Some years ago I had a great idea for a Scrooge McDuck story. Of course, because it's owned by Disney, there was absolutely no point in me pursuing the idea one bit, but I was compelled to at least put a few bits on paper. There are two sketches and an outline, and that's about as far as its worth going with "The Constantine Donative".

The Donative is an old bit of fake history the Church cooked up to prove its right to rule the entire Christian world. But no serious historian has ever believed that the Roman emperor Constantine, who ruled from 306 to 337 AD, left the empire to the Church in his will. But suppose he had? Suppose a gold coin surfaced in numismatic auctions that had an inscription and reverse design "proving" that Constantine had in fact intended the Church of Rome rule the world directly? Wouldn't this be a gigantic political upset? And who would this mean is the rightful heir of all Europe today? (Essentially a variation of that nonsense about the Holy Grail and Holy Blood, used in the Da Vinci Code a couple of years later.)

In my outline, the buyer of the coin is Scrooge. Although hostile to coin collectors in general, he nontheless spends a fortune acquiring this one, much to everyone's puzzlement. But he has a reason. He remembers seeing such coins before! They were found among the ruins of Castle McDuck, where he played as a boy. The connection must mean something.

It does. It seems McDuck himself may be the sole surviving heir to all Europe. But at the same time he organizes a trip to one of the most isolated parts of Scotland to search the castle, *another* coin surfaces! The owner claims he is the heir, but McDuck and his canny nephews suspect the new coin is a fake, and the claim bogus. Only one way to find out, and that's to discover the original hoard.

But instead of finding an ancient imperial mint, they discover... Well, but that would be giving away the story, wouldn't it.

See also:
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/718763/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/718782/