Londinium bureau

The Londinium bureau was a subterranean safehouse, archive, and bureau utilized by the Roman Hidden Ones from the 1st century until 432 when it was abandoned. The Viking Eivor Varinsdottir later discovered it in 873 beneath the ruins of a Roman shrine in Lunden.

Location[edit | edit source]

Built beneath a Roman shrine just outside of the original city limits in London, the bureau was exceedingly well hidden. Originally, it could only be accessed via a fortified door, though Eivor was able to enter the bureau through a wall it shared with a natural cave system.^[1]

History[edit | edit source]

The bureau was founded in the 1st century and served as the Hidden Ones' primary base of operations in London, at the time called Londinium. It was in the Londinium Bureau that the ill-fated assassination attempt on the Roman Emperor Hadrian was planned. Around 432, Master Assassin Vitus formally closed the safehouse and encouraged any surviving Hidden Ones to make their way towards the local bureau in Cologne, Germania. Rather than cart thousands of archived documents half way across Europe, they were left in the bureau.^[1]

In 873, Eivor, tasked by the Hidden One Hytham with uncovering England's abandoned bureaus, discovered the ruined base and entered it via a natural, partially-submerged cave system. Inside, she recovered a piece of The Magas Codex.^[1]

Sometime later, Adelaïde was tasked with re-establishing the old bureau as a potential base for the Hidden Ones in Lunden. While tending to the bureau, she met the Viking Niels Gunnarsson and the young copyist monk Edward, who had been sent by Hytham in the belief they both had potential as future Hidden Ones. Adelaïde subsequently trained Niels and Edward in combat and stealth while they investigated the disappearance of Edward's brother Ecbert together, a quest which took them all the way to Scotland.^[2]

Following the events in the Loch Ness Temple, which culminated in Adelaïde's death and Niels and Edward abandoning their Hidden One training for personal reasons, the Lunden bureau seemingly became abandoned once more.^[2]