With the help of the renowned Alchemist Geraldus Iphengisis, Dartmouth is severed from its moorings with the help of high explosives and set out to sea on sheep-towed barges. Without clear directions from the Ambassador, it drifts into the North Sea, temporarily causing a severe obstruction for shipping, until an individual calling himself the King of Sweden, riding upon a six-legged horse and wielding a holly branch, summarily annexes it for the Kingdom of the Aesir. It disappears, never to be seen again.

During a temporary lull in hostilities, the town of Durham (temporarily under the control of Catholic forces, and undergoing a tacit and largely non-violent resistance) is surprised by the arrival of several quiet, dark-clothed individuals with Eastern European accents, who step from a glowing Theurgic circle in the town square one evening and declare that they have come for the Cathedral. Catholic rebel leaders and town dignitaries alike are shocked and surprised as the individuals, who introduce themselves as members of Prague’s Rabbinical Council, show quite clear and above-board deeds for the sale of Durham Cathedral to one Meeash Han-Tiki Weatherwhite, and a subsequent power of attorney empowering them to act on Ambassador Weatherwhite’s behalf in this matter. The Bishop of Durham, in an effort to prevent the odd occurrence causing further hostilities which may endanger the citizens of the town, is forced to admit that the documents do indeed seem to have the seal of the Archbishop of Canterbury; Catholic forces are largely indifferent to the removal of a heretical Protestant cathedral from the town; and so it is that the Theurges, working night and day with occasional pauses for prayer and meditation, draw a series of highly complex sigils and circles about the cathedral. Three days after their arrival, the entire edifice vanishes, leaving clear flagstones and a faint smell of sandalwood, dust and incense in its wake. Prague is now the proud new owner of Durham Cathedral, renamed the Molyneux Cathedral in honour of the fine young man who masterminded this plan.

Extracts from the pamphlet issued to all visitors to the museum to help them understand the exhibits.

This museum was Founded in 1637, with the Hope of Increasing Understanding of our Zilmatillian brothers. All the Exhibits you see were donated by Ambassador Meeash Han-Tiki Weatherwhite, on her return to her native land. Scholars from Christ Church, Cambridge, provided the details on Zimlatillian customs.

This glass dome is filled with a cloud of green and yellow budgerigar feathers, kept in constant motion by an imp-powered fan. If you peek through the air-holes in the pillar you may catch a glimpse on him, though please do not feed or attempt to pet him as he bites.

Zilmatillians would throw feathers over warriors returning from battle to remind them of the softer nature of civilian life. Budgerigar feathers were particularly favoured for this, as the birds made good eating afterwards. The would be gathered up and kept in special boxes, for use when the warrior next returned. It was considered very bad luck for the box to become empty, hence the use of the term “featherless” for one expected to die soon.

The basis of a popular medicinal remedy, experiments have found that alchemists can extract a remedy most efficacious for the restoration of disturbed humours in the head from the dried Zilmatillian tree frog.

This creature, with a torso like that of a monkey and yet a fish's tail, is proof that even in the sea there is a natural order to things. These monkey-like creatures are formed when a mermaid turns her back on God, and begins to fade from beauty. Eventually her form becomes thus, and she is reduced to serving her sisters until such a time as she may find redemption.

Other exhibits include a bottle of mule liver wine, a book on Patagonian cheese, a nose stone, a coconut shell full of shiny pebbles, four yards of orange-dyed rope spun from yak wool, a model elephant made of tin and a giraffe's kneecap.

Following Ambassador Weatherwhite's sudden and mysterious disappearance from Court on the night of the Regicide, and her subsequent sudden and mysterious disappearance from Prague some months later, several cities gained Ambassadors from Zilmatillia - either honorarily endowed with Zilmatillian citizenship by travelling legates, or themselves originating from the remote island nation.

Currently boasting Embassies from Zilmatillia are Oxford, Cadiz, Prague, Port Paris, Saxony and several of the other German principalities, Porto and Bombay. Several of the Italian city-states are rumoured to be irate and envious concerning their lack of an ambassador, and it is hoped that one can be secured soon before the Papal States are driven to such extreme measures as commencing hostilities against the nation.

It is remarkably unclear to the lay person what precisely the chief exports and imports of Zilmatillia are, no trade delegation from Albion having yet landed on the island, but it is generally accepted by anyone with even the most basic economics of finance that there is a great deal of profit in the island nation.

“The Angel and the General” a short pamphlet at one time popular among the young and excitable men and women of all professions.

The Earl of Doncaster, a most vile and unsavoury sort was responsible for the corruption of a whole Village and more! It was not until Alexandros and General de Vries made it their mission to hunt the rotter down that his deeds were cut short.

Arriving at their only clue to Doncaster's devious deeds, they were soon picking up signs of the devilry in which the inhabitants engaged in. Their suspicions were finally confirmed when the miller's wife accidentally touched Alexandros and began to steam! Bursting into the tavern, our heroes discovered a terrible ritual in preparation and an innocent maiden ready for sacrifice.

The villagers were of course no match for those that defeated Satan himself and were soon interrogated and slain. Doncaster's treachery and heresy laid open, his sorcerous practices apparent, the General and Alexandros stormed his filthy stronghold and executed the terrible fiend.

Those who cast about vile rumours suggesting that Alexandros and General de Vries might have used any of the knowledge they gained from Doncaster's library of foul and blackened books - some bound in Human Skin!! - should be treated with the contempt that they deserve! It is inconceivable that two such stalwart and holy men of Albion could ever use such diabolic knowledge, even in the defence of the country against the Catholic plague!

Lady Karin Molyneux swiftly became Dame Karin Mayer once more after the ill-fated 'Court of Regicide' as her marriage to Richard Molyneux was anulled by the Archbishop of York himself, William Frewen. Though she was sworn about loudly by a rather embarrassed Thomas D’Ascoyne, these matters were by far the least of her problems.

