Artifacts and their Impact on History

Artifacts and their Impact on History

Since the beginning of mankind, artifacts have been created and used by successive generations. The Warehouse system has on file countless cases and artifact usage “incidents”. While many of these events proved minor, other cases have resulted in historically significant changes. To the public’s knowledge, the involvement of artifacts is either unknown or highly suppressed. Many of the artifacts in the Warehouse database, collected and missing, have helped cultivate great thinkers and leaders, bring about social change and disasters, cause conflicts and inspire popular culture.

One of the most justifiable reasons for the Warehouse’s existence is that when in covetous hands, artifacts can wreak large scale havoc. Many wars, coups, revolutions and assassinations have seen the involvement of artifacts. The first artifact collected, the Minoan Trident, was the original weapon of mass destruction. It previously leveled the mighty civilization of the Minoans and inspired Plato’s tale of Atlantis’ destruction. When used, it could cause massive earthquakes, worldwide volcanic activity and a global ice age if activated in the correct spot. Its immense power was the reason why Caesar invaded Egypt and the Regents sanctioned the abandonment of Warehouse 2. As time progressed, equally destructive objects, both manmade and artifact-born, were created and warranted the need for an expert response team.

Other historical cases of artifact use for political overthrow include Balthasar Gérard’s Pig Bladder, Baron Samedi's Top Hat and Magellan's Astrolabe. The bladder was meant to be a flotation device to help the assassin escape the home of Dutch resistance leader William the Silent. Gérard completed his task, but the guardsmen captured him and the bladder was never used. Two hundred years later, it found its way into England and the hands of John Bellingham. A midshipman, he was imprisoned for a year in a Russian prison for unpaid debts. He returned to England in 1809 and three years later, after constant refusals of compensation by the British government, took matters into his own hands. Bellingham strapped to himself the pig bladder and successfully assassinated then Prime Minister Spencer Perceval. He was quickly apprehended and hanged after his trial. Perceval’s murder remains the only successful assassination of any British Prime Minister.

Baron Samedi’s Hat follows a somewhat different route. Baron Samedi is regarded as the head of the Guédé family of Loa (Haitian Vodou spirits) and is also the Loa of resurrection. It was known to have been on Haiti at least until 1791, when the Haitian Revolution began. All the slaves on the island had rebelled and taken up arms against their former masters. One of the early leaders in the revolution was Dutty Boukman, who performed religious rituals to encourage rebellion. He also acquired the hat and used its powers to re-animate the dead, pushing the populace towards revolt. The effect was indisputable, as the revolution ended with the new country of Haiti, the only nation founded by a mass slave revolt, and the second colony to declare independence in the western hemisphere. Boukman was killed later the very year the revolution started, while the current location of the hat remains unknown to this day.

One of the most infamous historically impactful artifacts used was Ferdinand Magellan's Astrolabe. Magellan was a Portuguese explorer whose expedition force was the first to travel completely around the world. However, Magellan himself did not complete the journey, as natives killed him when he reached the Philippines. It drifted until its use December 3, 1792 by French lawyer, politician and anti-royalist Maximilien Robespierre. He repeated the day to perfect his speech arguing for the execution of the deposed French king. Robespierre got exactly what he wanted. Unfortunately, he was unaware of any downsides until his execution seven months later. Robespierre’s actions accelerated the uprising during the French Revolution. In particular, the Reign of Terror happened under Robespierre’s direct orders and resulted in the state executions of thousands of French citizens.

In 1887, Irish nationalists failed to assassinate Queen Victoria during her Golden Jubilee. Their plan was thwarted by former Warehouse 12 and Scotland Yard agent William Melville, who was experienced at foiling anarchist attacks. The group had managed to obtain both Apollonius of Tyana's Amulet and Julius Asclepiodotus’ Shield Boss through unscrupulous sources. The shield boss belonged to a Roman prefect in Britain who reclaimed control of the isle from the charlatan king under the guise of fog. Apollonius, on the other hand, was a philosopher and contemporary of Christ who approved of the killings of rulers for the good of the common people. The nationalists planned on surrounding the immediate area with fog and using the amulet to cause “a distant, but sure death to Her Majesty”. However, they did not expect interference from a third party and were unable to complete their goal. If they had succeeded, the event would likely have negatively changed the largest empire of the time and its relationship with the Warehouse.

Although event altering, the effects of most politically misused artifacts pales in comparison to the cataclysm causers. These artifacts, like the Trident, can unleash massive negative energy and create natural disasters.

