The Archeologist as a character is fascinated by the history of the past, and for good reason, too: she’s basically had a Pokémon Mystery Dungeon pulled on her and was thrown headfirst into Rain World with no warning and a new body to match. Her two scars come from my most memorable (is it weird to say favorites??) deaths. The first is the forehead scar from when a toll scavenger decided me crouched in the middle of the toll with no payment was bad despite me not making any moves to cross and speared me right through the top of the forehead. The second was from a yellow lizard I named Yeet. Why? Well, after dying to a vulture that had somehow managed to get indoors the cycle I tamed him, I tried to do it again but got grabbed by the face while attempting to feed him. Only, he spazzed on a pole trying to climb up to his den and accidentally yeeted me into the void of the Underhang lol

(Next cycle he spazzed out on the same pole and accidentally yeeted HIMSELF into the void, at which point I gave up. Rip Yeet)

Lore-wise, Archeologist is only scarred by the manner of death if it was notable in some way. Getting speared through the head in the Garbage Wastes was her first time dying at the hands of another sapient being - and from a social blunder to boot - and getting killed because of a yellow lizard that had once been her friend checked off betrayal. Let’s not get any more, yeah? Two rather large facial scars is enough X.X

What do I mean by social blunder? Well, slugcats don't make facial expressions or use their mouths to emote, and while scavengers are extremely expressive with their eyes I don't think they even CAN do the latter, what with their mandibles and all. But you wanna know what DOES open their mouth and show teeth? Lizards. Rip Archeologist, it took her a while to figure that one out.

NEURON ARC

While Archeologist hadn’t initially realized the yellow overseer that had been watching her since her awakening into this world was leading her to Looks to the Moon, she probably should have earlier than she did (which was in the Shaded Citadel, two areas in from where she’d woken up in Outskirts). And though she didn’t have the mark of communication, that overseer was WELL versed in projecting pictures - the scariest one being a giant red X paired with an image of a dead white slugcat with a spear through them when Archeologist had snatched one of Moon’s neuron flies out of the air to look it over. And okay, both of them had probably been equally scared but it wasn’t like Archeologist could know if that was supposed to be a threat or a warning to drop what she was holding or Moon would die!!

Anyway, Archeologist had her goal from there: bring as many neuron flies to Moon from Five Pebbles as she could possibly carry. Even without the overseer using projected images to ask her to get neurons she would’ve done it anyway. Given that Moon only had five neurons and lacked that tattered cloak Monk had brought to her in canon, Archeologist could guess she was somewhere between Hunter and Monk in the timeline. And while that was still a rather large chunk of time it wasn’t as big a gap as it could’ve been, given how close their campaigns were timeline-wise

So Archeologist braved Chimney Canopy (which she hated) and scaled the Wall of Five Pebbles’s superstructure (she was NOT dealing with the rot, no thank you) to sneak in through the access shaft. Which, dumped her right into the room with Five Pebbles’s puppet. Right

Well, at least he was kind enough to give her the mark, as well as saying something about being appreciative she hadn’t gotten here through his memory arrays like “the other one”. Hunter maybe? She didn’t know. And if she repaid the favor by kicking off against Pebbles’s telekinetic grip in the newly restored zero gravity to jump into the General Systems Bus to steal not one, not two, but THREE neuron flies instead of leaving, well. It really was for a good cause!! And if the mark of communication was more than one way she could tell him that. Instead Archaeologist got yelled at as she propelled herself as fast as she could toward the access shaft she’d come in through. Time to get the two neuron flies in her hands and the third in her stomach straight to Moon!

(She died getting those down there. A lot. But at least with the weird gamer gimmick going on she could guarantee Moon would get them no matter what? After all, she was determined to get these things to Moon and die trying - a bit literally, unfortunately ^^’)

PEARL ARC

After delivering the much-needed neuron flies, Archeologist found herself suddenly unsure of what to do. She wasn’t here for a specific purpose, after all. Not like the canon slugcats. She was just…here. On an alien planet she only knew from a computer screen, lost in a hostile alien ecosystem that would and had resulted in her death

Even then, Archaeologist couldn’t help but be somewhat in awe of the place. She was on an alien planet. Not on Earth. In a place where an entirely non-human civilization had lived, thrived, and died

There was so much she didn’t know about this alien place, so much that had been lost to the ages. Maybe she should go for the colored pearls scattered about the world, she was pretty sure she remembered where they were. Mostly. Might as well learn something, right? A peek into the past of an alien civilization…who wouldn’t want to learn?

And thus began Archeologist’s pearl hunting addiction lol. While she’d been giving non-colored pearls to any scavengers she happened to come across if she had them, these were unique. And she wasn’t letting them go, not until they’d been read. The shelter right next to Looks to the Moon’s puppet looked more and more like someone threw up bedazzling beads into it - if those beads were almost as big as her hand! A dragon’s treasure hoard, Archeologist calls it, even if she’s somewhat embarrassed by the idea

Her history hunting earned her a 'slugcat name', or what fit the naming scheme of one. After several pearls Moon had excitedly called her a “little archeologist beast”, and, well. She wasn’t wrong. And the name was quite fitting for the little human-turned-slugcat. So from then on, she was the Archeologist…not that there was anyone else to tell

(Or was there?)

