The series follows
U.S. Secret Service Agents Myka Bering (
Joanne Kelly) and Pete Lattimer (
Eddie McClintock) when they are assigned to the secretive Warehouse 13 for
supernatural artifacts. It is located in a
barren landscape in
South Dakota, and they initially regard the assignment as punishment. As they go about their assignments to retrieve missing artifacts and investigate reports of new ones, they come to understand the importance of what they are doing. After Alexander died, the warehouse was moved to
Egypt, establishing the practice of locating the warehouse in the most powerful empire of the day, under the reasoning that it will be best defended there. Egypt's
Ptolemaic rulers appointed a group of people, known as the Regents, to oversee the warehouse and act as its first "agents" and collectors of artifacts. Warehouse 2 lasted until the
Roman conquest of Egypt. Other warehouses throughout history include: Warehouse 3 in
Western Roman Empire (Italy), Warehouse 4 in
Hunnic Empire until the death of
Attila the Hun, Warehouse 5 in the
Byzantine Empire, Warehouse 6 in
Cambodia under the
Khmer Empire, Warehouse 7 in the
Mongol Empire under
Genghis Khan, Warehouse 8 in Germany during the
Holy Roman Empire (1260–1517), Warehouse 9 in the
Ottoman capital of
Constantinople until the death of
Suleiman the Magnificent, Warehouse 10 in
Mughal Empire (India), Warehouse 11 in the
Russian Empire under the
Romanov Dynasty (the 1812
Napoleonic War with Russia was an attempt to seize control of Warehouse 11), and Warehouse 12 in the United Kingdom from 1830 until 1914. It was during the time of Warehouse 11 that the Regents began to employ agents to gather and protect artifacts. This practice continued under Warehouse 12, with British agents traveling further and further searching for artifacts to add to the collection. The next move brought the warehouse to
South Dakota in the United States. Unlike previous warehouses, which were placed in the centers of their empires, Warehouse 13 was located in a remote area of South Dakota to hide it. The first Warehouse 13 was built in 1898, but the structure burned down because of an insufficient understanding of how to safely store artifacts. The move to the rebuilt and current Warehouse 13 occurred in 1914 at the onset of
World War I. The warehouse was designed by
Thomas Edison,
Nikola Tesla, and
M. C. Escher, while the warehouse's expansion joints were created by
Albert Einstein.
Artifacts and gadgets Originally, artifacts are items connected to some historical or mythological figure or event. Each artifact has been imbued with
something from its creator, user, or a major event in history. Some are well known:
Studio 54's
Disco ball;
Lewis Carroll's
looking glass, which contains an evil entity called "
Alice" that can possess other people's bodies (Myka in Season 1 episode "Duped"), leaving their minds trapped in the mirror; and
Edgar Allan Poe's pen and a volume of his writing, which can make whatever the user writes a reality. Some are not:
Lizzie Borden had a mirrored
compact that today compels users to kill their loved ones with an axe;
Marilyn Monroe owned a brush that now turns its user's hair platinum blonde, which Myka once used on herself while under the influence of
W. C. Fields' juggling balls that induce drunkenness and blackouts. Others may have humorous effects, such as
Ivan Pavlov's bell, which will call any dog to you but causes excessive drooling for 24 hours, and a magic kettle that grants wishes but produces a ferret if the wish is impossible. The artifacts react with electricity and can be neutralized by immersion in a mysterious purple goo or placed inside a neutralizing reflective bag, both produced by Global Dynamics, a research laboratory from
Warehouse 13s sister show,
Eureka. Artie has also mentioned that ingesting neutralizer will make you "see things". During episode 403 (season 4), Mrs. Frederic shows Claudia an artifact being created—a silver bracelet worn by an ordinary person who exhibits extraordinary courage. ==Cast and characters==