After the British Museum, the Bibliothèque Nationale is the greatest library in the world. Its equivalent of the British Museum Reading Room is the Salle de Travail des Imprimés, open 9 A.M. to 4-6 P.M., by season. It is closed Sundays and holidays. It seats 344 readers beneath nine blue faience domes. Applicants must obtain a ticket from the secretary of the library, which indicates the subject to be pursued. Foreigners must include a reference from their ambassador or consul. The reader registers each day, and requests books by form. 10,000 reference volumes are available at hand. No books are handed out in the hour before closing. A letter from the ambassador proves sufficient to gain access, but not immediately. It takes the investigators three days to be authorized.
Once seated, investigator access to the fabulous wealth of the library is still limited. Holding so many unique materials, this institution exists as much to preserve as to distribute. The librarians do not turn the investigators loose to ransack their old and fragile manuscripts. The investigators are assisted in their research by a librarian named Remi Vangeim, who is a student at the Sorbonne. He is a tall, dark-haired fellow with a confident air. He spends part of his time writing essays for L’Humanité.
The investigators spend the full day in the library, until closure, and the research is fruitful.
OOC:
OOC: one points of Library Use (Andrew or Felicity) and one of Occult (Clarence) is spent for this research. |
Nothing about strange or criminal activity of Turkish people in Paris
Count Fenalik
No-one of the surname Fenalik is listed in the Paris directory, nor in any record of the last 100 years. However, the investigators there are a number of court histories refer to an unspecified scandal in the queen’s court on the eve of the Revolution, when a man of the minor nobility was apparently involved in an indiscretion with the queen. After a palace uproar, the fellow was executed without trial. The man was a German count named Fenalik.
There´s a diary of Mademoiselle De Brienne, a member of the queen’s court. It discusses the Fenalik incident and its outcome. For the most part, the diary records the petty intrigues and affairs which plagued the court. But it also relates an incident involving a “Comte Fenalicheque” in June, 1789. Damaged by water, parts of the manuscript are now illegible.
Diary of Mademoiselle de Brienne, june 1789
The Comte was like a sun amongst us, shedding his light and making all rejoice in his pleasures. His feasts are said to be the most lavish and lascivious yet seen in our city....
It was then that it became apparent that much evil was afoot, and the Queen became angered. The King’s men did raid the house, and much was destroyed, and the Comte was arrested...
The investigators also finds the diary of Louis Malon, the captain who led the assault on Fenalik’s mansion in Poissy, a suburb west of Paris. Malon seemed to have been shaken by the experience. There is record of goods presented to the treasury, including “paintings, snuff boxes, wine, silk clothing, statuary”. No further research uncovers the fate of these items.
Report of captain Louis Malon, june 1789
When we arrived, the feast was still in progress, men and women were rutting like rabid dogs. We chased them out, arresting the ones who were not able to vouch for themselves. I sent six men to capture the Comte, while I entered the chambers beneath. I cannot bring myself to describe what I saw there, save that we had entered a cesspool and it was Hell. God protect us. Many devices of torture lay in many chambers. One of my men found a strange Nuremburg Virgin, which was locked. Fearing to find a fresh occupant, we smashed it open, but found it to be empty. It was a dark day when noble vermin such as Pfenalik did descend upon Poissy, and if God does not punish him for his sins, then the King surely will. It was with a just heart that I did give the order to burn the house and those who remained below, though the Comte did howl and scream as though his very soul was burning. We then took him to the place that would be his new home. There may he rot.
Poissy is a town located in the western suburbs of Paris, 24 km from the city center.
Another piece of evidence is the journal of Lucien Rigault, a physician to the Queen.
Journal of Lucien Rigault, june 1789
Two nights later the soldiers of the King went in force to the Comte’s villa, to halt his excesses. After they burned his mansion, they brought the Comte before the King’s deputy, who then ordered me present to deliver an opinion.
Comte Fenalik was screaming and writhing. It was easy to see that he was mad. As a nobleman and a madman, he could not be executed, so I suggested that a merciful King might place Fenalik in Charenton. The King’s deputy apparently decided upon this course, and arranged that Fenalik be taken there. Later the King expressed his approval, and the disposition was made permanent. The last I learned of him was that he had been locked away in a cellar, because he had attacked other patients.
Sedefkar Simulacrum
After hours of research, Remi gets an insight from a clerk named Maxim. A thin, unattractive young man with sunken eyes and an introverted temperament. He appears to be the ancient book expert in the library. Specific reference to the Sedefkar Simulacrum and its owner occurs only in pre-Revolutionary documents. It was a crazy time, and many things were lost or deliberately destroyed.
The investigators find the Devil’s Simulare, an illuminated Latin manuscript. It was written by an anonymous Cistercian monk around 1260, and bound as a book in Venice in 1505. The book is considered apocrypha and the work of a mad cleric. It is known of in occult circles but the only known copy was kept in the church of San Maria Celeste in Venice.
As the library closes, the investigators minds are tired, after spending hours on books. However, they have not yet exhausted all available sources of the archives. Another day of research in the library might reveal other things. Remi is also convinced of this.
