Blakros Museum

Blackros museum

The Blakros Museum, in Archemaine’s tumultuous early years, was the stronghold of a wizard named Ralzeros the Overwatched. Ralzeros carved the building out of one solid block of volcanic stone by employing dark powers that some say were granted to him by patrons as alien as they were unscrupulous. Ralzeros gained infamy as a mad astrologer, building the structure’s raised north wing (now a grand exhibit hall) as a giant observatory through which he studied distant worlds (and some say, was studied by them). Eventually, Ralzeros disappeared after an argument turned mage-duel with Beldrin, another archmage of Archemaine’s fledgling years. Rumors abounded that Beldrin had nothing to do with his vanishing, but rather whatever fell intellects watched Ralzeros finally claimed him, and whisked the mad astrologer off to some distant
burning world. Ralzeros’s basalt observatory stood empty for centuries
until it was purchased by the Blakros family, a clan of eccentrics who make their fortune selling relics (and rumor has it, secrets) across the Free Kingdom’s borders. The Blakros family is immense and far-reaching. They seem to breed incessantly and produce mostly daughters who are all as fertile as their mothers. These daughters are the cornerstone of the Blakros fortune. Married far and wide, the ladies of the Blakros family are beautiful to the last, though joining them in wedlock bears a few stringent stipulations—they always keep their maiden name, and each child they rear must also be raised as a Blakros. Additionally, the Blakros family is gifted a dowry from the prospective husband’s family.
Rumored to be originally Boeotian by blood, the Blakros have since mongrelized their lineage with several marriages among Al’Badian pashas, Mung Imperial Princes, Northlander Kings, and more than one Chuulish tribal chief. They gathered a sizeable collection of dowries and gifts from their vast extended family, which made up the original Blakros collection. The matriarchs eventually purchased far grander estates and turned Ralzeros’s basalt keep into a museum wherein they housed all manner of oddities and valuable antiquities they gathered both as dowries and then during the illustrious careers of those several daughters who turned their hand to the bawdy life of adventurer and trader. The women of Blakros are everywhere and their beauty loosens lips as well as native grips on ancient relics, thus supplying the family with their two favorite assets—secrets and exotic treasures.

The Blackros family is well-connected, and have both agents and family members within The Explorer’s Society. Some even hold high-ranking positions in chapter houses across the world.

The Blakros family has entrusted the museum’s maintenance and exhibitions to a revolving door of curators, the latest of which is Nigel Aldain, a former Explorer who now scorns the Society. Nigel married a daughter of Blakros — a beautiful half-Drusian girl named Dhrami — and was offered his position as part of the union. Nigel takes pride in his work and relishes every opportunity to slight the Society by snatching up great finds before Explorers can track them down (his extensive network of dispersed in-laws tip him off concerning many new discoveries all over the world).
The museum proper is large and well furnished, built with gothic architecture (reflecting its original purpose) rising out of the night like a great, looming shadow. Within are three exhibit halls showcasing the Blakros family’s impressive collection of relics and oddities. The current exhibits constantly change, a great many of their pieces wallowing in storage for years before gracing the halls again.


Blakros Museum

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