The Archivist

The False Patron (by Daudrics)

The Twisted One (by Norscans)

Shen'dralo (by Kal'dorei)

The Archivist, also known as the Dark Librarian or the God of Candles, is an eldritch entity of knowledge, scholars, adventure, magic and everything occult. The Archivist is technically the only "God" that has ever experienced dying as they were killed by Daudri when Daudri came to the Archivist's island, but as a "God" the Archivist could never truly die and thus resurfaced in a plane of their own making known as the Hall of Secrets - a plane that supposedly can only be reached through the plethora of secrets contained in the the Black Library, where the Archivist is said to sometimes return to browse and tend to his ancient archives. The Archivist is no longer worshipped extensively in its old material plane homeland, but is the unofficial primary deity of the most advanced mages of the Khivan Empire to whom knowledge is power, and power is all. They are also worshipped by a variety of scholars and mages across the rest of the world, but their followers tend to struggle with Daudric prosecution. After all, the Archivist is another "God" of Magic and thus remains a direct rival of Daudri. He is also more of a professional rival of Epistos, as the two champion knowledge of different kinds.

## History

It is unknown to even Enottáe and Faendor when, how or why the Archivist emerged. While their powers were those of a God, they were not like the other Gods, thus often being labelled more of an extremely powerful eldritch entity. Regardless of this distinction, the Archivist did participate in the War of the Firstborn - but only when they stood to gain knowledge about or insights into the extraplanar threat's nature. They jeopardized efforts to contain the threat more than once while trying to study it, earning little trust from the Gods and the firstborn races. Long after the war was won and the Archivist returned to its Black Archive, they were hunted down and killed by Daudri, who seemingly had found something in the unchartered lands beyond the Western Khivan mountains that warranted crossing an ocean to kill the Archivist. While Daudri was successful, the Archivist's existence could not be erased and they reemerged in their own plane, the Hall of Secrets, more powerful than ever before. Some of the Archivist's followers believe that the Archivist had planned for Daudri to find whatever they found and then kill their eldritch rival in order to attain this power. Others believe that the Archivist managed to drain some of Daudri's power right before they were killed to make their true death impossible and to force the Hall of Secrets into existence.

## Worship

Worship of the Archivist is difficult and largely unknown. As a follower of the Archivist, you can never reveal your allegiance, for most nations have condemned Archivist worship and allowed Daudric followers to hunt worshippers of their hated enemy down with extreme prejudice. It is, however, impossible to annihilate them all. Whether they know it or not, most scholars and professors worship the Archivist when they read or perform research. Cultists worship them when they expand upon their cultic devotion, regardless of whom the cult actually worships. Mages worship the Archivist simply by growing more powerful and knowledgeable. The Archivist is a constant of reality because reality dictates that they exist.

Direct worship is done in secret, and offerings usually consist of charms, talismans, books, spell scrolls and more.