The Jagged Diadem
The oldest crown
Roughly once a month someone will show up and claim they've found another Jagged Diadem. I'm not sure which is more sad: those who think they can fool me with a bit of mangled scrap or those who genuinely think they've found something.At first glance, the Jagged Diadem does not look like much. A twisted bit of blackened warped metal, in the vague shape of a crown. The only thing that sets it apart from the remnants of a broken bit of machinery are the cracked gemstones that line it. However, this ancient relic is one of the most intruiging and well-known mysteries of the Blue.
Discovery
Shortly after building the first houses on Olympus, a sailor by the name of Nicodus Comitius, wandering in the woods, stumbles upon an overgrown stone circle. The stones are blackened, and each is inscribed with words he cannot read. On a plinth in the center sits the crown. Nicodus had more pressing concerns at the time, so he took the strange jewlery back to his house, stowed it in a chest, and forgot about it for over twenty years. When his daugter, Sittia, found it, Nicodus told her the story of how he found it. Sittia told her children, who told their children, and so on. Due to this generational retelling, the story is likely inaccurate, and could be disregarded were it not for corroborating evidence. Other colonists discovered the glade where the Diadem was found, and though it was not preserved, records remain of the inscriptions. To date, no one has deciphered them.In a clearing stood a dozen of what I can only describe as gravestones. I cannot read the inscription, which tells me that these are unlikely to be placed by a previous, failed, settlement. By the look of the erosion, they could be as old as Ilysium.
Construction
Though initially thought to be made of steel, the exact materials used in the Jagged Diadem have eluded identification. Pieces of the Diadem, handed over to the Imperial Archives for study by a previous owner, showed far higher resilince to most everything thrown at it. It refused to be melted down, shatter, or dissolve in acid. The acid only suceeded in removing a coating of soot that had fused with the metal, revealing a pattern not dissimilar from wood grain. Attempts have been made several times to recreate materials that are similar, and attempts will continue as technology improves, but no one has even come close. The gemstones, though cracked and also fused to the metal, seem much more normal, without any abberant qualities.Appearance
The Jagged Diadem is a rough, twisted circlet of metal. Originally, it was blackened, but the layer of soot has been dissolved off, revealing a layered pattern in the metal. The pattern appears to be like wood grain, but with shimmering swirls that sometimes appear to move through the metal. Six gemstones are set into the broken crown, all at least the size of a thumbnail and all cracked.Value
Ever since it was first introduced to the wider academic community, the Diadem has been highly valued. When it was first auctioned off, it sold for nearly 16 million Aeris in today's currency. Most recently, it was sold to an anonymous collector for nearly 40 million Aeris.
by Griclav
I like the fact that the story has been retold through the family :)