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One of the Founding Circle of T.O.O.T.A.P. Head of Chemistry for the Order, and designer of the Standard Box Fez
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Secret society founded in 1915. Known for practise of the arts, and dismal taste in clothes. The fez of the society came t being after its founder, Archduke Swigberry-Smythe II spent several years living in Arab countries, where this item of headwear s commonly seen. The society was last numbered as having 67 different fez. Each one is typically marked with the insignia of office within the order, and the Parakeet of Montague in the centre. For example, the head treasurer's fez is marked with a platypus sitting on a bar of gold. The fez of the founder Archduke Swigberry-Smythe was marked with a snake, a bubble pipe and a crown. His formal fez was also encrusted with precious and semi-precious stones, including a large Morrocan sapphire. (This fez and seversal other items of the Order can be seen in The Hall of Antiquities in The Order Museum, located in the former home of Swigberry-Smythe.)
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The insignia for the Order of the same name. The origin of the parakeet is one of the fundamental story in the shaping of the Order. The founder, R.M.M. Swigberry-Smythe II, is known to be descended from several families (the name Swigberry is an interesting story, but beyond the scope of this text). The most influential to the shaping of the Order is undoubtedly the Montagues, particularly Giambattista Montague. He was an eccentric Italian merchant/explorer in the 18th century who enjoyed collecting all manner of things from the countires he traveled to (his entire collection is thought to have been large enough to fill over half of the British Museum!) He also had several hundred acres of land, on which he kept all manner of animals, mostly birds. His favourite of all was a parakeet named Zipporah. Zipporah (or Old Zippy as he is known to Order members) was an extremly intelligent bird, who could perfrom all manner of tricks, even doing simple maths! When Zippy died age 68, Montague commissioned a statue of Zippy to be carved in alabaster as a centrepiece for his formal garden. Swigberry-Smythe was so moved my this story, he decided to create a group where eccentric upper-class like himself could meet and share interests, in memory of his ancestor and his beloved bird. And so, on September the 19th, 1915, he and 50 others from around the world met at his mansion in the first gathering of The Order of The Alabaster Parakeet. The rest, as they say, is history.
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