Profile[edit | edit source]
Listed as one of the most dangerous artifacts of Warehouse 8, when activated this flower turns to ash and the ash cloud spreads across a huge distance, infecting those it comes in contact with with English Sweating sickness, killing them within 24 hours of infection. The sickness is extremely contagious and could easily start a global plague. Symptoms of English Sweating sickness are chills, rapid pulse, intense thirst, heart pain, and ultimately death.
The Orchid was so dangerous that the Warehouse agents who collected the artifact encased it in an impenetrable container for the world's protection. When the Regents decided to move the Warehouse to Turkey in 1517 the Orchid was left deep underground in the care of the Artie of Warehouse 8, Franz Steinbruck. Generations of Steinbruck have since been trained to protect the orchid at all cost. In 1939, when World War II started, the Steinbrucks were afraid the Nazis would discover the orchid, so they moved it to a new location. The orchid was inactive until 2012, when the Steinbrucks were tricked by a possessed Artie into revealing its location (an old water mill). Artie subsequently unleashed its power across the world
by shattering the container with Francesco Borgia's Dagger; the dagger seperates something good (the container) from something evil (the orchid).
However, the effects of the orchid were reversed through the use of the Count of Saint Germain's Ring. The ring can restore dead or dying plants to full health; as soon as the ring was used on the stem of the orchid, the sweating sickness left the bodies of the afflicted and reconstituted itself into the orchid.
Connection to History[edit | edit source]
According to the Warehouse database, the Orchid was used in 15th century by the Chinese Emperor as a warning to the Europeans, who tried to force China to trade with them. It released a disease called the English Sweating sickness, which was considered incurable and killed several thousand people by October 1485.
Trivia[edit | edit source]
- A catalog card for the orchid contains the first paragraph of Chapter 13 from Lytton Strachey's Spectatorial Essays.[1]
- It is unknown how the orchid was reconstituted after its use prior to Warehouse 13's use of the Count of Saint Germain's Ring.
- As these methods were seemingly unavailable by 2012, it is implied they used are no longer available or were hidden at some point after their use.
