father, a minister of the Temple of [Insert Vistan Aspect of Fire]. Low in constitution, he found his inherent magical abilities were lacking, with poor command over magic cores and possessing a weak Ego.

He did, however, have a great command of both his own language and that of Senglast, a talent that his father capitalised on. Sending him to Eversail's mage colleges at the tender age of nine, Winthrop began training to become a Locutor. This sacred office tasked him to be able to recite the Ordained Vision by memory, while also being syllable-perfect to the text. This involved 5 years of study, followed by 3 years of training. Over this time, Winthrop lived in an abbey, raised by his instructors. This instilled a rigid personality defined by reclusive study and strict regimentation.

#### Changing Times

Once he had completed his Locutor training, Winthrop went on to the Mage Council for his recitation, being given 12 hours to do so. To the Council's surprise, however, he had prefaced this speech with a hour-long recounting of the history of Cynedom, perfectly recited the Ordained Vision within 5 hours, and concluded with his own speech on his own theological theory, done within another hour. The Council, delighted that the recitation was much shorter than usual, celebrated him and endeared him to Cynedom's nobility. Sufficiently pleased with himself, Archibald enjoyed a year performing his duties as a Locutor. Unfortunately, his title was short-lived.

The same year as his appointment to Locutor, the Press had been invented by an Eucarian scholar. This lead to the printing of thousands of copies of the Ordained Vision. This was a severe blow to the Locutors, with Temples in Eversail and Bronze City already abandoning the millenia-old tradition. Archibald was radicalised by this, making his discontent known in several dissertations, some of which consisted of over 20,000 handwritten pages, over the next few years. He was a staunch opponent of this device, causing him to gain sympathy from the greater Mage community that feared what this new technology meant for the power balance between mages and non-mages.

Nonetheless, the Press had caused the death of the office of Locutor, taking Archibald's title from him only a decade after he had earned it. Severely embittered by this, Archibald spent much of his way working his way up the Mage Council, styling himself as a Crusader of the 'Old Way'. Despite the influences of what he coined the 'Opportunmancy' on mage culture, he was well liked by more conservative members of the council. Archibald reached the title of Archmage at the age of 50, becoming a very influential figure in Cynedomian government. He sat at this post for another decade before a younger upstart by the name of Lunellum took another seat.

#### New Horizons

Though Fey in Cynedom were historically of high status and were typically seen as inherently worthy of political power, Lunellum was unique in that she was accepting of lower class mobility and technological advancements. This went against Archibald's ethos on mage culture, but for a time, the two reached a certain understanding. In one public debate on the overabundance of guilds the two had, Lunellum convinced Winthrop that the growing Librarian Guild would need someone in the system such as him to give them legitimacy and a solid foundation of rules. He took this advice to heart, and transformed what was, at the time, an unofficial writer's association that caused upsets among authors of books they were distributing.

In the space of a dozen years, Archibald was able to secure the Librarian Guild as a legitimate source of power in Cynedom, being a tightly run intelligence organization. He effectively used clerical resources afforded to someone of his political power to acquire resources necessary to run the Libraries across Cynedom, and created a system that rewarded recording of new research. He managed to actually run a profit for the Guild by charging royalties to authors that wanted to see their works circulated through this system. This did come at the price, however, of the Librarians being effectively cut off from the illiterate public. The standards of education increased, but only for the already privileged.

By the time of the Vistan Haze Crisis, he was running the Librarians Guild at its highest membership, being the Cynedomian government's main force in conducting research on several threats to the nation.

## Abilities

Being a practiced, long-studied mage, Archibald knows a great many spells, and can put them to good use. Being an Arch-Mage, he has a demonstrated proficiency in all 13 Magic Schools.

Of particular note is his Ego, Tribulation. Tribulation creates small bursts of light, directed by energy currents as directed by its user. When he was a sickly child, this power amounted to the power of a common firecracker. Over the years (especially after being made to forsake his Locutor teachings), he developed this ability in order to focus his mind. Now, this Ego can create much more intense orbs of energy, and can sustain a stream of them for up to five minutes. The ensuing barrage is capable of downing an enemy with the intense heat withing a few seconds of sustained blows.

## Personality

Winthrop is a serious and strict mage, revamping the rules of the Librarian's Guild to make it a far-reaching influence in Cynedom. He personally disapproves of non-mage technology, and believes in the enforcement of Author's Authority to the utmost degree. While at times difficult, he is still reasoned and is fair to his underlings as long as they know their place in the Guild.

## Trivia

* Archibald's birth name is 'Baldr mi Liblinfart', as per Nornnish tradition. This was at the insistence of his Nornnish mother, and changed his name to one more acceptable before his career in Cynedomian politics.