"BABY MAGES" 
1: Cl'errik Jan		Spear/White  	sponsored by Milcah
2: llo-Arriz (werewolf) Scales/Silver	sponsored by Arriz
3: Arrani Moses		Scales/White	sponsored by Tuvan
4: Holly Bluemist	Clanlands	unsponsored

HOUSE OF SHIELD:
  Silver: Maskilla Ishmael
  White: Naptuhim Nahor
  Red:  Kalerege

HOUSE OF SPEAR:
  Silver: Milcah
  White: Gomer
  Red: Jeremiah

HOUSE OF SCALES:
  Silver: Mitrani Lyon
  White: Chalideans Tuvan
  Red: Arriz

So Jeremiah and Gomer were engaged in some kind of research to develop
a powerful new magical weapon, which they were doing without informing
Segwina, since they weren't certain where she stood on the whole
issue.  The idea was an artifact which would absorb all mana in a
region, causing it to become magically "dead."  In such an area, all
spells would immediately be cancelled, no magic would function, etc.
Mythril would be drained, non-World deva would have their Psyche halved, 
World physical deva (like humans) would be unaffected, World magic-deva
(like enpici) would be knocked to 3/4 current.

They had managed to create a prototype, but its range was extremely
limited (about 10 feet), and they were toying with ways to perfect it.
Meanwhile, though, Ishmael and Milcah were working on their own, on
quite a different project -- in fact the reverse, an artifact/ritual
which would enhance the flow of mana into the World.  They were
running into the same problem with the inverse-square law, though, and
since the mana influx would dissipitate out into the ethers unless it
could blanket the World, so they needed to fix that or it would be
completely useless.

Well, things got weird.  Gomer was working night and day on the
mana-bomb, wanting to have it finished before the summit meeting, and
Milcah and Ishmael were pulling all nighters on their project for the
same reasons, and all this work eventually got noticed by Iris, who is
prophetic, and since the Left Hand was trying to figure out what the
Conclave was doing, they were attempting to summon a spirit of magic
to the World, where they could question it.

Of course, this meant that the three projects overlapped.  One was trying 
increase the flow of mana to the World, one was trying to reverse the flow
of mana to the World, and one was trying to summon a creature from the Plane
of Magic, where mana comes from in the first place.  End result?  One of 
the "valves" shatters from the stress, causing a huge influx of mana and 
Magic deva where everybody was working.

The effects were devestating--for the Hand, a huge explosion,
obviously magical, that everyone in the Castle knows about.  It left a
number of people insane or dead from overload of mana (and may have
granted psychic talents to some).  The Princess whatsername, who was
working the valve, realized that she had to do something--so she
plugged it with her own body.  She arrived in the middle of that
conflagration, naked and hungry and more than a little confused.  Of
course, the Clasp thought this an attack (and even the Left Hand
doesn't quite know otherwise, since their ritual shouldn't have done
that and they don't know the Princess' true nature...perhaps a magical
attack disrupted everything?)

Meanwhile, the ritual Milcah and Ishmael were working on received some
of the overlap, as well--pretty fireworks, plus a mana influx from
heck.  It left Ishmael with a case of kleptomania, and they couldn't
finish the ritual because some key components had "vanished."  While
packing for the trip to the Castle, Ishmael noticed them --"Oh, Here
they are!!!  Gee, I hadn't even noticed them...how did they get
there?"  So Milcah is still looking for the rest of the components.
It left Milcah with something of a Messiah complex -- he was going to
fix everything, he and his Holy Order.

Finally, a rent to the Plane of Magic was torn in Gomer's lab,
draining the mana within and taking the bomb along with it.  
***It either landed in the Princess' lap, in Ishmael's lap, or in
Milcah's lap...or possibly elsewhere...***

Well, Gomer, sans bomb, needed to bring a copy of the plans.  But Jeremiah's
disappearance had gotten him a bit nervous, so he decided to conceal them.
He had always wanted to do a version of the "Darkhold painting," so he put the 
plans on a piece of canvas and did a painting on top of it.  However, because
of the enchanted nature of the Darkhold, he was unable to draw the page, so
he painted random rune-type figures on it.

Meanwhile, Jeremiah had finally figured out a way to enhance the range
of the bomb when he was nailed by the Sceptre, and the spell they used
to copy his knowledge wasn't accurate enough to map knowledge of
spells or suchlike.  Then Segwina died and "Jeremiah" got dragged to
the Castle.

Well, Nahor was keeping an eye on the House of the Spear, since he
wanted to protect everyone and make sure the war died down, and
sabotaging their war effort.  He knew Jeremiah was up to something,
and so intercepted some of Jeremiah's papers to take a look at them.
However, since they were only 1/2 of a theory, they made *no* sense
whatsoever, though he got the idea that this was a way to expand the
range of something.

Nahor also found out about the enchanted arms shipment, and is trying to 
do something about it.  He mentioned it to Dirk.  

Continued next plot.   see arms.smuggling

------------------------------------------------------------------
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.