Merres and Ella Cornwall

Merres and Ella Cornwall were a pair of self-styled "battling sorcerers"(though they had no magic) who lived in the early Second Age. Inspired by the romanticisim of the Golden Age, they were explorers and archaeologists who made to visit remote sites and recover lost treasures on the Greater Continent. Though reviled by mainstream academics, they were beloved by the public and remained popular figures in in historical fiction for centuries after their deaths.

Methods and Style

The Cornwalls regarded themselves first as wanderers and explorers, and described their journeys as an end unto themselves. While they were prolific writers and documentary film makers, they often boasted that these exploits were simply 'a means to an end', a way to finance their lifestyle. Later historians were divided on the validity of this statement, as the pair did live quite well. But, by the same token, the lion's share of their income was spent on high-tech equipment and financing their journeys, so it could go either way.

The Cornwalls mostly explored the area of the Nara River basin, the Summer Lowlands, and the great expanses on the north-eastern quadrant. Regions that were then sparsely or even completely underpopulated. While they made a few early expeditions on foot or by boat, they primarily used ruggedized vehicles or light aircraft. Perhaps most famous is their tendency to go out just the pair of them; mastering whatever skills were required to make long, dangerous treks alone. While definitely dangerous, it gave the pair a great deal of mystique.

Their most famous

Controversies

While the Cornwall's did indeed visit and map several remote sites, and brought back minor artifacts of considerable significance, the bulk of their most important 'finds' were in fact very obvious and poor-quality forgeries. It didn't help that most of the well-known artifacts they recovered were known by serious scholars as myth. The Horn of Agraya, one of their most publicized discoveries, was a well-known historical fraud and had been completely debunked over a century earlier. When questioned about their fact-checking, Merres replied that "Given as nothing of historical importance hinges on the validity of the artifact, not much time need to be expended on considering this matter further. We had a grand adventure, we sought to delight the senses and inflame the imagination, and that is all that need be said about that.".