Archivum Mortem: A Compendium of the House of Grantham
I. Lineage & Bloodlines
• House Name: The Grantham Family of Blackwick• Founding Era: 1650s, post-English Civil War era• Notable Ancestors:
• Sir Aldous Grantham – Anatomist during Napoleonic Wars, known for battlefield dissections.
• Benedict the Elder – Built the Blackwick estate and began the tradition of family mausoleums and relic preservation.• Succession: Male-dominated until Miriam Eliza Grantham, the first female born in 5 generations.• Bloodline Traits: Raven-dark hair, pale complexion, long fingers. Most Granthams have a medical or death-adjacent profession.
"Since the days of Aldous Grantham, battlefield anatomist of the Napoleonic Wars, our bloodline has remained unmarred by dilution. Each generation, though plagued by misfortune and early death, bore sons who carried the legacy—until Miriam Eliza. Born after five generations of men, her presence was not celebrated, but catalogued. A deviation in the pattern, not a disruption."
Signed and sealed by Thaddeus Aldwyn Grantham, 1880.
II. Beliefs, Traditions & Education
• Core Philosophy: "Mors Vincit Omnia"
Death is not the end, but transformation. They romanticize death as sacred, inevitable, and honorable.• Education of the Heirs:
• Funeral rites, anatomy, etiquette of grief, Latin prayers for the dead.
• Corpses shows early in the Granthams young generations, not to shock but to understand finality.• Seasonal Traditions:
• Autumn Pilgrimage: Each autumn, family members return to Blackwick to honor the dead.
• Namekeeping Ritual: Children are taught to say aloud the names of ancestors each equinox, so the dead "remain remembered".• Heirloom Practices:
• Skulls, lockets of hair, pressed flowers from funeral bouquets are kept and labeled.
• Each heir receives a death book to record "final thoughts" yearly, even if still alive.
"Death is not a punishment, but a purification. It is not feared, but understood. It is the final civility—when flesh makes room for memory. We preserve our dead as we do our name. With polish. With silence. With reverence."
Lecture notes from Miriam’s childhood education, archived by Benedict A. Grantham.
