| The Roanoke Knife | |
|---|---|
| |
|
Origin |
Roanoke Disappearance |
|
Type |
Knife |
|
Effects |
Touching the Knife with bare skin causes the victim to disappear to a random place on the planet. Causes permanent severe amnesia and erases all traces of the victim's existence from their current living place for the past three years. |
|
Activation |
Touching bare skinned; Proximity |
|
Collected by |
Warehouse 11 Caretaker Nicola Balovic |
|
Section |
|
|
Shelf |
Podium 2 |
|
Date of Collection |
1821 |
| [Source] | |
Origins[]
The Roanoke Colony, commonly called the "Lost Colony" (for obvious reasons), was an English colony whose last colonists disappeared. There were two carvings in the colony, on a tree and on a door, but there was no sign of a battle or struggle. While there are numerous theories abound about what happened to the colonists, the Warehouse records show this Knife was solely responsible for the whole problem.
Effects[]
This Knife, when placed on bare skin, causes the victim to disappear to a random location on the planet. The victim acquires permanent severe amnesia and all records of their existence for the past three years is erased. This does not include memories of the victim, however. The downside gets worse, as once the artifact activates it created a proximity field that causes moderate amnesia as to what is happening and draws people towards the Knife to touch it.
Collection[]
When word reached the Regents of Warehouse 10 about the disappearance of the colonists at Roanoke, four were sent to acquire the artifact. They reached the colony and sent word that there was a Knife causing problems, but that was the last time the agents were heard from. This artifact quickly reached the Warehouse's Most Wanted List, and Warehouse 10 sent another team of Regents several years later. Those Regents reported no sign of the Knife or the missing Regents. Those Regents were discovered in China in 1590 with no recollection of who they were or how they got there.
The Knife showed up several times, but each time the Warehouse Regents went missing and were later found without any memory of who they were. Even after the Warehouse moved to Russia and officially began employing agents, there were still several disappearances of the agents sent to retrieve the artifact. It was known to have showed up at least twenty-eight times between Warehouses 10 and 11, with each time resulting in Agents or Regents disappearing. It is unclear exactly how the Knife traveled across the world, but it was likely occasionally teleporting itself with its victims.
In late December 1809, the Warehouse received reports of a British diplomat named Benjamin Bathurst who had disappeared in Perleberg, Germany. Several others were reported missing, and again after arrival, the Warehouse lost two Regents, as well as two memory-preservation artifacts. The Regents, as well as Benjamin Bathurst, were later found accidentally during a stop in Cape Town in 1818. All three had formed a life together, and when efforts failed to restore their memories, the Regents made the decision to leave them be.
When the Knife appeared again in 1821, the Caretaker of Warehouse 11, Nicola Balovic, decided to take care of the Knife alone to protect the Regents and the Warehouse Agents. The Knife was in Alaska, and when the Caretaker arrived, the Knife was already active. Although he approached with neutralizer and gloves, the Knife began to affect his memory and drew him towards the Knife. However, the Warehouse, sensing its Caretaker was in trouble, protected him from the effects of the Knife and allowed him to collect and successfully neutralize the Knife.
Storage and Handling[]
Stored in the Dark Vault in a five-foot neutralizer field. For additional protection after an incident in 1863, a clear, neutralizer-laced box was added to the stand. Upgrading security even further after an incident in 1953,
Only the Warehouse Caretaker is allowed to handle the artifact, as the Warehouse continues to protect him or her from the effects of the Knife. Neutralizer gloves are mandatory.
Real World Connection[]
The Roanoke Colony, located on Roanoke Island in Dare County, North Carolina, was a late 16th-century attempt by Queen Elizabeth I to establish a permanent English settlement. The enterprise was financed and organized originally by Sir Humphrey Gilbert, who drowned in 1583 during an aborted attempt to colonize St. John's, Newfoundland; his half-brother, Sir Walter Raleigh, later gained the charter from Queen Elizabeth I and subsequently executed the details of the charter through his delegates Ralph Lane and Richard Grenville, Raleigh's distant cousin.
The final group of colonists disappeared during the Anglo-Spanish War, three years after the last shipment of supplies from England. Their disappearance gave rise to the nickname "The Lost Colony". To this day there has been no conclusive evidence as to what happened to the colonists.
Benjamin Bathurst was a British Diplomat who had worked to restore relations between the British Empire and the Austrian Empire. On his way back to Britain in November 1809, he disappeared from Perleberg, Germany. No concrete answers were ever found involving his disappearance, though it is suspected he was murdered.