Trivia

Character

History

Nathan was the youngest-born into a loving family of four, complete with his older sisters and parents. Both of his parents did archival work, as did his eldest sister, so he was constantly surrounded by records and books. He took an instantaneous liking to that type of work, even from a young age, and helped out wherever he could. He learned from his family quite a bit in his early years, and as soon as he was old enough, they enrolled him into a private academy to give him what they believed was the best learning experience and help him develop socially. While his academic performance excelled, the social experience didn't go exactly as they had hoped. Nathan was far from being like the other children at his school, from his interests to his talents to his background, and as such he was bullied quite heavily. The bullying followed him almost everywhere for years, and started to break him down mentally in many ways. He started becoming much more reclusive and withdrawn, his confidence dwindled. His family thought about possibly removing him from the school and homeschooling him when a certain young man entered Nathan's life and changed it forever.

On September 20th, 1891, Nathan was bullied to his worst extent. A gang of boys had him cornered and beaten bloody, throwing insults and punches to him. He thought that it may be his last moments, and was terrified for his life. That was when he showed up. He chased the bullies away, defended Nathan in his lowest moment, took him back home to treat his injuries, and did it all with a confident smile. His name, Nathan soon figured out, was George Crowell. From that moment on, Nathan had his first friend. After their first meeting, the two of them started spending more and more time together. They went to the same school, so they saw each other there all the time. George would often come over to Nathan's home, staying for times with him due to the circumstances in his own home. Things were happy between the two of them for years and years. However, as the two of them became closer, Nathan realized his feeings starting to shift toward his friend. He began seeing George in other lights, more romantic ones, and realized he was head over heels in love with him. He was confused and a little scared at first, and tried to distance himself because of it. He didn't need to distance himself for long, however, as when George turned 18, he decided to take to traveling the country, inventing and creating to his heart's content. Nathan was hurt after his departure, and started pouring that pain into a job. He started up a job as an archivist like the rest of his family at 15, and started getting a name made for himself slowly but surely. Life continued as per usual until February 16th, 1900, when a certain someone came back into his life.

It was another normal day at work for Nathan until George walked into his establisment. With him, he carried a large sum of money, a map, and a dream he needed Nathan's help with: he wanted to sail to the floating city of New Cascadia with Nathan. He had, after all, been his best friend, why go alone when he can share the moment and pay him back for all the help in the past? Nathan was filled with a mix of emotions, mainly his romantic feelings swirling back up, and agreed. After months of preparation, the two set off on their journey together. On the boat ride there, Nathan's feelings for George grew and grew until he could hardly contain them anymore, and he finally confessed to being in love with him once they reached New Cascadia. George admitted to reciprocating those feelings, and the two set off on their journey through the town, exploring it. A year later, George ended up in power over New Cascadia, and the two started leading the town together, with Nathan handling the archival matters and record keeping, mainly. Their relationship only blossomed and strengthened more the longer they worked together. He assisted George in the creation of his first prototype Diver, the Gargantuan, meant to protect the town. However, things backfired drastically, and on May 30th, 1906, the Gargantuan was released and raided, killing thousands and destroying a ton of the city. George was distraught, to which Nathan helped him through. He showed George the existence of the Underbelly, an area underneath the city proper that was hollow and empty, and helped him to lock the Gargantuan inside it for good. The next day, they went out to survey the damage. While looking, they found an orphaned girl by the name of Annabel Mainsfield. Nathan was convinced that they couldn't leave her alone, and decided to take her in with George. With a new source of joy, life started to continue as usual as the two worked to rebuild the town and care for their adoptive daughter. However, things weren't quite as happy as they should have been...

After the failure of the first Diver, George wouldn't stop working on perfecting them, making sure the same result would never happen again. He became obsessed with it to an almost crazy extent, which was the first sign of his downfall. The public's opinion started to dwindle on him, becoming more and more negative as the years passed. Nevertheless, Nathan tried to support him through it all. He stayed by George's side unconditionally until he truly started becoming dangerous. In 1910, George began holding people and robots alike in the Underbelly. At first, he just tried to get rid of the dangerous people, the criminals and the ones who would hurt others. However, it started to become less and less just, as he started throwing down innocent people for trivial reasons. Alongside this, he started talking about using Annabel as his public image, manipulating her into delivering his messages and knowing that she was an innocent face that no one would try to harm. At this, Nathan had had enough. He started protecting Annabel from George, going against his orders, doing everything he could to preserve his sanity even somewhat. No matter what he tried, George kept going crazier. On the night of April 25th, 1913, Nathan finally reached his breaking point in trying to help his love. He confronted George head-on for the first time. George seemed understanding of his points, agreeing with him to an extent. He pulled Nathan into an embrace, the first in years, gave him a sense of hope, that everything would be okay again... And suddenly pushed him backwards. The floor left his feet, and Nathan began falling, his hopes and dreams falling with him.

Nathan finally landed in the Underbelly, every trace of his existence following him down. Every document he touched, every picture he was in, everything. He spent the first few years trying to find ways to escape. He knew he could one day, but his attempts were null and void. Eventually, he gave up, instead building a home for himself. He collected the records that had fallen with him, archiving them like he knew how, and began creating a sort of library for himself. The years passed on and on, his collection of documents grew. He still tried to escape sometimes, but mostly spent his time gathering more records. He eventually gained a title for himself, being known simpl as The Archivist. But he could have cared less. The sweet man he once was was gone, replaced by the bitter, cold, and apathetic husk of someone betrayed. He promised himself he wouldn't let his emotions get the better of him anymore, trusting only his head and his logic, and tried to bury the pain deeper and deeper the more he was stuck.

It's been fifteen years since he first fell down to the Underbelly. Now, it seems, someone may be looking for him. The question is, why? What importance would he serve? Who is this mystery person and what could they want? And more importantly, what could they do for him in return?

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