ACERBUS CONFIGURATION
"The Box of Divine Complexity"
Original box design & research by Steelgohst
Believed to require
over 600 precise moves to open, the Acerbus
Configuration is the most complex box ever to be created by
LeMarchand. Most of the separate plates have their own specific
movement, and the metal the plates are constructed from varies across
its surface. Many are silver but some are largely osmium, a
poisonous metal that can kill by absorption into the bloodstream
through the skin.
LeMarchand had used this metal once previously, on a box called "Enigme". Unlike Enigme, Acerbus can be opened without ever having to touch the poisoned plates, provided that the correct method is known by it's worker. Bearing in mind the complex process needed for this task, the worker would require the secret in advance in order for this to be possible.
The Acerbus Configuration has so far had 256 owners. This is known due to the fact that each owner has written part of the box's moves down as they have discovered them, and this manuscript filled with code has passed from owner to owner. It is thought that a mere 22 moves remain undiscovered.
The current owner of the manuscript is not, however, the current owner of the box. A British collector known as N.G. (who currently also has in his collection the original "Box of Grief") sold the Acerbus Configuration for an undisclosed sum to an Armenian scholar, but retained the manuscript to sell separately. He disappeared before doing so, taking with him the manuscript and its secrets, leaving only the first page behind in his haste.
LeMarchand had used this metal once previously, on a box called "Enigme". Unlike Enigme, Acerbus can be opened without ever having to touch the poisoned plates, provided that the correct method is known by it's worker. Bearing in mind the complex process needed for this task, the worker would require the secret in advance in order for this to be possible.
The Acerbus Configuration has so far had 256 owners. This is known due to the fact that each owner has written part of the box's moves down as they have discovered them, and this manuscript filled with code has passed from owner to owner. It is thought that a mere 22 moves remain undiscovered.
The current owner of the manuscript is not, however, the current owner of the box. A British collector known as N.G. (who currently also has in his collection the original "Box of Grief") sold the Acerbus Configuration for an undisclosed sum to an Armenian scholar, but retained the manuscript to sell separately. He disappeared before doing so, taking with him the manuscript and its secrets, leaving only the first page behind in his haste.
Why LeMarchand should choose to make the Acerbus Configuration so very difficult, even by his own standards, has been a topic of discussion over the years. Many theories abound as to the reason for creating such a construct. Some go as far as suspecting that he merely did not wish it to be opened until after his death, so that he could take a more active part in the resulting holocaust with the powers promised him by Leviathan.
Whatever the reason, The Acerbus Configuration remains one of LeMarchand's most ambiguous and impenetrable designs.
