Archivist

An Archivist must be a Literomancer and Tome Knight, which means they must have proven magical abilities and have given a formal oath to protect the world against supernatural threats and The Undead Horde, usually in service to one of The Great Houses.

The Great Librarians appoint Archivists, who may be chosen from existing House Librarians as appointed by their House Leaders, or may be specifically recruited to the Order for this purpose. These appointments are entirely at the discretion of the Great Librarians, but are usually made in consultation with the rest of the Order and each other.  

Honestly, it's more common for them to find us than for us to find them. To date, all the Archivists have volunteered. We've just been happy to accept the help.

— Queen Sable Aradia, Great Librarian

While a House Librarian often serves the function of a wise person of faith within the Great Houses, with the power to crown their monarchs and oversee their traditions, Archivists serve Tome Knights as a whole. It is their duty to preserve, record, and restore literomantic knowledge. Since they, presumably, have a better grasp on such obscure history and information than other Tome Knights, or even other Librarians, they are often called upon to find information, or offer their expert opinions in these fields. The opinions of any Librarian on matters of Literomancy are taken very seriously by the Great Houses, and Archivists are no exception to this.

Archivists restore and preserve any ancient or obscure source of literomantic knowledge, or any literomantic artifacts, that they come across. More than that, they seek out such information and artifacts for this purpose. The ways they might undertake this mission vary broadly. A typical day's work might include:

Magically restoring withered text and paper

Long hours in front of a computer, transcribing information into databases on Technomantically-secured systems

Carbon-dating and cataloguing

Making charcoal rubbings and electron-microscope scans for ancient writing imprints

Mixing alchemical restoration compounds

Sealing fragile ancient pages in vacuum-tight glass displays

Sealing dangerous tomes in secured, warded vaults

Translation and transcription of ancient and obscure languages

Scrolling through auction sites and estate sales, looking for literomantic texts to purchase

Painstakingly copying magical works by hand

It is also not entirely uncommon for their work to be somewhat more adventurous:

Using LIDAR scans or deep-sea diving to search ancient ruins

"Liberating" potentially dangerous literomantic items from private collections, when the collector is unwilling to sell

Breaking into ancient temples to retrieve their lost knowledge

Heists and, if necessary, combat, against dangerous magical entities in possession of dangerous magical knowledge

While these "unofficial" duties are almost certainly questionable, it is also a firm code amongst the Librarians as a whole that "your knowledge remains your own." For example, they would never try to steal fae magic from a fae, nor would they attempt to break into the Zafforza Information Center for knowledge House Mollusca has not chosen to share. Instead, they would offer a recovered fae harp back to the fae who lost it, and gratefully preserve any information the Molluscans chose to share from the Information Center. They are also firm about the enforcement of The Library Treaty, which stipulates that any literomantic tomes or artifacts that properly belong to another House be returned to that House (such as those that have been acquired in past wars,) although the House that possessed it is permitted to make a copy of it first.

There is no other material benefit to being an Archivist than for any other Tome Knight, which is handled individually by House. They are all volunteers. The primary benefits of the position are the collective respect of their fellow Tome Knights... and near unrestricted access to the Great Library.  

BooooOOOOOKKKKKKSSSSSSS....

— Foxx, Filk Archivist

Computers, pen and ink, white gloves, alchemical supplies, electron microscopes, brushes, chisels, shovels, picks, map cases, leather satchels, diving equipment, spelunking gear, perhaps a Fedora and whip...

This title was created when The Iron Tome appointed Princess ShyRedFox and Queen Sable Aradia the "Great Librarians" and charged them with the keeping of the Great Library, and the formation of the Order of Royal Librarians, in May of 2025. They quickly realized this task was far too big for them alone. Foxx volunteered to help, and was immediately pressed into service as the first of the Order's Archivists. Others soon followed.