| George Catlin's Bead Necklace | |
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| "If my life be spared, nothing shall stop me from visiting every nation of Indians on the Continent of North America." | |
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Origin |
George Catlin |
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Type |
Bead Necklace |
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Effects |
Visualize people hundreds of miles away |
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Downsides |
Continually attracts objects |
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Activation |
Wearing and focusing on a group |
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Collected by |
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Section |
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Aisle |
381024-9420 |
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Shelf |
640864-2814-618 |
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Date of Collection |
June 3, 1976 |
| [Source] | |
Origin[]
George Catlin (July 26, 1796 – December 23, 1872) had a lifelong curiosity for Native American culture after his mother told stories about her capture and return as a young girl by a neighboring tribe. A career in law painting judges was unfulfilling.
Catlin tracked west to St. Louis for the assistance of Governor William Clark. For the early 1830s, Catlin flitted across the Mississippi and visited 48 separate tribes on his journeys. Six years of brutal winters, steamboat travel and barefoot treks gained him the trust of his hosts. Many of his hundreds of portraits and landscapes showed peoples not yet fully contacted by American settlers. Odd for the time, Catlin respected the various tribes as equal humans not in need of the smallpox and whiskey of civilization. Around the same timeframe the Indian Removal Act expelled all tribes east of the Mississippi from their remaining lands.
His collective “Indian Gallery” and the associated artifacts spanned rooms when displayed. Most museums were unwilling to buy his expensive collection, so he went on tour to less stellar results. His funding ran out, forcing him to sell the majority of the collection and still end up in debtor’s prison in London. The Smithsonian later hired him as resident artist; the remaining bulk of his work was donated to the museum years later, reunited with the entire breadth of his work.
Effects[]
After years of traveling through the American frontier to document the native tribes, Catlin’s ceremonial gift now recreates some of his connection to others. Focusing on a demographic such as a population center or age range allows them to visually imagine their actual appearance. All the subjects are located many leagues away from their current location, often in a completely unfamiliar place. Is extremely difficult and unreliable in finding a specific person unless they already have intimate prior knowledge.
Users have limited input to what they experience asides the current sensations and thoughts of their observant. Greater concentration can lead to sensing memories and emotional context. Most interactions are minutes long, some maybe an hour. After which they keep jumping between different hosts without any kind of control.
Turns the wielder into a magnet for one or two specific objects. Stuff they have a great appreciation in like a collection or hobby work. At first, they only appear within the nearby area of town. But over time each piece has a greater pull towards another, appearing closer each time and following wherever they travel.