Built by the deranged moorish Comte Juan LaCastaigne in the 13th century, Castaigne Castle rapidly gained a disturbing local reputation as a haunted ruin after the Comte's mysterious disappearance. It was hastily rebuilt during the Napoleonic wars by a French collaborator claiming to be the heir of Castaigne. Alessandro Castaigne filled the newly refurbished castle with strange and bizarre works of art collected from all over the world. His descendants kept up the family tradition and within several generations, the unusual family had amassed the world's largest collection of eccentric and grotesque artworks.
Seized by SS troops in Italy during World War Two, the Castle de Castaigne was originally designated an SS divisional headquarters until the arrival a scant week later by scholars from Himmler's personal staff. These Aryan archaeologists quickly deduced that the site was an ancient armanist temple and began delving into the castle's secrets. The Castaigne collection was quietly packed up and shipped to Berlin.
In November of 1944, the Art Looting Investigation Unit of the Office of Strategic Services interrogated a suspected Karotechia officer. They discovered that records concerning the collection were being held at an SS office in Stuttgart. The civilian-led American Commission for the Protection and Salvage of Artistic and Historic Monuments in War Areas (the "Roberts Commission") was never informed of this, and the matter became classified "Delta Green".
The recovery of the documents as part of Operation SUMMER BREEZE went smoothly, and the German records contained strong hints about the unusual nature of the collection. However, no trace of the stolen artworks could be found. War and Chaos had swallowed the nightmare menagerie, and the Castaigne collection was lost, concealed within the swirling mists of history.
Items in the collection
- CC-94606-M, "The Nightingale"
- CC-94636-MN, "Machine Ballerina"
- CC-74512-T, dice set
- CC-90017-M, the Umm Al-Hafriyat basin
- CC-00004, various documents
- CC-????1, "Clef D'Antarktos"
- CC-46587-T(a), -(b) and -D, exotic blades and note
- CC-101235-bb, Persian hookah bottle
- CC-95111-M, the "Birdcage" shadow-projecting machine
- CC-62592, "Prespos Coition" or "About Copulation"
- CC-????2, preserved hand in jar
- CC-????3-(a) and -(b), large bell and clockwork striker
- CC-23-7-343-W, "Aldebaran Rising" by Richard Upton Pickman
- CC-28382-C, "The Clockwork Opera"
- CC-27 Gs 512 Js 344/42, a portrait of Charles II of Spain
- CC-78624, charcoal drawing
- CC-156-43-256E, "The Mirror"
- CC-????4, "The Sclero Mosaic"
- CC-96769, -96770 and -96771, "The Nimrud Lenses"
- CC-343-2501, Karotechia Enigma machine
Credits
The framework history was invented by the Man in Black. Various DGML members contributed items and are credited on each respective page as of 2012-10.