Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn Subject: ADMIN: Synopses Message-ID: <23u15iINN2bl@news.gac.edu> From: Thorr-kan, the White Minotaur, and Horde Father-Confessor Date: 6 Aug 1993 16:33:54 GMT This is a bi-weekly posting, courtesy of your local chapter of Net-Addicts Anonymous. Any contributions to the Synopses can be sent to the e-mail address below, using the following form (stolen with all due credit to Alan Smith ). -Thorr-kan, the White Minotaur ******************************************************************************* Peace through strength! Victory through annihilation! Matt Cutter, e-mail to mcutter@nic.gac.edu OR mcutter@vax2.gac.edu Gustavus couldn't afford my opinions if they wanted them! ******************************************************************************* --- [Thread Name] First Character (adress) Second Character (NPC) Third Character (Adress) Fourth character (General/thread NPC) Based out of: base location. Quest: single sentence describing task. Synopsis: A paragraph or so describing the thread. A note on NPCs: A plain NPC is a subordinate of the PC described just before. A "Thread" NPC is one useable by any member of the thread, a "General" NPC is one useable by anyone in APDI. --- [MG] The Mage Guild thread (previous incarnations and relations to: [R] Rameshandar thread, [MI] Moriarty Investigations, [Mage Guild], [Storm]) writers and characters: Kelly J. Cooper (kjc@cs.rutgers.edu) Jameson W. Walker Andrea Evans Kadrys Bernie Hsiung (bshsiung@eecs.umich.edu) Dariel (and most of the rest of the Mage Guild when necessary) Aaron Humphrey (temporarily aaronh@ersys.edmonton.ab.ca, currently no access) (You _really_ want me to list _all_ his characters?! Oh, man. Uh...) Alfvaen/Elstree/Lassiviren, Bronwen, Maleiu, Mistletoe, Ornigan, Teonyl (I've probably missed a few, but not all of them were directly involved.) The Dreamer (asg102@psuvm.psu.edu) Luthor Anside, Little Rat (and a host of others) Penny Hutchison (penny@agora.rain.com) ar'Elya hat en 23 (Silver Warrior) Steve Hutchison (hutch@hutch.it.intel.com) 'Raelf het ae 25 (Raf, Lex, Kev, Orim) Phyllis/Liralen Li (li@inigo.data-io.com) Kardia Xvaramene, Joy NPCs (mostly thread NPCs, Archmagi available on a lending basis): The Big Bad Guy: Mar (and R) of Third The Mage Guild: the Archmagi (Dasham, Delalle, Fauteuil, Leonaco, Nescie, Rivy, Thorn, Urcohea) others (Dieter, Coral, Gwaliostrok, Nijorik) miscellaneous: a good lot of the rest of Generica including but not restricted to Amaan, Delmara, Grumbli Blisterthum, Slim, Moriarty, Queriche, ... Based out of: all Nexus, but mostly Generica and environs of late Primary Quest: To find and undo the works of the Reaverschild Mar. Synopsis: There are a huge number of subplots in this thread. Not all of them are mentioned in the synopsis, and, of the ones which are, most aren't given anywhere near as much exposition as they deserve. (Hint: which characters are named above but not below?) This is a "big picture" summary. Some battles are petty and meaningless. Some battles are universal and perpetual. One of the latter is the War between the Keeper of the Beacon of Hope and His sworn enemy, the Reaver. These two struggle against each other in all existences, in every reality. The Keeper fights for the continuation of life. The Reaver fights for the ending of all things. Often, their battles are subtle and go unnoticed by the inhabitants of the Places in which they War. But sometimes, they become explicit and a few individuals working on either side may turn the tide... Dariel, a Servant of the Keeper, arrives in Nexus on a mission for his Master. Shortly after disposing of several rebellious Servants, he is found in the Rameshandar desert and trapped by the mage Amaan, who plans to tap Dariel's abilities to increase his personal power. Enroute to Generica by sea, Amaan's ship is attacked by pirates, and Dariel escapes. He imprisons Amaan in turn, and speaks with Death, who tells him that the way to Nexus is open to the forces of his Master's enemy. He resolves to seek out one who understands the nature of the Place where he is, in order to learn how to best apply himself, should he be needed. Meanwhile, there is much turmoil in the Generican Mage Guild. Supreme Archmage Delalle, the head of the Guild, has isolated himself from the daily running of the Guild to meditate -- for the past twenty years. During this time, the Guild has suffered a number of crises that have led some of the other Archmagi to believe Delalle has been irresponsible in his leadership. The main pressure to have Delalle replaced comes from Thorn, the ruthlessly ambitious Archmage of Politics. But Delalle is loyally supported by Urcohea, the Archmage of Internal Security, who has been authorized by him to act as Supreme Archmage in his absence. Urcohea hires Moriarty Investigations in an attempt to gather evidence about Thorn's underhanded dealings. At the same time, a tiny fragment of an once-powerful Reaverchild named Mar floats into Nexus and awakens. He arranges events to establish himself in the body of Nescie, the brilliant but relatively inexperienced Archmage of Education. He begins to draw power to himself, primarily by murdering forgotten gods, and uses it to construct new deities that favor his reality. This does not go entirely unnoticed, though Mar is very cunning in his application of energies. The signs