Casaubon’s Descent into the Plan

Casaubon traces how a skeptical researcher becomes entangled in the conspiratorial story he helped invent, then struggles to distinguish its consequences from its claims.

increasingBearing stren­gth in each eventdecreasing

A Skeptical Historian

The Student of Evidence Historical discipline Casaubon studies the Knights Templar through trial records, preferring documented history to occult speculation. His skepticism initially gives him a clear boundary between evidence and fantasy. An opening into uncertainty At Pilade's Bar, Jacopo Belbo invites him to assess a Templar manuscript. The encounter begins a long collaboration that will test his method.

Making the Plan

A Collaborative Invention A game of connections With Belbo and Diotallevi, Casaubon combines scraps from occult manuscripts into a fictional history of the Templars. Their improvisation treats coincidence as material for a joke. The joke gathers force The trio's confident pattern-making turns invention into a seemingly coherent Plan. Casaubon still believes he controls the game, though its claims now reach beyond the office.

Seeking Belbo in Paris

A Search in the Museum The warning After Belbo's apparent capture, Casaubon travels to Paris and hides overnight in the Conservatoire. The museum's machines and exhibits begin to look like evidence for the Plan. Uncertain testimony Belbo's files deepen Casaubon's fear even as he recognizes their instability. He watches the gathering at the Pendulum without knowing whether he is witnessing reality or fulfilling his own fiction.

In the early 1970s

After the launch of Project Hermes

On the eve of Saint John's Day