One destructive item was Anaxagoras' Krater. An ancient Greek philosopher who brought philosophy to Athens, he was later banished from his city.. Anaxagoras’s main idea was that the mind was an ordering force that separated materials apart; his wine-mixing vase was imbued with this idea. It can cause shifts in the tectonic plates, leading to localized but devastating earthquakes. It was activated in 1693 and caused a 7.4 magnitude quake that decimated the Italian island of Sicily. At least seventy towns and cities were destroyed in either the quake or subsequent tsunami, killing 60,000 residents. According to a contemporary account, "It was in this country impossible to keep upon our legs, or in one place on the dancing Earth; nay, those that lay along on the ground, were tossed from side to side, as if on a rolling billow." The extensive damage caused by the quake resulted in mass reconstruction of the island; many of those buildings still stand today.

A more famous artifact caused disaster was the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 AD. It buried the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum beneath magma and pumice, their victims preserved in layers of ash. The eruption was caused by greedy Pompeii banker Lucius Caecilius Iucundus, an enemy of Warehouse 3. He ransomed the city’s safety in exchange for the Caretaker role, or he would activate the Santorini Event Pumice Stone. The stone was the remains of the island of Thera, after the Minoan Trident erupted the local volcano and wiped out the Minoan civilization.

Other artifacts have had more constructive histories, inspiring inventors, artists, writers and even urban legend. For example, Edward John Dent was an English watchmaker famed for his accurate timepieces, which brought him to the attention of the British government. The House of Parliament requested him to create the clock mechanism for their newest project, Big Ben. By this time however, Dent’s personal goals of perfecting the chronometer overshadowed his committed projects and he died shortly afterwards. He passed the work on to his stepson Frederick, along with his chronometer. It allowed for great feats of skill but caused deep-set arrogance and insanity. Unfortunately, it was stolen and used by the designer of the clock tower, Augustus Pugin. Although it helped him complete the project, it also helped cause his early demise.

The first wheel, one of mankind’s earliest inventions, was discovered by Warehouse 5 but somehow lost. It remained unaccounted for until the Italian Renaissance. It was found owned by of the son of a lutenist, who later grew to become one of the most eminent and controversial names of science in the era. By the 1620s, records report the wheel had been taken, but the effects still continued, as he published works until his health declined in 1638. Galileo Galilei, had pioneered the fields of astronomy and physics, defying religious authorities and house arrest. His body of work has been fundamental in shaping the course of science and inspired countless scientists for over three centuries.

Various artifacts have hugely impacted the worlds of literature, art and film. They are too numerous to list, so only a few will be briefly discussed. One malachite ring somehow reached the fingers of comic book artist Bill Finger, who used it as inspiration for the DC hero Alan Scott, the original Green Lantern. A rather large pearl made its way to California in the 1940s; the result was the John Steinbeck novel, “The Pearl”. Another artifact, Walter Halloran’s Crucifix, was used during the exorcism of the teenager Roland Doe. Its usage was first described in a book and then transferred to the big screen in the film “The Exorcist”. Somehow, the cross also managed to reach the movie set and caused the mayhem of the famous story, twice.

Although most artifacts are contained without incident, some become so noteworthy, their stories are passed on for generations as myth and folklore. Two of the most wildly known tall tales in American culture are those of Pecos Bill and Santa Claus. The first is a cowboy of incredible stature, who was supposedly raised by coyotes, rode a widow-making horse and lassoed a tornado. The latter’s image has changed over the years from a folkloric Viking and Dutch figure into a jolly, bearded man pulled by a sleigh of reindeer. One feature that has been present in every incarnation is his desire to give gifts to all who deserve. The two figures did not exist exactly; regular people used artifacts and the myth was passed on. Pecos Bill’s lariat was crafted from Anasazi rope that can grow to great sizes, while an Eskimo jingle harness helped the original Santa, Saint Nicholas, spread goodwill.

Many of the previously stated events possess a different story than the one told to the world. Some of them occurred due to the gathering of many different artifacts, and a cover story was needed. Many of these groups inspired various media such as literature, animation, television and even video gaming. Some, like those from the novel “Inferno”, can release a powerful effect when combined together. Others, like the ones recovered from “Alice in Wonderland”, were used as the basis for individual characters. However, most groups possess only a shared event, where they were all featured in one work (e.g. Kingdom Hearts, Twilight Zone) or were collected by one person (e.g. Subhas Chandra Bose).

Departures from recorded history also apply to people that have been secretly involved with the Warehouse. Many killers and criminals have had scuffles with the organization and have even been bronzed, such as Jack the Ripper during Warehouse 12. Agent Wells apprehended him for using his artifacted lantern to hypnotize his victims immobile before killing them. Marie Guichon, the inspiration for Red Riding Hood, possessed a cloak that gave her longevity and the ability to turn into a wolf like creature. When the Warehouse took it, she waited for centuries to get it back and cause as much mischief as possible. New Englander Winslow Homer was a renowned painter for his American landscapes and maritime scenes. In reality, he used one of his own artifacts to embed neighbors and strangers into his artwork.

