Flumsomnium

Kerguelen Island

Once called the Desolation Islands and remains to be one of my most productive outposts.

The Royal Charter

On the 23rd day of December in the year 1599, Queen Elizabeth granted permission for the formation of the Artifact Corporation and the rest, of course, is the future history.....................

ArtiFact Corporation

For eternity, humans have experienced things that, within their mental capacity, cannot be explained. Individuals, through a belligerent determination to appear superior and explain everything, ultimately invent reasoning that is not true but satisfies and ends the curiosity of the generally trusting populous.

The ArtiFact Corporation had existed, unofficially, for centuries. You may have heard references or read notation in manuscripts and such of Corpus Artificium, Société d'artefacts, 神器公司, आर्टिफैक्ट कॉर्पोरेशन amongst others but it was officially incorporated by Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth I, in a secret ceremony, and granted a perpetual licence to seek the truth no matter what religious, scientific, legal or other societal boundaries exist. The grant allowed for the ownership of all discoveries to remain the property of the ArtiFact Corporation on the proviso that if queen and country ever required the services of this newly created corporation, they would be made available.

The ArtiFact Corporation is funded by two other interested parties.

The Prospective Science Investments Group (PSIG). They were originally called Prospective Investments Group but changed their name, for obvious reasons, when acronyms became common place. On the surface, this is a simple investment business that go about investing and trading in future possibilities. PSIG are in turn owned jointly by multiple organisations that have interests in he advancement of science, the Black Unicorn Society (a shell corporation created by the Masters of Ancient Wisdom), the War Elephant (owned by the crown) and the Dragonflye Cloud (a private funding organisation) are the majority holders while the Prospective Things Corporation, owned by the senior operators of the Prospective Science Investments Group have a growing concern.

The Assembly of Doubt are an organisation based on being dubious about everything. Their doubt ranges from doubting the existence of themselves to doubting religious belief to doubting all written history to doubting the greatest scientific discoveries. Never did a truer society of doubters exist. The method of becoming a member of the Assembly of Doubt is to renounce everything that they know to probably be doubtful and to hand all of their wealth and possessions over to the funds administration  of the Assembly of Doubt. Their sole reason for participation in the ArtiFact Corporation is to have their doubts proved, disproved and challenged. They are very, very doubtful.

The ArtiFact Corporation has had a secret hand in many amazing scientific discoveries over the years. The submarine, the zipper, acronyms, the phonograph, the light bulb, the flushing toilet, the telephone, the ball point pen, the gatling gun, the paper clip, the camera and the internal combustion engine to name a few.

Perhaps the greatest discovery made under guidance of the ArtiFact Corporation is Flumsomnium. It changed the world forever!