Five years.  The Clan-Realm war has dragged on for five long years;
stalemated for the last two.  The Realm expected to win easily over
the Clans: they had the Guard of the Realm to fight their battles and
the Wizard's Conclave to back them up, how could they lose against an
enemy that had no magic?  But somehow, the Clans achieved parity in
the mystic arms race, and the war turned long and bloody.  Factions of
both the Realm's Peers and the Clansman's Clasp wanted to open
negotiations for a peace treaty; factions on both sides declared this
a sign of weakness.  Even those who favored peace could find no
neutral spot where a summit could be held.  It seemed the war was
destined to last forever.

The Conclave, under pressure to produce, was faced with another
problem: it was time to hold the Time of Trials, the "graduation
ceremony" for apprentice mages, but the Trials could only be held in
an area free of uncontrolled magical influences, few and far between
with a war on. It seemed that this class of apprentices (and those
following them) would never gain their ties to the Orb of the Magi,
never gain the title of full Mage and the power that came with it.

And then the Great Wizard Kalere'ge opened the gates to his Castle. 

The very name conjures images of grandeur and power.  The only Cloud
Castle to remain airborne during the Darktime when magic stopped,
before Arriz and the Horsemen discovered the Orb of the Magi, Castle
Kalere'ge has been closed to all but the Wizard and his manservant for
longer than anyone can remember.  Kalere'ge was a Great Wizard, as far
removed from the politics of the Clansmen and Realm citizens as his
Castle was from the lands they lived in and the magics that abounded
there.  It was the perfect spot for the Committee On East-Realm
Cooperative Endeavors (COERCE) to hold the Peace Summit; the perfect
spot for the Conclave to sponsor the Time of Trials.  And more, it
holds the largest collection of pre-Darktime, even pre-Realm and
pre-Clan, antiques, artifacts, lore and memorabilia the world has ever
seen, suddenly open for viewing, maybe even purchase!!!

* The College of the Six Days Work is taking advantage of this
unequaled opportunity to study the relics of civilizations long gone,
and to catch up on five years' worth of interrupted research...

* The chance to peddle their goods and services to a whole new nation
of potential consumers has attracted the House of Guilds, independent
merchants, and the Realm's premiere "personal service representatives"
(ahem), the House of the Veil.

* And, of course, the Baby Mages are eagerly awaiting their Trials,
where they get to prove -- and, not incidentally, show off -- their
skills to the world.

But with the promise of a new era of peace, prosperity and wonder
shining brightly, the threat of disaster still lingered with the moldy
scent of a mixed metaphor...

* The Wizard's Conclave has been thrown into an uproar by the murder
of Segwina, Representative of the House of the Spear, slated to take
over the post of Heirophant before the Time of Trials.

* The Guard of the Realm has discovered twelve other bodies,
unrevivifiable victims of the soul-destroying jivatmaya that are the
mark of the Circle of Bloodletters, the Realm's premiere assassins.

* The Justiciar, swearing to bring the perpetrators of these heinous
crimes to justice, has arrived on the Castle with a force of Realm
Guards.  The Clansmen's Iron Gauntlet has arrived in force, pledging
to protect the safety of their people.  What started as a peaceful
summit meeting has taken on ugly tensions...

 ...which escalated wildly two days ago, when magic on the Castle went
suddenly, inexplicably mad.  Communication spells started babbling in
unknown languages, teleport chambers stopped letting people off or
onto the Castle, a menagerie of wild and dangerous beasts escaped
their cages and ran free, and the ghosts and spirits of beings long
since dead began to walk the halls of Castle Kalere'ge.

 What the surface world looks like now, one can only guess--Kalere'ge has
not been seen in days.  Luckilly, the Castle itself shows no signs of
falling, but what may happen in the future only the Elder Gods themselves
may know.  

    Join us for two weeks of magic, mayhem, mystery and madness.
    Join us for Castles in the Sky...A Mad God's Dream.
    You won't regret it.  Trust us.

Brought to you by Drea Brandford, CJ Mallion and Dave Policar.
All files in the directory /mit/abstract/Archives/Old_castles, and all files
in any subdirectories thereof, and any materials in the "abstract" locker 
pertaining to the game "Castles in the Sky" as run for the MIT Assassin's
Guild in the Spring of 1989 are copyright to Andrea Brandford and David 
Policar and are not available for public use or viewing.