Even the mythologies of ancient kingdoms were not entirely accurate. Yes, deities did exist to the people that worshipped and fought for them. However, some were not actual gods, but merely mortals. The best example is the Greek pantheon. There is evidence from the first four Warehouses that suggests the gods were actually fellow men and their families who had discovered powerful objects. This was what Alexander the Great had found out in his tenure as first Caretaker and employed Aristotle to research. Those families had found magical totems beyond their understanding and used them to sustain their health. As each generation had bestowed them on, infighting, lust and greed occurred due to long-term exposure. Their children became more power hungry and set up the myth that they were superior beings descended from the earth to gain all the wealth they could.

Finally, the complete impact of some artifacts will never be fully known. Ibn Battuta's Besom was used to erase explorers and storytellers from existence so Battuta could pass their adventures off as his own. Because of the nature of the effects, the full amount of people it was used on and how often will likely never be known. Likewise, a particular flying carpet does exactly what it says. However, its actual effect of distorting space has caused various space-time/atomic incidents. Many of them have been deliberately unrecorded or altered. Strangely, both of those artifacts reside within the Dark Vault for security reasons.

Artifacts with Historical Consequences

• Aegean Sails: From the father of Thesus, slayer of the Minotaur. Thesus accidently sailed home with black sails, which signified his death; when Aegeus saw them, he killed himself in grief. They later caused the deaths of Tristan and Isolde, lovers in Arthurian legend.
• Enrique Gaspar y Rimbau’s Cast Iron Box: A time travel machine whose complete origin and properties are unknown. Was collected by Warehouse 12 and helped inspire agent H.G. Wells to create her own successful machine. She later published her accomplishment in a novel.
• William Wymark Jacobs’ Monkey Paw: Author of “The Monkey’s Paw”, which detailed his plight with his acquired artifact. He wrote it so someone more seasoned could properly contain it and get it away from him.
• Silap Inua Totem: Originally belonged to the Inuit people in the Arctic Circle. Later stolen during one of Robert Peary’s expeditions and brought back to the United States, where it was collected in 1947.
• Louis the XIV's Scepter: It belonged to the longest serving European monarch, who instated an aristocratic monarchy that lasted until the French Revolution. The scepter was made from “two golden statues of Ahura Maza and Angra Mainyu, the deities of good and evil in the Zoroastrianism religion”. They possessed artifact qualities, which allowed the staff to create a duplicate of the king. The clone was imprisoned and given the new identity of Eustache Dauger, where he was disguised with an iron mask. The rumor started to spread in the 19th century, so agent Alexandre Dumas wrote a cover story, “The Three Musketeers”.
• Richard the Lion-hearted's Armor: Richard I was King of England when he fought in the Third Crusade to retake the Holy Land. He fought against his Muslim equal, Saladin, and was known by his enemies and soldiers as “Richard the Lionheart” for his valor in battle. His armor was parted out and some of it has been relocated over the centuries. Pieces have been found at the battles of Kinsale and Khotyn and in the possession of Enzo of Sardinia, Stephen F. Brown and Jack Churchill. All parts caused chivalry in battle and a preference for melee weaponry.
• Julius Asclepiodotus’ Shield Boss: A piece off a Roman shield, Asclepiodotus was a prefect when the false emperor Allectus ruled. His naval fleet reclaimed control of the British Isles when they were concealed by fog. It was one of the artifacts used in the failed assassination attempt of Queen Victoria.
• Santorini Event Pumice Stone: The remnants of a cataclysmic eruption that destroyed the island of Santorini. It activated on Mt. Vesuvius, triggering an eruption that buried the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum.
• Niccolo Paganini's Father's Birch Rod: Exact origin unknown. Used by Paggini’s father on Niccolo from an earlier age, increased his musical talent exponentially. Warehouse 12 agents reported the rod allowed for an abnormal connection between the two. Paggini’s father was “alive well past his supposed death”, while Niccolo was gravely drained of energy. The link was cut and the two quickly perished.
• Walter Halloran’s Crucifix: One of the many artifacts to have encountered “spirits” during their creation. Its power to exorcise one teen grew, allowing that released soul to wander about and cause trouble. It was used in the writing of the novel “The Exorcist” and later made its way on set during filming of the movie.
• Desiderius Erasmus’ Bookmark: One of the few belongings confirmed to have been from the Dutch humanist. Erasmus was a strong believer in free will and equal treatment of others. In the 1970s, Henry Kissinger found and used the bookmark during peace talks in the Cold War.
• First Wheel: One of the first inventions of mankind. Can cause revolutionary ideas, which helped Galileo make many new scientific discoveries.
• Baron Samedi's Top Hat: From one of the important figures in the Vodou practice, has resurrection properties. Reached the New World in time to help accelerate the Haitian Revolution.
• Ferdinand Magellan's Astrolabe: Was used on the explorer’s (almost) circumnavigation around the world. Could allow the user to repeat the day, but caused a dark side to overtake them from within. French statesman Maximilien Robespierre acquired it. The result was the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution. The Order of the Black Diamond, based within the Vatican, found it a short time after and now protects it to this day, even after the “incident” with the Warehouse and the sweating sickness.
