The Shadowed Scroll of Aethelred House

Aethelred House, a massive Victorian mansion completed in 1890, was the home of the reclusive but powerful financier, Sir Elias Thorne. The house served as the private, regional clearing office for Thorne’s entire banking operation until 1899, when Thorne’s bank collapsed following a massive, undisclosed internal theft. The house was seized and immediately sealed. The financial core of the mystery centers on the Bank custodian, Mr. Julian Vane, who managed all of Thorne’s private and corporate security and financial documentation. His professional records—the Promissory Notes, Ledger Entries, and Transaction Vouchers—should have provided a definitive trail for the stolen assets. Instead, the surviving archive is a study in contradiction, with large, systematic blocks of documentation entirely Missing and the few remaining records pointing to an Unverified theft event that was purposefully Shadowed from the official account.

The Unverified Ledger Entries

The Bank custodian was required to maintain meticulous Ledger Entries and keep sequential Transaction Vouchers to track assets and deposits. The fact that the Promissory Notes—which would identify the individuals indebted to the bank and the amounts—are entirely Missing is a profound historical Shadowed gap. Furthermore, the complete Missing status of the Transaction Vouchers—which would have certified the deposits and withdrawals leading up to the collapse—proves that the financial transactions were also entirely suppressed. The only surviving documents are the few ambiguous Ledger Entries with their “Unverified” blanks and the scattering of torn Promissory Note fragments, which suggest the Bank custodian abandoned his work mid-process. The systematic removal of the core documents proves that the entire record of the theft was deliberately Shadowed, ensuring the specific circumstances and financial liability remained Unverified from the official record.

The Shadowed Transaction Vouchers