As soon as the Court was over, the traitor Karin Mayer was escorted by a large number of armed guards led by Luca Braganza to the Tower of London, where she was imprisoned until 1609. Despite many attempts at questioning little useful information could be extracted from her, even under the strongest methods of persuasion. She was kept without food to prevent her having a chance to escape, but even this she bore stoically, even proudly, her immortality keeping her body alive but becoming more and more emaciated as time passed.

Towards the end of the first Civil War, Lord-General de Vries took time out from the war effort to examine Karin using his skill at Alchemy. Despite weeks of work he was unable completely understand the processes keeping her Spiritus Dei from departing; however, he discovered a method to reverse the process and make her mortal once more. She was hanged on the 21st August 1609, under the orders of Edward de Vries, who believed that she had been deceived into treachery by a possessing Demon.

From a document by noted historian Thomas Wainwright, hidden in the Rosicrucian archives.

Cristophe Gavet, a noted Dutch Catholic priest and secret Jesuit agent, was known to be responsible for much of the Karin Mayer affair. From his diary and various other documents (decoded many years later by the Order of the Rose Cross), we have discovered much about his life from he was the handler for Karin Mayer, her uncle Arjan Mayer, the Lord Chamberlain (who was replaced with an impostor shortly before the assassination of King Henry IX) and many other agents in England. He is known to have used the alias of Pieter Van Damme when working in our fair isle.

Karin was a spy in the Royal court for the Jesuits. She had been in the service of the Jesuits for 13 years before her discovery, since an incident that occurred when she was 13 in her native Dutch Republic. Her father, a wealthy Protestant lord who traded extensively with the Ottoman Empire, converted to Islam. He was taken away by the Jesuits for questioning, and his wife only daughter Karin were also extensively questioned.

Her father was never seen again, his assets give to his brother Lord Arjan Mayer, also a Jesuit. Her mother was questioned and her mind broken by the Jesuits, but the more malleable Karin lived through her intensive questioning. She was remoulded by Cristophe into a useful agent by a combination of brainwashing and torture, and put into the care of her Uncle. She publicly converted to Catholicism, something that was on the surface tolerated by her uncle but encouraged in private. He ensured that she was brought up in high society circles, ready to infiltrate the English court.

She was particularly involved with the Catholic uprising, assisting the Bishop of Arundel. The preparations took over a year, with gunpowder shipped in from Spain from Arundel's contacts and from the Netherlands by Arjan Mayer.

Cristophe Gavet himself was tracked down in Rome by agents of Lord-General Edward de Vries, and covertly brought back to England for interogation. The Queen, deftly avoiding several diplomatic incidents with both the Netherlands and the Vatican, had Cristophe executed in secret after finding out all that he knew. Both him and Karin Mayer turned out to be very resistant to almost all forms of persuasion, with the questioners resorting to Magical means to gain information from them, including the above.

Spain is largely busy with the war in England and Europe throughout this point. However, Santiago’s legacy lives on after his death, and Spanish settlements are established in Costa del Maldonado (modern-day California). Spanish coastal enclaves are set up along the northern stretches of this coast; the west coast of the Americas are a hotly contested area, and Catholic colonists, both Spanish and refugees from the war in England, have to deal with a restless native population, draconic threats from the sea, and Cathayan and English privateers as well as the usual depradations of disease and wildlife. However, Spain gains an important foothold on the West Coast of modern-day North America and continues to hold modern-day Florida, although regularly sustaining heavy losses there from English and Portuguese raids.

Meanwhile, English and French forces, repelled by the heavy Spanish support in the Americas, turn their attentions to climes more Southern. Lured by rumours of fertile land, rich gold veins and lucrative trade with the Aztec empire, English colonists establish several trading posts along the east coast of South and Central America, the most notable being New London, on the site of modern-day Rio de Janeiro.

Meanwhile, in Northern America, an unexpected wave of Scots colonisation establishes itself along the north-eastern coast of the modern-day USA (an area relatively unexploited by the Spanish, whose military attentions are turned largely to the West and to frequent manuevours in an attempt to control the North-East Passage). These Scots, reportedly from Clan Seillean, do not establish settlements in the expected manner, but instead integrate with the locals almost entirely, and within a generation have blended seamlessly with several local tribal nations. Occasional rumours of these nations displaying strange powers, control over weather, wildlife and even the dead are largely dismissed as travellers’ tales; though the occasional researcher or scryer from the Invisible College and the University does confirm reports that the Northern American tribes seem to display an equivalent, if qualititavely different, mastery of the Natural Philosophies to the Southern Aztec Imperial magicians.

Portugal, England's most ancient ally, is coming into its own. Though it has perhaps been less fortunate than the English and Spanish in land, it has managed to protect and develop its holdings in South America and its West and South-East coasts. It seems that the Portugese are poised to benefit and profit from these lands more than many had anticipated.

The New England Company and its investors, with powerful backing from both Lord Richard Molyneux and Lord Thomas Wriothesley as well as involvement of the Duke of Somerset and interest from the East India Company, prospered in American trade. The new colonies, won or created by England and other friendly Kingdoms, have always needed supplies and some way to realise the new trade opportunities and goods found in the New World. The NEC came to their aid and profited as a result.

Though its position did not become reasonably secure until the reign of King Matthew the venture was remarkable for its almost constant success in spite of the potential dangers. Though pirates, privateers and the Spanish would like nothing more than to get hold of NEC shipping they have become very wary of the Venerable Order which has struck a sort of partnership with the New Company. The protection yields profits and opportunity while the NEC is able to concentrate whole-heartedly on trade, both organisations are becoming to some degree dependant on each other.