• Flames of Passion: A fireplace that traveled the European continent before being collected in Greece in the 1800s. It increases sexual pleasure and seems to possess some mild form of sentience. Previous owners included Casanova and Catherine II.
• Cauldron of Annwn: A cauldron which is based on the Celtic legend of the land of Annwn, it has the ability to completely cure disease ina person and restore their overall health. It made its way to Europe in the 1200s, where it inspired the first myths of the Holy Grail. It soon became a symbol of the Church, who accepted it as a gift from God to them. King Louis IX brought it with him on the Seventh Crusade, where he used it to save his life. He also brought it on the Eighth Crusade, where a second attempt to use it resulted in his death. It made its way back to Europe, and along the way it was turned into a Chalice so that it mimicked the Holy Grail in appearance.
• Anaxagoras' Krater: Ancient Greek philosopher who believed the mind was a force meant to separate and categorize matter. The krater could later on shake the earth, which caused the Sicilian Earthquake of 1693.
• Jingle Harness: This harness was fashioned by Eskimos to create a realistic experience of flight after the customary consumption of hallucinatory mushrooms. The harness could make any vehicle fly and was used by Saint Nicholas to spread wealth, helping begin the legend of Santa Claus.
• Nicholas Owen’s Mallet and Chisel: An English Jesuit who constructed priest holes across England to hide priests from anti-Catholic persecution. His constructions were so well hidden, it may never be known how many he actually built. The hammer and chisel emulate this, creating secret cavities and doorways for people to hide within. This was one of the artifacts found by Subhas Chandra Bose, who used it to escape his house arrest.
• Edward John Dent's Chronometer: Owned by one of the main contributors to Big Ben during its construction. His task was to create an accurate timing mechanism, but he died before he could start the job. The chronometer was eventually stolen by fellow designer Augustus Pugin, who used it to complete his work but helped cause his early death.
• Minoan Trident: A powerful artifact with worldwide destruction capabilities when misused correctly. Witness to the eradication of the Minoan culture, it can cause a global ice age capable of destroying human civilization.
• The Pearl of the World: A pearl of rather large proportions and unnatural shine. Documented to have reached 1940s-era California, which likely helped author John Steinbeck write his novel “The Pearl”.
• Ross Bagdasarian Sr.'s Witch Doctor Mask: Used by entertainer David Seville, creator of Alvin and the Chipmunks. Plays the tune “Witch Doctor” while in sync to a flashing light show. It possibly comes from a previously unknown tribe, as the mask has been dated to be over 200 years old.
• Thunderstone Axe: Fell from the sky in 12th century England. Originally meant to be given to Henry the Second, it was intercepted by Richard the Lionheart. There, he observed it create a lightning strike and kill several soldiers. Fearful of its powers, Richard locked it within the Tower of London until it was re-discovered by Anne Boleyn.
• Apollonius of Tyana's Amulet: Apollonius was a wide-traveled philosopher who approved of the killing of state leaders for the common good. Allows the user to kill leaders/rulers from a distance. Retrieved from the failed assassination attempt of Queen Victoria.
• Balthasar Gérard’s Pig Bladder: The floatation device meant to help Gérard escape after assassinating the Dutch resistance leader. Slightly alters probability to allow the user to successfully assassinate someone, but afterwards get caught. Was found by John Bellingham and used upon British Prime Minister Spencer Perceval.
• Anasazi Rope: Weaved into a rope from the native plants in the American Southwest. Is extremely strong and can change size with ease. Someone turned it into a lasso during the American expansion period west, and it spread the legends of Pecos Bill.
• Guy Fawkes' Gunpowder and Gun: Guy Fawkes was a conspirator to overthrow Protestant ruler James I and replace him with a Catholic leader. His task was to place explosives under Westminster Palace, but he was apprehended due to an anonymous letter. When fired in an office of government, it will explode and cause extensive fire damage throughout the building. Thomas Adlson found the artifacts in 1834 and used them to complete Fawkes’ job. He was captured and bronzed two days later.
• Geronimo's Skull: The remains of legendary Apache leader Geronimo, who attacked both Mexican and American forces when they killed his family members. As popular myth surprisingly confirms, Geronimo’s skull was stolen by the Skull and Bones, a secret society within Yale. It was retrieved by undercover agents posing as students.
• Star Jelly: A pool of extraterrestrial material, arrived in a meteorite crash near Philadelphia in 1950. It is electrically charged and will attack any living creature to try and absorb its electrical pulses. It is now safely stored with the Samhain Sector and is fed every few days so it does not go hunting in the stacks. However, the case was not properly contained, as eyewitness reports were collected and used to create the film “The Blob”.
• Reception Bell from the Hotel California: It is known to have been in The Eagles song “Hotel California” and can trap the ringer in an escapable hotel. However, agent Draco suggests that the bell has a more ancient origin, possibly dating back to the Lotus Eaters of Homer’s epics.
