Londinium bureau

The Londinium bureau was a subterranean safehouse, archive, and bureau utilized by the Roman Hidden Ones from the 1st century until 423 CE, 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]

Roman era[edit | edit source]

The bureau was founded in the 1st century and served as the Hidden Ones' main base of operations in London, at the time called Londinium. It also functioned as the Hidden Ones' primary archive in England, having a dedicated library for preserving thousands of documents and assassination contracts carried out over the years.^[1]

It was in the Londinium bureau that the ill-fated assassination attempt on Emperor Hadrian was planned in 122 CE. Over two centuries later, around 383, the bureau served as one of the rendezvous points for the Hidden Ones from the Ebocarum and Venta Belgarum bureaus, which were closed by Magister Marcellus following the retreat of the Roman legions from the north.^[1]

Around 423, Magister Vitus formally closed the safehouse and encouraged any surviving Hidden Ones in England to make their way towards the local bureau in Cologne, Germania. The Londinium bureau's sizeable collection of archived documents was thus abandoned, as the risks of carting them halfway across Europe were too great.^[1]

Medieval period[edit | edit source]

In 873, Eivor Varinsdottir was tasked by the Hidden One Hytham with uncovering England's abandoned bureaus. While in Lunden hunting the Order of the Ancients' local members, Eivor discovered the ruined base and entered it via a natural, partially-submerged cave system. From inside the bureau, she recovered a page of The Magas Codex and the mask of a Hidden One.^[1]

Sometime later, Adelaïde was tasked with re-establishing the old bureau as a potential base for the Hidden Ones in Lunden. While overseeing the bureau, she met the Viking Niels Gunnarsson and the 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, 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]