Collection of Necessary Secrets

The Collection of Necessary Secrets was the place where the Vatican stored non-living items which they believed needed to be kept secret. It was located in Rome. The Collection was part of the Vatican's accumulation of items they deemed unwise for the general public to know about, along with the Library of St John the Beheaded for texts and the Crow Gallery for living things.

Marielle Duquesne was sent by the Shadow Directory to survey the Collection in 1799. She was shown some of the exhibits by the custodian at the time, Cardinal Catilin. A prior custodian, Cardinal Roche, was driven insane by the knowledge of the exhibit and committed suicide. When the Carnival Queen's return to the rational universe caused some of the exhibits to became animated and beg for confession, it made Catilin go mad as well. (PROSE: Christmas on a Rational Planet)

The Collection existed into the 27th century. Imogen Tantry was given access to the Collection. In 2621, the curator of the Collection was Brother Wilbraham. (PROSE: De Umbris Idearum)

Items in the Collection
Some of the things stored in the Collection during the 18th century were the Clockwork Fantastique, discovered in a ruined 11th century village; a set of Egyptian manuscripts found by Cardinal Scarlath, describing a world built by one-eyed supernatural horrors; a centuries-old parchment with a representation of Shango the Lightning God; the witch-skulls of Peking; the remains of a creature halfway between a man and a fish; the fossilised skeleton of a human alongside that of a dinosaur; other dinosaur skeletons, including that of a stegosaurus excavated in the American desert; and a Leonardo da Vinci portrait of John the Baptist with hidden messages. (PROSE: Christmas on a Rational Planet)

By the 27th century, the Collection also contained information on the Mal'akh and a record of human contact with the Remote. (PROSE: De Umbris Idearum)