• Pope Clement VII’s Zucchetto: A member of the influential Medici family, his rule was marked by the looting of Rome by the Holy Roman Emperor’s forces. After six months of imprisonment, Clement escaped from his own city. The zucchetto now can create exits and backdoors in the structures of walls, allowing for stealthy escape. This was one of the artifacts used by Subhas Chandra Bose to escape his house arrest sentence.
• Caucasian Eagle Automaton: A large, bronze eagle crafted by Hephaestus to deliver punishment to Prometheus. Able to identify patterns and learn movements, it is powered by a complex system of clock mechanisms. It will attack a person and leave them barely alive so it can return to its “guest” hours later. The eagle was inert until it was accidently activated during the move to Warehouse 4. It flew across the globe unhindered and started legends about giant predatory birds, including the Roc, Ziz and Thunderbird. Its last nesting spot was in the Himalayas, until agents captured and deactivated it in 2014.
• Ibn Battuta's Besom: An old broom that belonged to a Moroccan explorer who traveled widely. Contrary to “the truth”, it is thought Battuta actually traveled nowhere. He would listen to adventurer’s stories and then sweep them out of existence, passing their stories of as his. This makes it extremely hard to discern how many people he affected, as the besom erases said person from existence.
• Daedalus' Slate: Inventor of the labyrinth meant to contain the Minotaur, he was then locked up by the king. He fashioned a set of wings to fly himself back to the mainland. However, his son Icarus did not follow his instructions and crashed into the ocean during their escape. Can recreate the legendary labyrinth, which is used during mass artifact disturbance. It directly helped create another artifact with similar properties, the Cretan Labyrinth Archway.
• Eccentric Tree Seeds: The seeds will grow in bizarre and abnormal ways, taking on odd shapes and unusual biology. One packet was used to create a grove of bent trees in Nowe Czarnowo, Poland. Another may have been the inspiration for the Dr. Seuss children’s book, “The Lorax”.
• Malachite Ring: Came from an unknown source, it projects green energy constructs from the stone. It was used by comic writer Bill Finger to create the Green Lantern Corps.
• Franz Mesmer’s Magnets: Mesmer was a doctor who believed there existed a physical force between animals that could be used for applications such as medicine. Mesmer constantly put this animal magnetism forward until several renowned scientists, under orders of French king Louis XVI, disproved his findings. Later on, psychologists defined his work as an early predecessor to hypnotism. The magnets absorbed that ability and can make any person experience illusions through suggestion. They were used in an emergency in 1918 to prevent Woodrow Wilson from discovering the truth about the Warehouse. Head Regent Bailey allowed the magnets to be used on the president, making him believe it was nothing but a tax return warehouse. The myth trickled out to the government and has been perpetuated to this day.
• Lewis Nixon's Pistol: Nixon, of no relation to the American president, was a WWII soldier present on the beaches of Normandy during D-Day. During an assault of a German held manor, his company discovered a map marking all of the enemies’ positions along the coast. Nixon ran the discovery three miles to his superiors, who used the information to their advantage. And in all that time throughout the war, he never fired a single shot. His unused sidearm gained this penchant, never injuring a person when fired. This effect proved extremely helpful to Dorothy Dietrich, an escapologist who performed escape attempts in the vein of Houdini and the only woman to successfully pull off the deadly bullet catch trick.
• 1950s Police Telephone Box: This now defunct police box was an original prop from the sci-fi BBC series “Doctor Who”. It stayed in ownership of the company during the show’s renovations and cancellation in the late 80s. One Russell T. Davies found it in storage in 2004 and experienced its effects firsthand – dreams of being “The Doctor”. Agent Nielsen found quickly found him and told Davies his group had arranged for him a meeting with the network. Subsequently, the show was re-launched the next year, with many ideas taken from Davies experiences as the hero.
• Thomas Blood’s Mallet: From a British officer who brazenly tried to steal the Crown Jewels of England in a planned, 1600s era Ocean’s Eleven heist. Through the enplanement of himself and his accomplices into the custodian’s lives, they gained private access to the vault. After several months of sweet talking, they were able to get the custodian alone, knock him out and take the jewels, flattening some with a mallet for convenience. They almost escaped when security caught on and captured them. Two centuries later, at the tail end of Warehouse 12, five agents went rogue and took the mallet. They used it to successfully steal, this time taking the Irish Crown Jewels. The world quickly learned about the theft but the Warehouse removed any trace of their involvement in the affair.
• Hippolyte Bernheim’s Cravat: Some of the daily attire belonging to physician Hippolyte Bernheim. Enthusiastic about the new field of hypnosis, he fervently researched it. He also met Boris Sidis and Sigmund Freud during his work, the respective founders of psychoanalysis and psychiatry. What Bernheim did not know was that by the two used his cravat as a way of studying human behavior, blazing their own paths into psychology.
