| Gregor MacGregor’s "Poyais" Ephemera | |
|---|---|
|
Origin |
Gregor MacGregor / "Poyais” |
|
Type |
Disposable Articles and Documents |
|
Effects |
Adventurous spirit |
|
Downsides |
Saps victims of common sense and foresight |
|
Activation |
Transferal |
|
Collected by |
Warehouse 12 |
|
Section |
|
|
Date of Collection |
August 6, 1841 |
| [Source] | |
Origin[]
General Gregor MacGregor (24 December 1786 – 4 December 1845) was a Scottish soldier, adventurer, and con man who attempted from 1821 to 1837 to draw British and French investors and settlers to "Poyais", a fictional Central American territory that he claimed to rule as "Cazique". Hundreds invested their savings in supposed Poyaisian government bonds and land certificates, while about 250 emigrated to MacGregor's invented country in 1822–23 to find only an untouched jungle; more than half of them died. Seen as a contributory factor to the "Panic of 1825", MacGregor's Poyais scheme has been called one of the most brazen confidence tricks in history.
From the Clan Gregor, MacGregor was an officer in the British Army from 1803 to 1810; he served in the Peninsular War. He joined the republican side in the Venezuelan War of Independence in 1812, quickly became a general and, over the next four years, operated against the Spanish on behalf of both Venezuela and its neighbor New Granada. His successes included a difficult month-long fighting retreat through northern Venezuela in 1816. He captured Amelia Island in 1817 under a mandate from revolutionary agents to conquer Florida from the Spanish, and there proclaimed a short-lived "Republic of the Floridas". He then oversaw two calamitous operations in New Granada during 1819 that each ended with his abandoning British volunteer troops under his command.
On his return to Britain in 1821, MacGregor claimed that King George Frederic Augustus of the Mosquito Coast in the Gulf of Honduras had created him Cazique of Poyais, which he described as a developed colony with a community of British settlers. When the British press reported on MacGregor's deception following the return of fewer than 50 survivors in late 1823, some of his victims leaped to his defense, insisting that the general had been let down by those whom he had put in charge of the emigration party. A French court tried MacGregor and three others for fraud in 1826 after he attempted a variation on the scheme there, but convicted only one of his associates. Acquitted, MacGregor attempted lesser Poyais schemes in London over the next decade. In 1838, he moved to Venezuela, where he was welcomed back as a hero. He died in Caracas in 1845, aged 58, and was buried with full military honors in Caracas Cathedral.
Effects[]
A collection which includes government bonds, land certificates, scrip, flags, legal documents, attire, dollars, medallions, leaflets, guidebooks, etc. Any piece will activate the effects, which are started by proclaiming oneself the self-appointed leader (instead of being installed by another power’s discretion).
Instills an overwhelming belief for their supporters (mostly) to explore vast uncharted territories in search of adventure and new beginnings or even financial gains. Steers one towards exotic jungles, coastlines, small islands and tropical locales without doing any preparation beforehand. They leave at first crack without packing appropriate provisions, learning the region’s stability or expectation of what their plan is once arrive. The activator themselves will leech off the collective’s experience and rationale, leveraging there cunning to convince more to join.
It appears those already within authority positions are more resistant to the effects, especially if they have no relation to the user’s interests. Involvement by “foreign” leaders can snap those enthralled out of their stupor and cause non-aligned parties to prosecute them for their falsehoods.