of a disaster of unimaginable proportions is written in the stars, though the essence of the struggle obscures its precise nature. When Dariel reaches Generica, Delalle emerges from his seclusion to greet him, and it is revealed that Delalle's withdrawal from the world was in preparation for Dariel's arrival. Mar's activity in Nexus is correlated by an oracle that Dariel consults. Dariel's presence does not go unnoticed, either, and he is contacted by the 'Kan Travellers ar'Elya and 'Raelf. Several of Mar's new godlings are neutralized with their help. Yet Mar himself remains elusive, and Dariel cannot find him. Though Nescie is heartened by the unexpected appearance of his friend Jameson, Mar's usurpation of his body causes him to feel ever increasing amounts of stress, and he is unable to determine the true cause. Delalle loses his position as Supreme Archmage, although the vote is very close, and, in fact, the balance is tipped because of Mar's influence on Nescie. Shortly thereafter, Mar destroys Delalle, but fortunately Delalle has already passed on to Dariel all of the critical information that he has collated. Perhaps emboldened by his success, Mar then creates an avatar named "R" to ambush and eliminate 'Raelf, but miscalculates and fails to win a total victory. R is left with a tangible piece of Hope enmeshed in his form which Dariel can use to find him, and hence Mar. R flees to Mar, who has invested too much power into R to risk losing him, and he takes them to a place he had previously created, where they await Dariel's arrival. The stage is set for the final act... (Or, at least, the one that resolves the Primary Quest. There are quite a few subplots and consequences that aren't anywhere near resolution. Which means I'll have to write a significantly different synopsis next time to let you know what they are.) ******************************************************************************* [NTY] Palandun (arsmith@nyx.cs.du.edu) Ja'nis (NPC) Gunther Toodie, Dawg the Dragon, King Glorrin (Thread NPC) Based out of: Dragon's inn, Generica. Quest: A description of the adventures of Palandun the Bismanian during his stay on the continent. Synopsis: Palandun traveled to Generica to complete his graduate studies in biology, while there he befriended Ja'nis the warrior, who took a job under Gunther Toodie, a Gem-merchant. On a trip to visit the scource of Gunther's gems, Palandun was sold into slavery, He is currently escaping and finding a way to free the other captives. The thread has also encountered Jorma and Rackesh, other bismanians who are on the continent due to running away from an abusive family and being thrown in exile, respectively. ******************************************************************************* The Jolly Roger (taz@athena.mit.edu); Endo, Giarr, Kayell (NPC Sylvan Elves). Based out of: The Glade (cool name, eh?) Quest: The Ongoing Adventures of the Jolly Roger Currently: Gathering Info on the Suspected Threat to the Sylvan Kingdom ----- Background: Roger is a male physical adept from the Boston Sprawl on Earth, circa 2050 A.D. He is from the Shadowrun milieu, where high technology stands side by side with reemerging magic and monsters. After two aborted threads, Roger is now in this mini-thread. (Perhaps to become a full-blown thread in the near future.) Synopsis of [Roger] ----- "Well, ya see, it all started when I found myself in these foot hills out near the Great Forest. I was following this trail, wondering what to do, when I was attacked by this giant. "After takin' care o' that, I wandered a bit more. I got lost, so I climbed a hill ta do some recon. I spotted a grove of trees a ways off, and decided to go there. "Well, I climbed down and suddenly this arrow nearly skewers me. I ran off, and dodged a few more sniper attacks. I reached the grove after a near miss, and climbed a tree to set my own ambush. "After forever, these elves entered the scene. 'Cept they weren't regular elves, they were the green type. Ya know, sylvans. I got in a scrap with them, but there were three of them and they were fast, damn fast, and not too bad at fightin' neither. "Comes down to it, I saw I was gonna lose, so I surrendered. Well, they took me back to their place. Only, the place they took me was a city in the trees. Problem was that there was no way this could've fit in the glade, so I figure we passed through a gateway or into a pocket dimension. Somethin' like that. "I almost forgot to mention that the elves knew karate and bowed and stuff, and that the palace was just like back in Old Japan, and that they talked about somethin' called 'the Way.' Well, I learned my karate back home, and I'm good at it, so I guess they were curious. "Well, the elves take me to see their queen, and she invites me to stay and show them my stuff. So, I agreed. After all, the queen was pretty hot, even if her skin was green. "A month passed, and I got to be tight with one of the ambushers, name of Endo. One day, he tells me he has to go on a secret mission for the queen. Later, the queen asks me to go with them, to check out if the kingdom is being threatened by all these circumstantial little things that are going on. I agree, and then she adds that she wants me to look out for Endo, turns out they got something goin' on. "Well, we left a couple of days later, early in the morning, and headed for Generica to check it all out."