• Wax Crocodile: What simply began life as a glob of wax was molded into the form of a crocodile by the ancient Egyptian Chief Priest Ubainer. He discovered his wife was having secret meetings with one of the pharaoh’s entourage and would not tolerate it. The crocodile was conjured into life through magic and animated when in contact with water. Ubainer’s butler one day threw the figurine into the lake with the adulterers, taking the young man. A week later, Ubainer displayed his control over the creature to the pharaoh; the lovers died for the crimes, but the beast was never recalled. It was found by a descendant of Ubainer and activated during the First Burundian Genocide. Released into the local river system, it killed Tutsis until the owner himself died. The crocodile then wandered aimlessly, killing more than 300 people while active. It grew to such notoriety for its grisly acts that one scientist, Patrice Faye, misidentified it for an actual man-eater and named it Gustave. It evaded capture for more than five years until Artie discovered a way to thankfully deactivate it.
• Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin's Bubble Pipe: Used in a revenge plot by a French woman in 1944 to try and find the people responsible for the death of her best friend, this artifact caused the deaths of 520 people aboard a freight train, Number 8017 in Salerno, Italy. Between the war effort and the mysterious nature of the event, the Italian government neglected to allow details of the tragedy to be released by the news media until months afterwards, when it was officially considered a carbon monoxide poisoning.
• Jar of Shiva: The god Shiva forms one of the triumvirate head gods in the Hindu pantheon. While his equals Brahma and Vishnu respectively create and preserve the universe, Shiva’s role is to destroy it so the next can be created. In the Hindu belief, Shiva’s destruction is seen as both devastating and beneficial, combining contradictory elements together. One of the most powerful artifacts from ancient times still in existence. Its power is enough to rival the Minoan Trident, which was known to Hindus as the Trishula and depicted to be one of Shiva’s possessions. Whatever the case, the jar will countdown from ten in Sanskrit and release an explosive blast when opened. The surrounding area for hundreds of kilometers will be decimated, especially those closest to the blast zone. The most recent time it was activated was 1908 in Russia. Over Siberia an explosion rang out, flattening out and destroying acres of forest. Although reporters and scientists thought it was a large meteor strike they called the Tunguska Event, it was really the jar at play. Later on, conspiracy theorists speculated inventor Nikola Tesla caused the blast, which is totally untrue. He discovered the artifact’s activation with his equipment while Warehouse 13 was still being constructed.
• Obelisk from St. Peter's Basilica: The monument to sun worship was originally built by the ancient Egyptians as a tribute to the sun god Ra. They included scripts and materials from multiple languages and peoples in the belief that the sun nurtured them all. It gained the ability to store and convert all forms of energy like a battery cell. When a global scale event would occur, all the energy would be released, sometimes with devastating results. The Regents discovered this in 1859, when a powerful coronal mass ejection from the sun created a giant geomagnetic storm. It crippled telegraph lines worldwide and caused auroras as far as the equator. The obelisk had released its energy into the world, signified when the capstone turned pure gold. Currently stationed at the Vatican, where its long historical significance has helped dampen its explosive effects.
• Fangs of Julunggul: To the native Australian Aborigines, the story of Julunggul tells about the Rainbow Serpent. Although its existence has not been officially confirmed, stories and evidence concur it was, at least at one time, real. It appears one tribe, untraceable deep within the Outback, has synthesized a powder from the snake’s fangs. The solution created is called iocane, an undetectable poison that dissolves iron in the body and causes death in minutes. The author William Goldman somehow located the tribe, describing the powder’s effects in his seminal work “The Princess Bride”. It’s thought that Marie Guichon, the Original Red Riding Hood, also obtained some iocane and used it to poison the Warehouse system when she infiltrated it.
• Herostratus’ Lantern: Herostratus was a troublemaker who had one intention of being remembered by the history books. He decided the way to cement his name would be by razing the Temple of Artemis to the ground, destroying one of the seven ancient wonders of the world. Then the authorities executed him and created a new law, damnatio memoriae, meant to forbid his name from even being mentioned. Like with Voldemort, that had more of the opposite effect. The lantern kept disappearing and reappearing throughout history, leaving destroyed monuments wherever it appeared. The first confirmed incident occurred in London. An overzealous stagehand had used the lantern for added realism; he ended up burning down the Bard’s famed Globe Theatre. Then, it found its way to 1930s Berlin, the capital of a rearming Germany. That time, the Reichstag building where governmental meetings were held was incinerated. The ensuing trial and political action led to a suspension on civil liberties and helped the Nazi Party gain political control over Germany. It traded hands multiple times after the war, resurfacing one lat time near the Chinese-Soviet border. An inexperienced forest worker had discovered the artifact and accidently set it alight. The resulting inferno led to the Black Dragon Fire of 1987, one of the most destructive wildfires in history, destroying approximately 1/6th of China’s timber and millions of acres of trees.
