Damian Archer - A History

Early Life

The story of Damian Archer begins with his birth, naturally enough, and the first event of note to occur in his life took place when he was still a baby: his mother was a nurse to the children of a philanthropic, distinctly middle-class family; Godfrey and Mary Archer. This couple had not had much success with children, Mary suffering several miscarriages and stillbirths. When a boy was born (at roughly the same time as Damian), but died soon afterwards, at Christmas, Damian's mother swapped the babies without the knowledge of the Archers - indeed they never knew that she had been with child (Based on a true story, or possibly an urban myth). And so Damian was raised as an Archer, and he was never told the truth. His real mother has long since taken her secrets with her to the grave.
While a young boy at public school, Archer wanted to be Prime Minister. By the time he was old enough to attend university he wanted to join the Civil Service. His eventual goal: the post of Cabinet Secretary, head of the Home Civil Service and real power behind the throne of the PM.

College Years

Archer's considerable intellect first manifested when he got into Bailey College, Oxford, as he sailed through his exams and spent most of his time on the sports fields, indulging his passion for athletics and rowing. Archer lived his life at Bailey to the full, for he knew there would be precious little time for fun and games once he entered the competitive world of Service to Queen and Country, a world he expected to spend the rest of his life in. The one blemish in this otherwise idyllic time for Archer was when he accidentally made an enemy of the aristocratic Benjamin Moxley-Nemesis (Yes, I know, and I'm sorry, but it is too good a double-barrelled surname not to steal), when Archer caught him doing something he really shouldn't have been doing. They got into a fistfight and were pulled up in front of the Master of the College. Archer was reprimanded but Moxley-Nemesis was told to pack his bags. He later bought a degree from Magdalene College, Cambridge and became a Tory MP.

The Civil Service

Archer proceeded to get a first class degree in the Classics. From this he went straight into the Service at its most junior level. Despite being possessed of a genius-level IQ, advancement within the service was as slow for Archer as for any new recruit. This was because any available promotion was given to the person whose turn it was to be promoted, not to the best candidate for the job (Such things made Britain Great). There was no fast-stream then, that is to say there was; but not officially. One could speed one's advancement by being considered more 'sound' than one's rivals. Archer quickly realised this was achieved by conforming to one's superiors' idea of the 'ideal Victorian', and so set about it. He married a charming woman, Elizabeth, of good breeding and the same age as him. Within a year their first child, a healthy boy they named Hermes (The result of Archer's Classical education), was born. A daughter, Iris, followed three years later, after which Elizabeth and the children were installed in the Archer's official residence in the Home Counties. Damian, of course, lived almost exclusively in London.
Presenting a healthy family life did his career no harm, but the real secret to advancement lay in the secret societies of Britain. Archer needed an in to the Freemasons.

Years pass…

In the end, Archer did not find a way into the Masons; they came to him. Soon after passing through his first Initiation Rite, Archer was moved to the FO, where it was felt his growing talents would be of more use than in the DAA, where he had been beginning to stagnate (The fact that Archer had never left the British Isles in no way hindered this). It seemed to his superiors that this was just what Archer had needed, as he thrived in his new environment, and truly began to Win Friends and Influence People in a way he had never done before. In fact, is was not the change from one office to a slightly bigger office that caused Archer to flourish, but rather the Masonic Rites he was undertaking. These Rites were supposed to awaken and focus the spiritual side of those that undertook them, but only a couple of Masons in Archer's Lodge really believed in this; most, including Archer, treated it as a social club useful for the connections it offered its members. But these Rites had a curious additional effect on Archer: focussing his already considerable mental abilities into real Powers.

"At last, a chance for some real power!"

-- Edmund Plantagenet, The Black Adder

The first Archer noticed of this was when he just stopped having to make any effort to make people like him. They just did. At first he put it down to a growing reputation within the Service, but it happened with people who knew nothing about him. Accompanying this was the sudden development of a natural style and grace in Archer's movements and body language. His colleagues, and his wife, noticed that he was now possessed of a 'luminous' quality - next to him, everyone else was just background. This made it very easy for Archer to build an impressive network of connections and contacts in and around Whitehall, including at least one minister.
Then his persuasive abilities developed to a phenomenal level, just in time to help him to use his new Contacts to achieve some real Influence in London society.
A few years passed before Archer developed his last, but certainly not least, Power. The degree of Masonic teachings he had absorbed over the years had given Archer a highly developed understanding of human nature. He was now able to manipulate the emotions of others without even talking to them, needing only a look.

Secret Patronage

Archer's uncanny abilities did not go entirely unnoticed among the upper reaches of the Civil Service. Although his immediate circle of acquaintances ignored (for the most part) the mystical aspects of Freemasonry, this was not true of the high-ups. From the moment Archer first showed signs of being 'encouraged' by the Rites, members of his Lodge who were also members of the ERS (English Rosicrucian Society, later the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn) were watching him, keeping a close eye on his progress and steering his career when they felt it necessary. As of yet, they have not approached him or revealed their existence to him in any way. They are waiting for when the time is right.

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