12th  Archer, 1830

Vitraillerie Dantouffe

Trois Ponts,

Gillonais, Cotarre

To the proprietor(s),

Crown and Swan Inn,

Maundy Ford,

Whitshire,  Eld

I write to you in the hope that you might be able to forward my inquiry to someone in your region.

A few months ago, I purchased this studio and its stock from the estate of the late Mademoiselle Dantouffe. La Vitraillerie Dantouffe has long been known in the trade for its design and repair of stained glass windows. Regrettably, the disputes among neighbouring Macadonique nations have ensured that damaged pieces continue to arrive at a steady rate.

As a result, I have been too busy until recently to investigate the furthest corners of our storerooms. But four weeks ago, while making an inventory of leftover pieces of heirloom glass, I came upon what seemed like a large frame, bundled up in blankets and tied with cord.

Once unwrapped, it revealed itself to be an entire window, intact, save for a small section in the middle. I was struck by the technical expertise inherent in its composition, and by its resemblance to the masterworks of your famed countryman, the artisan J. Edward Llewellyn.

The Temple of Ermes Tremagiste in our little marketplace has, just this year, begun to offer the convenience (and expense) of message transmission via spirit board. After taking the time to prepare a hasty sketch of my find, I sent word to colleagues at the Guild offices in the capital, and to the esteemed Dr. Menaud of the Academy Cotarrienne as well. They agree that the window may in fact be a genuine Llewellyn. However, they inform me that this particular piece is as yet unknown to the world of art. There are no records of it, no sketches, no mention in Llewellyn’s letters of a patron requesting such a composition.

It is my hope to restore the piece to completion, but I can only guess as to the nature of the missing piece. Part of its shape suggests decorative turrets or towers, and peaked roofs, and from these bases I conjecture that it represents some manor house or estate building.

The only clue is a receipt, caught seemingly by chance within the folds of the blankets, for two weeks’ stay at your inn. The receipt is dated for late Spring (9th Bull, to be precise), 1763.

If you know of anyone who might shed light on Llewellyn’s stay in your region, or who might be able to identify the building in question by its silhouette, I should be most grateful for any introduction you might be able to provide.

Martin Lejeune, M.Vi.

((If you’d like to see the inspiration for the window my character Martin has discovered, check out Louis Comfort Tiffany’s “Autumn Landscape” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art website. Imagine a big piece missing from the blue hills in the center.))

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Hi. I only just came across Protagonize in the last week or so, so I apologize if it’s considered bad form to begin with a preface outside the story itself.

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I’ve set this game in a parallel dimension, another Victorian-Europe-with-some-magic. Cotarre could be France; Eld could be all or part of Britain. In the West, time is tracked by astrological house instead of month, and daily life is organized around varying levels of belief in a messy pantheon of Greco-Roman deities.

updated Jul 8 by ThreeOClock