• Apollo 15 Geologic Hammer and Falcon Feather: Apollo 15 conducted several experiments while on the surface of the moon, the most famous demonstrating the effects of gravity. A hammer and feather were dropped from the same height and with no air resistance, they both fell at the same rate, showing gravity equally affects all bodies. The immediate area would experience a reduced gravitational pull, while somewhere else on the globe would receive an increased spike. This temporary strengthening makes objects have more mass and become pushed down and crushed due to the extra force. Willingly donated to the Warehouse by the NASA team after they learned its gravity-altering effect created a high-gravity zone that caused Delta Airlines Flight 191 to crash in Dallas.
• Ralph Chaplin's Original Draft of "Solidarity Forever": Ralph Chaplin, of no relation to the famed actor, witnessed many workforce and social upheavals during his lifetime. He saw the deadly Pullman Company Strike at seven and took negatively towards execution squads carried out by then Mexican president Porfirio Díaz. When he returned to the States, he began supporting the poor and working classes, penning the union anthem “Solidarity Forever”. During WWI he was imprisoned under the newly passed Espionage Act but remained in America after his release. Later on, Chaplin grew distrustful of communism and the New Deal, remaining loyal to the working people’s needs. This draft was imprinted with that ideal to bring people together around a central idea of change. It was later located in the Baltic States of the then existent Soviet Union. Over the course of years, it moved its way throughout the region, constantly trading hands and crossing borders. The cumulative scale of people it affected managed to intensify the people’s hatred of foreign control. Citizens held mass demonstrations of singing in defiance of Soviet rule and declared their independence. The independent nations of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were established in 1991, and later joined the European Union in 2004.
• Maui's Fishhook: Recorded in Polynesian and Hawaiian myth, Maui was venerated as the god of volcanism. He made the Hawaiian Islands by tricking his brothers into fishing up the seafloor with a fishhook that could catch anything. Previous Warehouses knew of its existence but had no realistic way of finding or even getting close to it. A foreign trading vessel finally located it for them, only for the Regents to misplace it nine years later. Its next appearance was in the Pacific Ocean on a small Indonesian island. The minimal volcanic activity present was excited to astronomical levels and the island quite literally exploded. Krakatoa sent out lava, shockwaves and tsunamis thousands of miles away, affecting global climate and temperatures for years. The hook itself landed in New Zealand, deep in an underground well, situated nearby a fault line and volcano range. Retrieval was declared too risky and it remains stuck there to this day.
• Johann Blumhardt's Rosary: A theologian that shipped the idea of “Jesus is the victor”, he and others afterwards heavily used the phrase to perform exorcisms. He personally used these beads to remove a demonic energy from a little girl. It separates the good and bad portions of the user’s being into two separate but identical bodies. Killing one solidifies the existence, allowing them to take the place of their twin. 1930s America, the Great Depression was in full swing and the great era of robbers and thieves occurred. Two of the biggest were Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, lovers outrunning the law. When Clyde was imprisoned shortly after they first met, the rosary was used upon him and he returned the favor by stealing it on his way out to parole. An incident occurred where Bonnie injured herself with battery acid and Clyde was forced to use the artifact. Her injuries were healed, but the cunning and cruel clone wrested control over her original and started a gang expressly created through the artifact. Warehouse agents discovered the truth and took action, ending her reign of terror and bronzing her indefinitely.
• Edward Mordake's Second Face: Edward Mordake possessed English heritage but possessed an oddity that prevented him from claiming it. He had a second face on the back of his head, possibly a form of extreme parasitic win. It could not speak or eat but seemed able to react to Edward’s emotions. The face caused him constant terror, believing it spoke to him evil thoughts. No doctor would remove it and he committed suicide in his mid-20s. The tragic tale of Mordake did not completely end there. Its last victim was musician and songwriter Tom Waits, who wrote the song “Poor Edward” as a form of tribute to him.
• Ptolemy's Refracting Mirror Lens: The most eminent geographer and mapmaker of the ancient Hellenistic world. He created some of the most accurate maps of his time with the mixture of inaccurate and wild reports he received from explorers. Ptolemy also heavily researched the orbits of planets and constellations stars would form. One thing most do not know is that he also tried to recreate the first death ray, made by engineer Archimedes of Syracuse. Made of reflective mirrors along with some vital adjustments, the machine worked. A little too well, as it burned down half his home. Concerned over the destruction his machine could cause, he dismantled it and sold off the pieces. But the reflective mirrors still retained some of the original properties, allowing them to create an intense thermal beam when exposed to sunlight. Some were located and used in the construction of Warehouse 13. Others went missing and caused fires, including the Great Fire of Hindon in London, burning nearly 150 separate buildings.

