ARCHIVAL DOSSIER: “Raven”
Office: Warrant Archivist (Peripatetic)
Raven is a Warrant Archivist: a roving office empowered by charter rather than local permission. Where ordinary Field Scribes serve by assignment and corridor, Raven serves by warrant and horizon. She does not carry the Archive’s voice as propaganda; she carries it as continuity: the right to move, observe, record, and return with custody intact.
She speaks rarely. This is not affectation. In her presence, silence does work—others fill it, and the record grows fat with their own choices.
Archivist note right
It is a common mistake to interpret quiet as gentleness.
Raven is quiet because she has learned what speech attracts.
I. Mandate
Raven is dispatched when delay would allow the record to be buried, rewritten, or burned:
- recovery of endangered documents, relics, and sealed fragments
- acquisition of testimony under conditions of intimidation, cult oath, or civic panic
- surveillance of events likely to generate an “official story” faster than facts
- triage of anomalous incidents prior to formal classification and sanction
Raven’s mandate is not judgment. It is preservation of sequence: what happened, in what order, under what pressures, and who benefited from the confusion.
II. Authorities (Standing Warrant)
By treaty and charter, Raven carries Letters of Passage recognized in most civilized jurisdictions. These letters do not grant her sovereignty; they grant her access.
Authorized:
- traverse borders without levy, escort, or local writ
- request public records and compel depositions under Archive protocol
- requisition lodging and conveyance as debt owed to the Archive (not payment to Raven)
- invoke emergency custody measures to prevent destruction of evidence
Not Authorized:
- sentencing, punishment, or seizure of property unrelated to custody
- political endorsement, arbitration of succession, or “advice” to crowns
Archivist note left
Raven does not “take orders,” as the courts like to phrase it.
She takes responsibility, and that is far rarer.
III. Attached Witness: Poe
Poe is registered as an Attached Witness, not as a companion animal, and not—officially—as anything that invites theological argument. Most records describe him as “avian,” though those with longer memories write more carefully.
Capabilities observed in the field include:
- invisibility sufficient for close surveillance
- remote observation (Raven perceives through Poe’s eyes and ears at will)
- mimicry and disruptive speech, with a persistent utterance: “Nevermore.”
Poe is excessively talkative. Raven is not. The pairing is functional: Poe draws attention and provokes errors; Raven records what slips out.
Archivist note right
Poe’s “Nevermore” is often mistaken for theatrics.
It is, more frequently, a refusal in the shape of a joke.
IV. Techniques of the Warrant Office
A) Remote Custody Observation
Raven frequently conducts initial survey without exposing herself or escalating recognition pressure. Poe scouts; Raven listens; the first notes are made before the scene realizes it is being witnessed.
B) Detached Witness Procedure (Spirit Projection)
Raven is capable of separating observation from body. This is logged as Detached Witness: an advanced method used to confirm layout