lder So-Hwa, the Blind Archivist
A surviving Cheonmugwan scholar who shielded the historical archives with her body during the Fracturing. She is a member of the repentant faction of survivors known as the Ashen Archivists (Jae-Giloggwan).
Who she is
So-Hwa was one of the scholar-sorcerers of the Cheonmugwan (천무관), the Celestial Martial Court, whose Rite of Heaven’s Mandate broke the Celestial Pillars and tore the boundary between realms. She is among the survivors who realized the hubris of what they had done. With the other Ashen Archivists, she seeks repentance by preserving and growing what they know, to one day hand it to the survivors of humanity. Like her fellow Archivists, she often seeks a way to end her own unending life.
The Fracturing and what it cost her
When the Fracturing came, So-Hwa threw herself over the archives to protect the historical texts. She absorbed a horrific amount of Maggi (막기) doing so. It blinded her and fused the ancient scrolls to her flesh.
She carries the same condition as the other Cheonmugwan survivors, who stood at the very center of the catastrophe and were washed over by Maggi at its purest form. They suffer the agony of immortality, their bodies deeply disfigured with only small vestiges of their prior selves visible, many missing senses, skin crawling with black lines of corruption.
How she operates
So-Hwa works solely through intermediaries. The Archivists feel regret, but they know they are hated, and she keeps her distance accordingly. Whether players ever meet her face to face, and who her intermediaries are, is unspecified in current canon.
See also
- The Ashen Archivists (Jae-Giloggwan)
- The Cheonmugwan
- The Eclipse Court (Sig Beob-won)
- Grand Magister Do-Jin
- Nam-Gi (The Weeping Hermit)
- Maggi
- The Fracturing (Cheonha Bunhae)
Source: ETK Lore Bible, “The Jae-Giloggwan (The Ashen Archivists)” and “The Cheonmugwan Today” sections, with context from “Maggi” and the Fracturing; World of Haneul foundation doc for Cheonmugwan, Maggi, and Fracturing background.