Archival Report 20
Terra Nova Research Base, Antarctica.
RAIN-3192: “Rosemère Academy”
Written in 1963 [no updates needed]
Sometimes, artefacts who happen to be buildings became that way due to the amount of artefact that once contained. While many think the first example would be Sophia, the truth is that it was an artefact even before its time as a base for the Artefact Collection. The honour goes to museums, whose popularity and frequency skyrocketed in the 16th century; a more dubious recognition has to be attributed to places like the warehouses of the Spanish Inquisition and, afterwards, the tribunals of “Oyer and Terminer” during the appalling witch trials of the 17th century.
While most of the magical artefacts once in museums and warehouses were returned to their rightful owners immediately after the Schism, magical bastions that remained on Earth after it preserved some and caused another wave of problems. Most private collections on Earth only gathered two or three magical artefacts at most; the others were clever forgeries or simply artwork that had no relation with magic. With this disposition, the common practice of “outbid” the competition in favour of Sophia, helped to preserve most of the artefacts and without procuring to daylight robbery.
It was during the late 18th and early 19th century that “Cabinets of Curiosities” began to appear. My goodness, how many headaches those creepy places caused to us, is beyond measure by any type of mean. Popular in the Germanic territories and the United Kingdom, these private enterprises, usually made out the heirlooms of long-winded families, had more magical artefacts than they could manage. Some of them were the last in long lines of magical families, but had no powers whatsoever, or were more interested in making money than to preserve a secret held on by centuries. In that group we can find two important examples, the Danish Ole Worm, and the English Obediah Crowley.
These cabinets had the unfortunate outcome of turning into artefacts themselves, since part of the magic leaking from unsecured artefacts ended up with having to call clean-up crews to deal with it. First with the Museum Wormiatum in 1693, and its even considered the major issue on the formative years of the Artefact Collection in Sophia, stablished the year prior. And the destruction of the Crowley Cabinet of Curiosities during the bombings of the First World War, was part of the collapse of Sophia and the rise of Terra Nova as an immediate need.
While most artefacts were kept in Sophia, between 1915, the year of the destruction of the CCC, and the opening of the Base in 1923, the stronghold of the artefacts was kept in a now disclosed location: Rosemère Academy in the outskirts of Cottingley.
Built by Ms. Alice and her husband, Ryan Faraday, in 1893 as a private residence with the name of Rosemère Hall, and stablished as an academy in the following year. The place already harboured three objects in itself; the original Wonderland Toadstool, the Spear of Destiny, and the Synodus Horrenda. The cellar and the foundation had enough space to store some artefacts to be kept while hey made space for them at Sophia, and while the Crowley Cabinet was being emptied before out lookers and robbers came to “check the goods”.
Rosemère turned into an improvised storage and a drive-by station between Sophia and Southampton, from where the artefacts were shipped to the new facility. With the supervision of Ryan Faraday, the place was still performing as an Academy up until the end of the War in 1919, with the death of him and his son Dylan. The building was closed out of fear of an outbreak of Tuberculosis to pour into the other members of high society besides those taught there, and was completely abandoned by the end of the same year.
As for the relocation of the building itself when it was confirmed as an artefact, it turned better than anyone expected it.
With Ms. Alice as the Overseer, though by a short time, she was able to dismantle the pieces of the building that were imbedded in artefact residue, something you can only do if you have extensive knowledge of the place, and sent them to the base. The most infused ones, the doors to her own office, were used in the extensive remodelling made to the Argo in the 1950s, which is the one she brings back to act as her own office.
Ariel Bonheur, Chief Archivist.
Note from the Overseer’s Office.
Ariel,
Are you sure of the last part? I’ve been trying to search for records regarding the tenure of Mrs. Faraday as the Overseer and I simply cannot find anything related to two Argo in the same point in time. Perhaps I’m mistaken, but I wish for a clarification as soon as possible.
Kind regards,
R.
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