Terra Nova Research Base, Antarctica.
RAIN-2706: “Alice Athenida’s Mirror”
Published in 1923 [rewritten in 1972]
Sometimes, there’s genetics involved in what a person can develop into an artefact. People who have ancestors who have created artefacts in the past, especially regarding those of creative outlets, got a larger chance of develop this ability in their future. More family members who have done it, increases the probability, much like having twins or triplets as a precedent, marks the development of future generations in the family.
Alice Athenida is an interesting case study in this regard. The only daughter of Daedalus Athenida and Morgana LeFay, and a person who shaped not just Sophia but also its successor, Terra Nova, for the decades following her work there.
First, we need to discuss a bit of semantics. As anyone can attest looking at the large Card Catalogue, we don’t have god-belonging artefacts, because in the strict sense these are not “Artefacts”. To the gods, and the public aware of them, these are listed as “Instruments of Power”, which work for them in a same way as channellings work for magical beings in general. They are a way to harness the power, not something that absorb magical radiation; for example, Zeus’ Master Thunderbolt, is a way for him to conjure the powers to control the weather, lightning, dominium, etcetera. Another important distinction: Instrument of Powers cannot be inherited or loaned, as they’re entangled with their owner; if I happened upon the Thunderbolt, I will be turned to ashes before being able to blink.
Now, with that out of the way, an incise; children of gods, who are not gods themselves, can create artefacts. To be more specific, demigod artefacts are among the first and foremost in history. Daedalus’ artefact, Sophia, for example, is considered the oldest one in existence.
From Alice’s father’s side, not just Daedalus had artefacts, but so did his siblings, Kadmos and Herophile. From her mother’s side, Morgana’s brother had Excalibur, and her father was the creator of the Opaline Crown, and herself had the Druid Staff, now in possession of Wotan. As you can see, not one, not two, but six different people in her immediate genealogy are responsible for the creation of artefacts, and a whole line of gods from her father’s mother and up. This is the magical equivalent of a Royal Flush.
So, it was surprise to no one when she created her own artefact; hell, it was surprising she didn’t create one until she was sixteen.
Her mirror was a family heirloom in some sort of way. It had belonged to her aunt, Herophile, in the early 14th century, and gifted to her after her return to Featherhill. It was French Gothic, made to evoke the construction of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris and especially the rose windows, as one can see in the upper frame of the mirror. When she began experimenting on a way to preserve her memories, and on what later was known as “Testimonies”, found the mercury-laced surface was exceptionally good at deflecting the magico-chemical reaction she was developing.
Later, as the testimony recording was becoming a common practice in Sophia, she furthered her investigations into the aluminium-based mirrors and found they worked better in conducting the reaction. This became the gold standard in testimony recording and re-watching.
Ms. Alice, even though she had created this technology, had also a vein similar to her parents. This meant that, while the others used the more modern instance, she used her mirror to work. Her office in Sophia had a recorder, a bookshelf, two chairs and that mirror. “Sentimental reasons” was all the explanation she gave when asked, but there was another reason to it.
See, the aluminium-based mirrors created some sort of safe rail to re-watch them. The mirror has not. Without the rail, she’s free to interact with the memory, and was useful to see what went wrong of what could be different. Mainly, she used her own and other memories as a training ground for herself, and to keep her updated while she was away.
When the Terra Nova Base began developing and Featherhill Manor was among the buildings to be relocated there, Ms. Alice decided to move her office to the house. However, with her disappearance, the only thing moved there was the mirror. With the arrival of the “Old Guard” and the creation of the departments (something completely new in the history of artefact retrieval; before that we just did all the things at the same time), places to house the new two hundred people were needed. Featherhill was among those selected, due to its particular history.
Since it was already catalogued and stored inside the base, there was not really a reason to move it to someplace else. Well, that and we kind of forgot in the midst of the organization of the new base. So, the mirror remained in Featherhill, in Ms. Alice’s old bedroom.
Ariel Bonheur, Chief Archivist.
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