| "STOP!" Spoiler warning! The following information is based on events in The Secret Society of Seven Sorcerers and The Sorcerer's Secret (not yet released physically) and contain spoilers. |
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| Magical Bureau of Investigations (M.B.I.) |
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The Magical Bureau of Investigations, abbreviated as MBI, is a governmental agency of the United States Wizardry, which serves as federal criminal investigative organization and an internal intelligence agency, much like the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agency of the Folk,[1] and in fact has often worked alongside the FBI on cases which concerns both the wizardry and the Folk, although in secret. The Bureau is headed by a chief, the current chief being the wizard Salazar. The Bureau headquarters are secretly located inside the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C. Like the Department of Magical Criminal Investigations, the Bureau's existence is unknown to Folk. The MBI and DMCI works closely together, with the MBI handling federal magical crime and the DMCI handling most lesser magical crimes. Still, the chief of the DMCI has some authority within the Bureau, such as allowing the use of the Portal Chamber.[2]
The Bureau is secretly headquartered inside the Washington Monument, Washington D.C.[2]
History[]
Training[]
Departments[]
The Magical Bureau of Investigations is divided into multiple departments, including the Department of Illegal Use of Magic or Magical Items.
Headquarters[]
The Magical Bureau of Investigations, sometimes referred to as the Magical Bureau of Investigations Headquarters or the MBI Headquarters, is secretly located inside of the Washington Monument in Washington D.C., Virginia. By stepping through a small white door to the Monument carrying a warning for non-employees to stay out, the person will be appear in the grand hall of the MBI.
Grand hall[]
The grand hall of the MBI Headquarters have high ceilings decorated with fresco paintings depicting lavish scenes of the Salem Concord signing in Salem, Massachusetts. There are massive ornate circular archways branching out in different directions leading to other chambers, offices, and meeting rooms. There are cable-less floating elevators, stairwells and portals.
Tall white marble statues of past Secretaries of Magic stand on pedestals, their eyes gazing down. There is a statue of a chubby witch in a Victorian outfit that is animated through magic, able to show directions to anyone asking. There are colossal oil paintings hanging on the walls, depicting famous historical moments that involved Wizardry - including the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The walls and floors are made of smooth polished marble in soft, warm colors and attractive patterns that make the chamber feel magnificent.
The main attraction of the grand hall is the original document of the Salem Concord exhibited at the center of the room, roped-off with thick, lush, red velvet. It is housed within a large glass case on top of a thick golden podium. The podium is adorned with diamonds and emeralds, its base decorated with gold leaves and tiny fairies that rotate clockwise and sing soothing, soft songs. The large case containing the ancient scroll is outlined around the corners and edges in gold leaves and flowers. The Salem Concord, written on parchment, is stretched out tight inside the case upon a lavender velvet cloth.
There is an arched hallway that leads to various elevators.
Chief's office[]
The chief's office, currently belonging to Chief Salazar, is located at the very top of the Washington Monument. It is an achievement in modern magical architecture. The office can be accessed by an elevator cart, which brings the passenger to a hall. At one end there are two huge doors without a plaque to announce where one is heading, however the double doors lead into the chief's office. Inside the hall there is a mirror.
Chief Salazar's office looks picture-perfect, sparkling with cleanliness. On the walls of the room hangs all of Salazar's diplomas, awards, newspaper clippings and recorded scenes of him accepting recognition from top officials from the wizarding community. Chief Salazar had arranged the room this way to make sure that anyone coming in would understand that he is running the MBI single-handedly. There is a black wood desk with a thick glass tabletop, behind which is a large, expensive black leather chair. Behind the chair is a humongous glass wall overlooking the Mall stretching out below with the Lincoln Memorial on the other side. Another massive window points towards the White House, and a third one towards the Capitol Building. The only item on the desk is a large glossy photo of Chief Salazar's wife and three teenage children, around 15-17 years of age. The room also contains a black leather couch.[2]
Portal Chamber[]
The Portal Chamber is a vast room located deep inside the MBI building. It only has one small, plain and insignificant white door allowing access to the different transporting outlets. A small mirror is nailed to the wall next to the entrance, to which a password in the form of a spell must be recited verbally in order to allow access to the Portal Chamber. Each agent has a unique password. The mirror has a voice and can respond back, even complimenting the people using it. Before the mirror was put in place, the Portal Chamber used to have a gatekeeper, the last one being a rather wicked witch. Behind the entrance door is a corridor that leads to the chamber itself.
The corridor, or hall, behind the Portal Chamber's entrance door leads a tiny desk, manned by a gatekeeper the entrance to the actual Portal Chamber, located past the gatekeeper's desk. The current keeper of the portals is the witch Hazel. The person wishing to use the Portal Chamber must show the gatekeeper yellow pass with their destination written on it and bearing the signature of the DMCI chief, and will tell the wizard or witch which door to go to before stamping a gigantic "PASS" across the request form with a large rubber stamp and putting the paper inside a bin to their right designated DEPARTING.
The Portal Chamber itself is a vast empty room aligned with infinite arches, with each archway housing a portal. The chamber is damp and eerie, resembling a medieval dungeon deep underneath an ancient castle. Thick square marble stonewalls disappear upward into darkness. Each archway and tunnel is fortified by an iron gate bearing a number identifying the portal. The room is lit by blazing torches placed next to each archway and allowing one to see the numbers on the gates. The portals are not in nummerical order, instead being organized in location order, though not in alphabetical order. The gates are constantly changing location to prevent unapproved traveling through portals and consequential fatal accidents and are therefore not found in any particular order. The portals are however ordered in sections corresponding to north, east, south, west and central America, so that the portal to Salem, Massachusetts, for instance, is in the northeast section. However, like the gates themselves, the sections also constantly change location. The sections are color-cordinated to make some sense. The south is green for its warm climate, the west red for the red tones of the earth, the central portals yellow representing harvest, and the northeast section pale blue for icy cold. The gates can be locked and are magically protected from being tampered with by spells, such as the unlocking spell. If someone attempts to use an unlocking spell on a locked gate, a security alarm will sound off, warning of unauthorized portal intrusion.
Portal number 41 leads to Boston, Massachusetts (though it was moved from portal number 37). Portal number 13 leads to Salem, Massachusetts (though it was moved from portal number 51). There are at least 74 portals.[2]
Trivia[]
- The Magical Bureau of Investigations is also referred to as the Secret Service or the Bureau Secret Service.
- The MBI's full name is likely a reference to the Folk Federal Bureau of Investigation, with which the MBI sometimes cooperate on covert operations relating to both the magical and Folk world, however if the intention was to mimic its name closely, the pluralized form of "Investigation" is likely an error. Likewise the full name for the FBI is written wrongly with the plural form in The Sorcerer's Secret, the only book in the series in which the full name for the FBI appear.
References[]
- ↑ Areces, J.A.. The Secret Society of Seven Sorcerers. Areces Miami, Florida. October 31, 2017.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Areces, J.A.. The Sorcerer's Secret. Areces Miami, Florida. March 1, 2021.