Campaign Chunk Volume 10.10 – The Amber Room
The Amber Room was completed at Catherine Palace, roughly 30 km south of St. Petersburg, Russia, in the 1700’s. It is a world-famous chamber decorated in amber panels backed with gold leaf and mirrors. It covered more than 55 square metres (590 sq ft) and contained over 6 tonnes (13,000 lb) of amber and took approximately 10 years to construct. The room was commissioned by Frederick, the first King of Prussia, at the urging of his second wife, Sophie Charlotte and was helpful in forging a Russo-Prussian alliance against Sweden.
By itself, it would have remained a beautiful and amazing work of art. However, the Amber Room was looted during World War II by Army Group North of Nazi Germany and brought to Königsberg for reconstruction and display. Several eyewitnesses later claimed to have spotted the famous room being loaded on board the Wilhelm Gustloff, which left Gdynia on 30 January 1945, and was then promptly torpedoed and sunk by a Soviet submarine .
Over the years there have been many sightings of the room creates or parts of the amber room, such as stones, or “authentic amber scrappings” meant to have been taken from the room itself. One thing that has remained constant is that all the sightings that have been of the crates holding the parts of the Amber Room and never the room as a whole.
Hooks & Rumours
- A second so-called “Amber Room” has been discovered in a walled off and sealed chamber in another castle but this castle is in northern Austria. In all other respects, it is the same as the original room, even down to the markings and decoration. Some are saying this in fact the original amber room reconstructed and not a duplicate.
- Some are claiming that the destruction of the Gustloff was a fake and the crew of the ship was killed to keep the fact a secret.
- A few have claimed it had been destroyed in the raids of WWII, others reported seeing 40 wagons moving away from the castle under a cloak of secrecy after the city fell to the Red Army.
- In 1997, an Italian stone mosaic that was part of a set of four stones which had decorated the Amber Room was found in Germany, in the possession of the family of a soldier who claimed to have helped pack up the amber chamber.
- Someone has come forward with supposed proof from their great-grandfather estate that suggests the amber room was used to host several bloody occult rituals.
- Examination of the last proven site of the Amber Room has discovered that the amber used there gives off a harmless, yet almost unique radiation signature. This is believed to be the only thing that can authenticate any claims about the nature of the amber. A few scientists, however, are disputing this claim, yet others are suggesting that it got contaminated during WWII when the room was used to hold, or was near to radioactive material.
Inspired by – Amber Room
Volume 9 of the compiled and updated Campaign Chunks is available at DrivethruRPG.com