The Cabinet of Curiosities
February 2024
The archives of the Royal Arcanum in Kaien are stuffed full of treasures, antiquities, and ill-gotten cultural artefacts. Some goods were legitimately acquired, others robbed from tombs, and still more snatched from under their owners' noses.
This article covers just a small sample of the wonders hidden away in the archives.
Mother is the mummified remains of an allkin, the theorised ancestor species of all sapient life on Etrea. She was discovered beneath the ice near a Kaienese research base on the Barren, remarkably well-preserved despite being estimated to be more than half a million years old. Once she was removed from the ice, she began to deteriorate rapidly. What is left of her is now stored in a magically sealed box in the archives.
A large lump of rock with a smooth ovoid protruberance, this object has been labelled as a fossilised shapeshifter egg for hundreds of years. Despite it being general knowledge that shapeshifters do not, in fact, lay eggs, scholars have been reluctant to change this. Other theories as to the identity of the object are that it is the fossilised egg of some - probably extinct - creature, or it is just some rock with an oddly coincidental shape.
In a forgotten corner of the archives sits a pile of wooden boxes stuffed with straw. Nestled within the straw are hundreds of different kinds of bird eggs, drained of their contents until only the fragile shells remain. Some of these eggs come from now-extinct birds, notable examples being the bearded coot and the rime-necked albatross. Whilst there are some duplicates in the collection, the majority of specimens are unique.
A long length of pale gold fabric, emblazoned with three black feathers and stained dark with blood. It was retrieved after the assassination of the last Marden emperor, the act that sparked the bloody takeover of the Kaienese throne. The majority of the emblems of the old regime were destroyed during and after the war, so this banner is one of the last remaining artefacts of that line.
A rolled up painting sits in a corner behind some boxes, long relieved from its frame. It depicts a woman in old-fashioned yet upper class clothing, her blonde hair piled elegantly on top of her head. Someone has painted over her face, leaving her features smooth and blank. The woman's identity is not known, and neither is it known why and when someone (literally) defaced her portrait.
More than a third of the archive's collection are kept in glass display cases, many of them covered in a thick layer of dust. Florence, a doll, sits in a display case of its own. Her head, hands, and feet are made from porcelain, and the body is made from linen stuffed with wool. She belonged to the daughter of one of the head academics at the arcanum, who died as a young child.
A dusty display case sits in the corner of the archive, half-hidden under teetering stacks of paper. Arranged under the glass are a range of different arrows, their construction and materials differing. Dates are scrawled under each arrow, the first stating 'before 500 EA' and the last '5300 EA'.
A carved walnut wood chest, about six foot in length and waist high. It is kept shut and locked by a pair of ornate silver clasps. Inside are a variety of keys, some large, some small, but the purpose of all are unknown. It is added to year by year, whenever a mysterious key is discovered, and is about a third full. Sometimes important keys are mixed in as a prank.
Said to contain the ashes of an unknown queen, the wisteria urn is a small, squat vessel made from bronze. It has intricate details of wisteria flowers, bulrushes, and long-legged birds that most scholars agree are some kind of heron. It is rumoured to be cursed, particularly due to its rather shady provenance.
I love these so much!! Etrea items are the best :D
Thank you, Mochi <3