Artifact Groups

Various artifacts can be grouped together by their normally calm or familiar behavior with each other. Most of these groups do not possess the same abilities, but were sometime brought together all at once. When this happens, there is usually a cover story for their meetings.

• Twilight Zone Artifacts: Writer Rod Serling had been exposed to artifacts before and even helped with a case. He was given clearance for the Warehouse and cast the Regents an idea. He would create a show of sci-fi and fantasy and base the plot or characters around the effects of an artifact. This would subconsciously expose the public to important information about artifacts and help them accept the impossible as real. Many artifacts were located through the show, which prompted reboots to help prevent widespread artifact use.
• Alice in Wonderland Artifacts: After the Carrol-Liddel incident, Warehouse agents wrote "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland” and “Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There” to cover up any artifacts at the time. Many of the artifacts now reside in the Grimm Sector due to their shared story.
• Subhas Chandra Bose: Bose was an Indian nationalist who tried to enlist the Axis powers for help in gaining independence. He was a skilled artifact locator and was extremely close to finding several powerful artifacts, including part of the Minoan Trident. Warehouse agents were authorized to use any artifact they could to crash Bose’s flight. He was then bronzed, his collected artifacts taken and his notes used to locate several more artifacts.
• Legends of the Hidden Temple: An educational children’s show in the 1990s, where contestants competed physically and mentally to retrieve the “lost artifact” in the temple and win prizes. In reality, the show was a large artifact ring, where many of the props were actual artifacts. It was busted by Artie and was one of the largest mass retrievals of the last few decades.
• Dante's Inferno Artifacts: Warehouse 8 Regent Dante Alighieri discovered nine artifacts with destructive power when brought together, which could open a portal to a demonic dimension. Dante wrote each artifact to a corresponding ring of hell in his book “The Inferno”, which was the first time a literary cover was used.
• The Disney Vault: Originally, these artifacts were stored off-site, as the effects could easily cause mental impairment in agents and were hard to keep neutralized. Former agent Walt Disney gladly consented to storing them in Disneyland, hidden from the public eye. These artifacts could also cause heavy waves of inspiration, and would periodically leak out. This unintentionally helped his writing, editing and design members create movies for the company. In 2013, it was discovered the Vault had been accessed by an unknown organization. They did not manage to steal any of the artifacts, which were quickly relocated back to the Warehouse for better protection.
• Dan Seavey’s Cache: Roaring Dan Seavey was one of the last pirates, attacking shipping lanes on the Great Lakes. He would many times place false lights to lure ships into crashing on the rocky shores. He used a similar tactic of grounding and straightforward attack on the Warehouse 12 cargo ship HMS Avalon. During the fight, one agent was killed and the contents of the ship were stolen. Seavey, who had lost two fingers, retreated to New York to hide his treasure. The artifacts were declared lost until 2013, when the stash was finally located. It was one of the largest finds of missing artifacts in the 21st century, behind the Artie’s Russian retrieval, the discovery of Walter Sykes’ collection and the rediscovery of Warehouse 2.

Factorem virtute

Known since the days of Warehouse 2, certain individuals were labelled "Factorem virtute" or "Makers of Power". For unknown reasons these individuals are the originators of several different artifacts from many points in their lives. The exact reasons for Factorem virtute or how to identify them pre-creation are so far not understood, but they are considered a threat, albeit an unknowing one. 

The best hypothesis surrounding them came from Warehouse 9; translated: "A nexus of artifact energy inspiring them to greatness, so it may latch onto an object at the opportune moment and birth an artifact. Their accomplishments may not be their own, but the will of the universe pushing them to birth its energy,"

Note that proximity to the Warehouse has also been known to birth artifacts spontaneously due to the genius and inventiveness of its patrons, and those connected to the Warehouse are not considered Factorem virtute. With few exceptions, Factorem virtute tend towards artists, inventors or scientists as mediums for artifact creation.

Known Factorem virtute include

• Aesop
• Leonardo da Vinci
• Elizabeth Bathory
• Guru Gobind Singh
• Jane Austin
• Catherine the Great
• John Dee
• Napoleon Bonaparte
• Benjamin Franklin
• Issac Newton
• George Washington
• Hans Christian Anderson
• Michael Faraday
• J.M. Barrie
• Vincent Van Gogh
• Edgar Allan Poe
• Auguste Rodin
• Sigmund Freud
• Robert Frost
• Harry Houdini
• Mahatma Ghandi
• Salvador Dali
• Andy Warhol
• Martin Luther King Jr.
• Elvis Presley
• Jimmi Hendrix