1978

Name: 1978
Age: 4
Sex: Female
Species: Stitchpunk
Height: 8"
Weight: 3lbs
Materials: Upholstery/Suede/Iron/Brass

Distinguishing Marks:

Appearance: Composed entirely of keepsakes, 1978 is rather unique in construction. The metal of her frame comes mainly from a cast-iron trivet, accented with and reinforced by a pair of brass candlesticks. Her number comes from the decorative etching on the miniature snowglobe that houses her soul vessel, a ruby earring cut into the shape of a heart. Over this is a thick layer of quilted padding which combined with her outer fabric 'skin' leaves her much less flexible than the average ragdoll, if slightly more resilient. The majority of her fabric is a faded ivory-and-rose plaid upholstery, though her chest is covered by the upper of a child's suede dress boot, which laces up the back with a frayed red-and-cream striped ribbon. Attached to the bottom of the boot upper, in the front, are two canvas tabs with snaps. This combination of materials and construction also serves to lend 1978 something most other dolls also don't have - a feminine figure. Brass rings secure the fabric at wrists, ankles, and neck. Pieces of a monogrammed ivory comb accent her feet, giving them the overall appearance of wingtip shoes, and another piece of ivory hangs from the ring around her neck, bearing the letter 'M'. The fabric of her head is stitched with heavy silver-brown yarn, the ravelled tail of which is gathered into a sort of bun - loose wisps have also unravelled from the first stitch just above her eyebrows.

Quirks:

About:

The Archivist’s attachment to the Library itself, her basic understanding of her purpose, stems from the fact that before her soul transfer, she was employed there for some years in the same capacity. Somewhat reserved, Kate MacAllister kept her private business strictly to herself, for more reasons than the ever-listening ears of the State.

While she didn’t openly declare any allegiances, the 31-year-old foreigner did sympathize with the Rebellion, sometimes working late into the night to help further their cause from her own office. She was also romantically involved with one of them, several years her junior and flush with the excitement and dedication of wartime youth. Enthusiasm and short-sightedness led her partner to make a decision on Kate’s behalf that turned out rather badly in the end.

Disregarding the older woman’s vehement dislike of mechanization, her lover collected a number of Kate’s personal keepsakes and convinced a local artisan to craft a ragdoll frame from them. Instructions in hand, the circle drawn and everything in readiness, certainly the answer wouldn’t be no, would it? It was. In fact, outraged at this betrayal of her trust, Kate resisted mightily to the very end…though ultimately it did her no good. She herself died – horrified and guilty, her lover ran, only to meet the end outside the Library walls, gunned down by a State sniper.

The War outside ended, the building slowly fell as silent as its contents, the body in the corner eventually mummified in the parched post-Apocalyptic air. 1978 remained there alone, bound to the building, to the books, and trapped within her own frame.

At first glance, 1978 seems somehow...lost. To a certain extent this would be a correct assessment - most of the time she's adrift in her own imagination, and is prone to fits of pique when events don't go quite as she thinks they are or should be. Muttering to herself near constantly under her breath, she lurks in the darker reaches of the Library, shuffling about and searching through piles of books, documents and rubble. She keeps a collection of odds and ends - most semi-valuable, some decidedly commonplace - which she guards with all the fervor of any storybook dragon, and which are chosen based on factors such as metallicity, resonance, hue and other obscure qualities. In fact, she seems to consider the entire building her territory though she herself rarely ventures beyond the depths of the south wing, where she's made a den for herself in an old roll-top desk.

If confronted, she'll retreat, but tends to fight viciously when cornered...she prefers to hide and watch when at all possible rather than be actively involved. She keeps nocturnal hours and is rarely if ever seen during the day...never outside the walls of the building. An obsessive indexer, usually she'll do this aloud under her breath, interspersed with vague and sometimes cryptic comments; it tends to make conversation confusing at best. Anyone sneaking up on her is likely to be greeted with a shriek and painful retaliation whether they've done anything to deserve it or not. She never initiates physical contact and in fact will react to this or any other form of restraint with solid resistance and dogged attempts to escape, though oddly enough not with violence. This aversion to touch and in fact to other anima in general is more a deep-seated fear than anything else, compounded by 1978’s self-isolation over the years.

She has an active hatred of machines and a notable aversion to alchemy and all things associated with the practice, seeming to view it in general as a crime. One could easily surmise this has some connection to the corpse in the corner of the room she hides in and the mostly-obliterated chalk circle on the floor, but 1978 never talks about these things.