CAMPAIGN ARC

It was during a return trip to Chimney Canopy and the Wall for the gold and ashy green pearls respectively that she quite literally got slapped in the face with where exactly she was in the timeline. Monk was heavy, and being unintentionally airdropped by a vulture certainly hadn’t helped!!

After introductions, Archaeologist was hit with a dilemma. Monk was still looking for their sibling, Survivor - hadn’t found any trace of them, in fact. And as they were clearly lacking the mark of communication, well. Archeologist might not know what ending Survivor chose - ascension or returning home to the slugcat tree - but she did know where Monk could find the answer, sort of. Or at least finally get a lifeline

So, Archeologist told Monk she had in fact seen their sibling (she hadn’t) and guided them in Survivor’s footsteps to the one person who could unlock the way to ascension if Survivor had in fact chosen that route: Five Pebbles. Archeologist however took a different route than the white slugcat, continuing up through the rest of Chimney Canopy before showing Monk how to scale the Wall to Five Pebbles, because not only was it closer but like heck was she dealing with all that stupid effing rot, and neither was Monk if she had anything to say about it

After the two slugcats quite literally dropped in on Five Pebbles (much to his great irritation), Archeologist did her best to convey with a while pearl snatched from the floor of the room and herself to try and communicate the idea of “white slugcat” to Five Pebbles (after hastily whispering the question of what color Monk’s sibling was as soon as Archeologist spotted the pearls on the floor and got the idea). Evidently it worked, as Five Pebbles brought up the advice and directions he’d given Survivor. A lead, finally. The one and only one they’d get, Archeologist knew, but it was all they needed in the end

Once they’d left the access shaft and hibernated together through the rain cycle, Monk and Archeologist parted ways; Monk to continue looking for their sibling, and Archeologist to backtrack back through Chimney Canopy to get her newest finds back to Moon. Joy. She hated Chimney Canopy

Archeologist didn't see Monk again after that, or even catch so much as a glimpse of Survivor - though the appearance of a certain tattered cloak on Moon and her words about having "yet another yellow visitor" told her that Monk at least was still around. The lack of evidence on Survivor was worrying; Archeologist hoped the pair had made it. The cycles the ancients so despised had to do with life, death, and reincarnation after all. Archeologist’s weird inability to stay dead aside, Monk and Survivor didn’t have that luxury. If they died, that was it. They’d never meet again as siblings

…Maybe she should check the slugcat tree, just in case. She’d finally gotten the last canon colored pearl to Moon after all. She had time

(She had nothing else but time)

It would put her at ease to know, she knew. And if she started bawling when she saw the familiar white and yellow coats, along with two new smaller slugcats her physical age, well. Only they had to know

GOODBYE CANON ARC

So far, things had gone according to Rain World canon. Archeologist knew what to expect on an intellectual level even when she was first dumped into this foreign world. But that's the thing about worlds; they are more than just a game. And there is more than just what Rain World's canon covered. Namely, the 'new' existence of one Brazen Gales - an iterator of the local group who was NOT supposed to be there. But he was, and more importantly, he decided to make that her problem

(WIP)

• Archeologist's gimmick is essentially keeping the game mechanic of being booted back in time to the beginning of the current cycle if and when she dies, reawakening in the shelter she’d hibernated in. It's an ability unique to her, as when other creatures die they don't come back, instead being reborn in an endless cycle of life, death, and rebirth
• Just like any other regular slugpup, Archeologist requires two food pips to hibernate and can store one for the next cycle
• Thanks to the Dress My Slugcat mod, Archeologist is the proud owner of a saint passage shirt. Yes, that’s probably a hole in the shirt cut out to be the saint passage mark, as sadly the printed mark matches your body color no matter what. Which is unfortunate; I guess it’s a hole…y fabric? Nooo, tell me they didn’t oh my gosh XD
• Archeologist's karma is locked at five, the preservation of the self 'vice'. She wants to live dangit, she's not giving up here!
• Thanks to having been a completely different species than slugcats - not to mention still considering herself human, despite everything - Archeologist inevitably ends up with some social misunderstandings. After all, humans emote primarily with their face, while slugcats don't make facial expressions at all. Speech and body language carries the bulk of their social cues, which can and has led to some rather hilarious misunderstandings as Archeologist doesn't police her body language the same way they do, nor does she always pick up on the body language being displayed. While on their end, Archeologist does weird things with her face and is rather stunted in communicating nonverbally to them. Speech absolutely helps negate most of the potential issues but still. Miscommunications happen
• Ironically this actually BETTER increases her relationship with scavs because there’s no body language misinterpretations on her end and she herself makes her body language extremely obvious when attempting to communicate with them. Not to mention scavengers use facial expressions; limited for sure in comparison to humans, but absolutely there. It makes them understand each other better despite the language barrier. They have nonverbal social cues in common, whereas for normal slugcats their completely blank expressions can make them difficult to read if they aren't intentionally trying to use body language to display their intentions. That and generational trauma involving Artificer makes scavs jumpy around them as a result, but ESPECIALLY so around slugpups
• Archeologist even sleeps in a different way than slugcats. Normally, if given a pile of blankets, a slugcat will gather them all together and make a nest out of them, in which they curl up to sleep. Archeologist, on the other hand, not only sleeps straight with her face buried into the crook of one arm, but would also use those same blankets to make a makeshift bed, layering them into an improvised mattress while saving a single one for use as its intended purpose. It's these little unconcious things that come with running human software on slugcat hardware that set her apart from the rest of her new species