@part(gauntlet, root = "/mit/abstract/Characters/sheet.format")

@subsection(The Iron Gauntlet)

Centuries ago, Clan Clearstone discarded the dignity that came with
being a human being in exchange for the power associated with the
workings of magic, the energies of other worlds.  With that power they
set themselves above the humans among whom they were once numbered;
with that power they chose to conquer and terrorize the Clans.  And in
short order, they learned that no power of other worlds, of other
beasts, is sufficient to long defeat the massed strength and power of
true humans, of the children of Mishael.

In the wake of the Clearstone Uprising, chaos threatened to take the
Clans.  Unwilling to slaughter the creatures that Clan Clearstone had
become, the newly-formed Clansman's Clasp took a drastic step and
OutClanned the entirety of Clan Clearstone -- still, many of the
Clearstones refused to acknowledge the authority of the humans who had
defeated them, and continued to battle to the death.

It was in response to their threat that the Iron Gauntlet was formed.
The ultimate fighters, culled from the ranks of the Clan's soldiers,
the Gauntlet are trained in the ancient art of the Sworddancer, a way
of life and a style of combat that predates the earliest history of
the Clans, and learn to become one with their blades.  You are one of
that select few, sworn into the defense of the Clans and the human
beings.  

Perhaps the greatest threat to the Clan's existence in recent years
has been the Western "Citizens."  The Westerners, after first starting
a war through the treachery of one of their own, and then refusing to
leave well enough alone after the war was ended and the borders
between the human and Western lands sealed, have now arranged for a
"peace summit" on this Castle.  Amazingly, the Clansman's Clasp has
accepted the offer, despite the fact that the Castle you currently
stand on fairly @i(reeks) of magic!

Your motto has ever been "Never Forget."  Perhaps you fellow humans
have forgotten what occured when magic was allowed to infiltrate the
Clans.  Perhaps they have even forgotten that it is magic that the
Realm has used to attack your people for the last five years,
prevented only by the grace of Mishael, who has protected your lands
from the touch of magic.  Forgotten they must have, for they have
agreed to talk peace in a Castle supported by magic, maintained by
magic, entered and exited by magic.  They have agreed to talk trade
relations with a nation that sells magic and buys it, where every
commercial exchange and every military endeavor has traces of magic
within it.  They have even agreed to make legal the practice of
witchcraft by the Clan's Left Hand, a sisterhood of witches and
warlocks that has remained hidden since the Clearstone Uprising!  Have
they gone mad?

Mad or not, they are the Clasp.  And it is your duty to protect them
and enforce their will, despite your reservations about the courses of
action they choose.  At the least, they have legalized witchcraft only
under their own instructions and in the service of the Clans as a
whole -- on the other hand, the Left Hand has remained underground and
secretive, despite their purportedly legal activities.  It remains
your task as members of the Gauntlet to find this coven and expose
its members -- perhaps by that time, the Clasp will have come to its
senses and you shall be able to deal with them as they deserve.

Here, too, you are likely to find emisaries of the Right Hand, an
organization of thieves and cutthroats that has infested the Clans and
Castle Clearstone.  Not long before you arrived here, there was a rash
of thefts within the Clearstone Territories, and a number of valuable
items were stolen from the Clasp and their families and servants.
What they are planning, you do not know, but on a castle such as this
one they shall no doubt attempt to steal and retrieve mystical
artifacts here, as well as continue their activities against the
Clasp.  The Clasp wishes to see @i(them) found, and you shall find
them.

But the Gauntlet has not forgotten its original purpose.  The Gauntlet
will never forget.  You learned your greatest lesson three decades
ago, when your own leader, the ultimate Sworddancer Storm Bluemist,
was discovered to be a dealer in magic.  Not just any magic, either --
Storm had perverted the training of the Sworddancers and had forged a
weapon, a @i(jivatmaya), that drank the souls of its victims.  Worse
even than that, he was attempting to teach his perversions, his dark
magic, to those he had vowed to protect from it's touch.

Storm was declared OutClan, and the Gauntlet went on.  And now,
perhaps it is but coincidence, but you cannot help but think that the
Clan's being stranded on this Castle, due to the failure of the
"teleport platforms," is Mishael's punishment for having forgotten
your past and his lesson.  It was that Lord who granted to the humans
free will, the power to remain untouched by forces of other worlds,
and now His children have begun to throw off that gift.  Coincidence
or punishment, however, the failure of those platforms has left, of
the members of the Gauntlet scheduled to appear on the Castle, only
two: Hawk and Dirk Brightwind.  Luckilly, however, Stratus Bluemist
has made his way onto the Castle after escaping the clutches of the
Westerners; he has been a prisoner of war for over a month.  He, too,
is one of the Gauntlet.

You are outnumbered by the Western Guard of the Realm, which has
arrived in force to what should have been a peace conference.  Here,
too, has arrived the Wizard's Conclave, allowed to exist in the Realm
to flaunt Mishael's will.  You have been stranded here by the magic of
your enemies, away from the protection of the Shrine of Mishael.  Your
only defense is the armor you have brought, carved of the mythril of
Clearstone Mountain, which defends you from the forces of
magic...small protection indeed, when you are surrounded by it as you
are.  But still, you are the Gauntlet -- and the Iron Gauntlet never
gives up.