Blivingdel

Though brought up in relative poverty, the little grub known as Blivvy grew up to be a powerful intellect in a range of historic and lexicographic fields. Born -57 EC and orphaned at a very early age, he survived well enough to travel to Bute at age 13 and entered the university the following year. Blivingdel graduated from Bute University in -37 EC with advanced degrees in whingelism and theoalchemy.

After several years as Chairman of the Department of Bakery, a teaching fellowship in the Department of Gravitas, a two year hitch in the Navy, and the failed courtship of Lane Smallwood, he was offered the presidency of the Bureau of Forgotten Knowledge in -11 EC, succeeding Awal (of whom little is written).

Although the Bureau of Forgotten Knowledge doubtless hired him on the strength of his groundbreaking work on theoarchaeology, Blivingdel is also known to have made extensive study of the Wadjidir and has written on the topic in Quester and Phorrus. Despite such recovered knowledge work, the concept of the forgotten landscape posited in his theoarchaeological work has become a key element of the Bureau's study during his presidency.

Blivingdel is also a noted linguistic scholar. He and Sir Rumsfeld Tiggerwort are the only Ghyllians known to be able to read 2.5ary script (his interpretation of the Ziggurat Scrolls in -4 EC, is widely held to be a far more exact and accurate translation than the rush job put out by Sir Rumsfeld Tiggerwort two years earlier), and he has also published translations of Ternary Script. He is said to be presently developing a complete dictionary of core script, despite the conflict between such obvious and deliberate documentation and the work of the Bureau.

Blivingdel suffers from an advanced case of fatal retrackets, which has not yet seriously impacted his work, but which is likely to end his life within a year or two. He has begun evaluating possible successors as the next president of the Bureau of Forgotten Knowledge, but a clear heir apparent is not yet named.

Blivingdel's Bibliography
A more complete timeline may be found in the Encyclopedant Calendar:

Citations: Bureau of Forgotten Knowledge, Retrackets, Whingelism.

--Brother Arfrus 14:27, 27 May 2005 (EDT)