2023-11-20 4:13:17 ¶ ●

# A LIST OF HISTORICAL FIGURE RPF I WANT IN TMAGP.

(This is post is also written from the point of wanting these figures and their stories in the Magnus Archives universe. Trying to keep in line with the historical contexts and figures in TMA, so most are British, except one because it’s crazy to me.)

# Jeremy Bentham

This whole post is inspired by how absolutely crazy it is that Jeremy Bentham is not in the original TMA series. YES, I get it was to allow Robert Smirke’s architecture be front and center to the TMA plot, but I still think it is criminal. He is briefly mentioned in MAG 41 because of reasons I will explain, but briefly mentioned is not enough.

Quick rundown of this dude for those unaware: Bentham was the English philosopher to come up with the idea of the panopticon prison, and Millbank prison was originally proposed and designed by him in 1799.

I feel like there are quite a few facts about Bentham that could make killer plot points in the TMA universe: one is obviously his creation of the panopticon as a way of “humane reform” for prisoners and subsequent criticisms. And….Also he had himself publicly dissected and his skeleton was put on display as an “auto-icon” TO THIS VERY DAY. It’s in the student center at University College London. It’s a wax figure now with his skeleton inside. It haunts me. Alice and Sam should visit him.

# Robert Knox

The Burke and Hare Murders took place in 1828 in Edinburgh, Scotland. Within the span of ten months, sixteen killings were committed, before William Hare agreed to give up details in exchange for prosecution immunity. His partner, Burke, was executed (His skeleton still remains at the Anatomical Museum at Edinburgh to this very day.)

What sets this case apart is Burke and Hare’s claim it was done for “scientific purposes.” All of the corpses were sold to anatomist Robert Knox, who used them for both dissection for his own study and at his anatomy lectures. While he claimed he had no idea that Burke and Hare were murders, reasonable doubt can be cast on that claim. This very-public case contributed to the Anatomy Act of 1832, which further regulated to study of human dissection to prevent events like this and “resurrectionists” digging up corpses.

In a TMA statement format, I would absolutely love a letter from Robert Knox, after his reputation has been trashed from being involved in this very public murder case, detailing his denial of ever knowing these cadavers were murdered. Of course, it’s obvious he’s lying, as there is some supernatural happenings surrounding his studies that just get worse the more he works with these two men. (Either Slaughter/Flesh for sure.)

# Sir John Franklin

Ok, so, TECHNICALLY Sir John Franklin & The Crews of the HMS Terror and Erebus are in TMA already. In MAG 98, that Algernon dude outbids Maxwell Rayner for an artifact from, you guessed it, the HMS Terror. I think this could be a wonderfully great tie in that could connect the TMAGP universe to the TMA universe if another artifact from it is found.

I just want more of it because the disappearance of the HMS Terror and Erebus are just TMA statements waiting to happen. The HMS Terror and Erebus were two Royal Navy ships, under the command of Sir John Franklin, who ventured into the Arctic in 1845, in order to find the Northwest Passage and gather magnetic data. They disappeared, and during rescue expeditions it was discovered both ships had been abandoned as the crews attempted to trek overland to Fort Resolution 970 km southwest.

There are so many different ways you could take this story in the contexts of the TMA universe: there is evidence cannibalism occured, so obviously Flesh there. The Dark could be invoked, as both a connection to MAG 98 and the fact that the Arctic’s sunless winters swallowed them. The Corruption could be used as well because there is evidence the canned rations were tainted with lead and botulism. Finally, the Vast because of the endless nothingness of the landscape they found themselves in. Admittedly, I am a big AMC’s The Terror fan, and I think TMA like that show, would be a great place to represent this story’s themes of the hubris of man and the British Empire.

# Florence Nightingale + Mary Seacole

Both Florence Nightingale and Mary Seacole were British nurses who were pioneers in sanitary medical conditions during the Crimean War. I think less background is needed with these two, but I’d like to see an anti-Corruption artifact come from one of them, like in MAG 45 the syringe that once belonged to John Snow (19th century medical pioneer who deduced that dirty water was linked to cholera). Lowkey would also love a statement set in Scutari Hospital during the Crimean War, Florence Nightingale or Mary Seacole fight the Corruption?? Please, for the love of god.

# John Lambe

Congrats…you made it to the start of the more obscure section. Get ready, because this is. A case.

“Doctor” Lambe was an astrologer and a quack physician (in his time period’s context, 1545-1628, that means a person who had no formal medical training, not necessarily a charlatan, although Lambe most definitely was.) He was the personal advisor to George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, who, I don’t know why he kept him around because this guy claimed he could read fortunes and find things in his crystal ball. Literally, everyone thought this guy was the Duke’s personal sorcerer, which was not great for the nation, because the Duke was close to King Charles I, which if you don’t remember from history class was the king who got executed and Oliver Cromwell ran England as a republic for a little bit. Regarding Lambe, a plaque even got put up in London referring to him, saying, “Who rules the kingdom? The King. Who rules the King? The Duke. Who rules the Duke? The Devil.”

So what I’m saying here is that this guy is a ye olde Web avatar, which could be discovered in some government files by Alice and Sam regarding the Civil War.

# Margaret Cavendish

Okay, I feel like in an alternate universe (*cough* TMAGP *cough*) she could have been the most formidable foe to Jonah Magnus. She was a 17th century (before Jonah’s time but with avatars it doesnt matter) philospher, poet, scientist, and fiction writer, and the first woman to attend a meeting of the Royal Society of London (an upper class academic society which we know Barnabas Bennett was involved with in MAG 92).

Academic contemporaries os her day called her mad for her unusual and bold manners and interests that bordered on “masculine.” Despite being bold af, the reason I think her and Magnus would square up is her work on natural philosophy. She claimed the use of artificial instruments that are used to study the world “delude” academics, specifically the experimental philosophers in the Royal Society. For example, when Robert Hooke created the diagram of the flea, she said using magnifiying glasses to enlarge the flea’s image have no practical purpose because it doesn’t help anyone afflicted by them.

Therefore, her philosophical writings are literally the antithesis of The Eye’s voyeuristic knowledge-seeking. I’m not entirely sure what entity she’d be an avatar of (though her book The Blazing World gives major Spiral vibes), I just want Jonah to have to square up with an enemy in the Royal Society and have a conniption over it.

# Gaspare Tagliacozzi

Last guy. He is not British, but I swear….As The Flesh’s certified number one fan, I just need this statement/story in the TMA universe.

Operating in Bologna in the 16th century, Tagliacozzi was one of the pioneers of plastic/reconstructive surgery. Due to the dueling culture amongst upper-class men who felt they needed to protect their honor if insulted, there were many rich men during his time who had lost their noses. This was seem as a great social stigma, the nose was seen as the most important part of the face, and more importantly, it showed you lost that duel. So these rich men had the time and money to hire Tagliacozzi…(He also did surgery on other groups as well, but all of his literature he wrote was tailored to this group.)

Tagliacozzi was inspired by natural botany for the idea of his reconstructive nose surgery; he studied how plants and trees grew over time and applied the same logic to human skin. What he would do was this: He would attach a mold in the shape of a nose to his patient’s face, he would attach this to a graft of skin on the arm, and over the course of three weeks, the living skin would grow over the nose mold.

I don’t think I have to explain this one. It’s my duty as the Flesh’s number one fan to give the people good material to work with. (Also could be Stranger.)