Golden Fleece

The Golden Fleece was made from a golden ram conceived by the goddess Hectate, disguised as the shade of Nephele, to save the children Phrixus and Helle. The same ram that was later sacrificed by the ancient Colchians. A huge serpant guarded the tree the hung the fleece on. The fleece was ageless and indestructible. It's mystical powers ensured victory to any empire that possessed it.

Eventually Jason, along with the Argonauts, stole the fleece from the tree, returned it to Greece, and their warlike Mycenaean civilization flourished. Through deceit and betrayal, the fleece eventually slipped away from the Greeks. Over the centuries, it passed to the Romans, the Byzantines, and finally into the hands of the Ottoman empire.

All was well until the sixteenth century, when something horrible occurred. It was Sultan Sulayman's successor, Selim II (a.k.a Selim the Sot), an indolent drunkard who had many concubines. One night he became enraged at the crying of his youngest child while in his harem. He proceeded to smother the child using the fleece of the ram. The golden fleece had been desecrated so it ceased to exert its magical influence. After that it was all downhill for the Ottoman empire. The useless fleece was forgotten, probably chucked into some dusty storeroom in Topkapi Palace.

Around 1921, some Ottoman antiquities from Topkapi Palace came to auction, an aspiring painter named Mahmed Sarper served as the official auction secretary, creating the transcript of the auction, including a ram's fleece. When the fleece didn't sell at the auction, he took it home and used the backside as a canvas for a portrait.

Eventually, he gave up on his career as an artist, and opened an antique shop, with the portrait hanging in his shop for sale. Eventually he became acquainted with Daan van Rooijen.

In April 1941, Sarper was visited in his shop by van Rooijen and two others, Indiana Jones and Omphale Kiapos. While Sarper tried to exchange friendly banter, van Rooijen came straight to the point and brought up Sarper's role as the auction secretary and the ram's fleece. Sarper immediately recalled the fleece and pointed out the portrait in his store. Jones took down the portrait as Sarper lamented that no one had ever wanted to buy it. Immediately, handfuls of money appeared and Sarper completed the sale, not knowing how valuable his 'canvas' was.

While celebrating van Rooijen revealed that he wanted the fleece for himself the whole time. After slipping drugs into Omphale and Indiana's drinks, in which they both passed out, he tried to run. Indiana later found him strangled to death by the Cult of Hectate with his own whip. The cult proceeded to take the fleece to the Valley of Hecate where it was stabbed with the Knife of Atreus, restoring its mystic powers. At the same time, Omphale gave birth to her child and the beast that Jason sent to its hell over a millenia ago was released. Indiana was able to stop the beast by offering the baby to Hectate herself who then took the beast with into the skies. Her last action before leaving was turing the fleece back into the ram it came from so long ago.