Rheticus' Compass is an artifact featured in "Claudia".
Origin[]
TBA
Effects[]
If used correctly by following Rheticus' secret and specific instructions, the compass is capable of allowing the user to teleport.[1]
If used incorrectly, such as not following all of the instructions, the attempted user will become trapped in a pocket dimension from which they cannot escape unless they use the compass correctly. Those with a unique connection to someone trapped in the pocket dimension will, over time, experience increasingly debilitating ailments that will weaken and injure them, which may ultimately kill them.[1]
History[]
By itself, the compass appears to be effectively harmless, serving merely as an extremely complex Renaissance-era tool. However, the compass itself also serves as the focal point of Rheticus' experiments in human teleportation. However, Rheticus's rules and equations were not all kept in the same place. As part of his love of the search for order in chaos, Rheticus had a love of puzzles, and so, hid parts of his equation. Agents Pete and Myka discovered parts of his rules inscribed in or on various possessions that belonged to Rheticus, including a hidden panel around the rim of a brass Armillary Sphere. When Joshua tried to recreate Rheticus' experiment he didn't know all the rules, so when he tried to duplicate it he got stuck between dimensions; somewhere between where he was and where he was trying to go.[1]
The compass itself is composed, at least in part, of an unusual mineral that is integral for the experiment, and had been replaced by Claudia during her attempts to recreate Joshua's experiment. As Artie explained though, an artifact cannot simply be replaced; there is always an unknown variable -- an 'X Factor' -- possessed by artifacts.[1]
Joshua was able to contact Artie and Claudia because they were both at the lab when Joshua performed his original experiment, and he was able to manifest himself using their energy. When Arthur Nielsen and Claudia Donovan reproduced the experiment, they joined Joshua in the immaterial interspace, and Artie found the compass, but couldn't decode the inscription showing how to open the hidden panel. Claudia suggested he use the word THOMAS, after a poem about Rheticus' lost love, someone named Thomas. The name opened the panel. Inside were instructions (in Latin) to explain how to turn the dial concealed underneath the panel. When they touched the compass together and turned the dial 90 degrees towards the axis, Artie, Claudia and Joshua were returned to the corporeal world.[1]
People Involved[]
Owners[]
- Georg Joachim Rheticus
- Joshua Donovan (half)
- Warehouse 13 (half)
Users[]
- Joshua Donovan (unsuccessful)
- Claudia Donovan (experiment recreator)
- Arthur Nielsen (experiment recreator, successful user)
Affected People[]
- Joshua Donovan (trapped in pocket dimension, then freed)
- Claudia Donovan (adversely affected by Joshua's entrapment, trapped in pocket dimension, then freed)
- Artie Nielsen (adversely affected by Joshua's entrapment, trapped in pocket dimension, then freed)
Real-World Connections[]
Georg Joachim Rheticus was an expert cartographer, mathematician, and teacher, and best known for his complex
16 February 1514 – 4 December 1574
trigonometric tables and being the sole pupil of Nicholas Copernicus. As such, he was the one who facilitated the printing of Copernicus' missive De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres) which provided a counterpoint to Ptolemy's geocentric
(Earth-Centered) model of the solar system.
Rheticus claimed to have owned a compass, but nobody ever saw it and it was assumed to be a myth.
Trivia[]
- TBA
Appearances[]
- "Claudia"
- "Secret Santa" (mentioned)