| The events of 41 years ago....
Mariasta, a Jewel Knight of the 3rd Order accidently killed a child in the line of duty, the monster they were fighting dodged at the last second and her attack hit and killed the child in her mother’s arms, the very one they’d been sent to rescue. Even though it wasn’t her fault, and she was exonerated, she fell into a deep depression and was almost suicidal when she met Sister Lilianna of the Order of Queens. (In reality, Havass-Laan, a Dark Nebulan Cultist...) At first the sister councelled her, then she let slip a revelation, that there was a way to undo that child’s death; the Seal of Light, which was kept deep within the core of Castle Lio. It was a mystical object of power which was capable of even restoring light, and it was said it had even been used to restore the original Jewel Knights after they had been killed in battle by Empress Maeve. After that, Mariasta petitioned to use the seal to save the child, but Empress Amelia refused, the seal could only be used in cases of emergency, it had a horrible cost. Mariasta petitioned that she was willing to pay that cost, but Amelia still refused, putting the Knight on indefinite leave. Mariasta left the service, shunning even her best friend Kam and was taken in by Sister Lilianna’s friends, more cultists, who continued to twist the poor knight’s soul. Eventually, Mariasta came to believe that the Empress was corrupt, how could they allow even a single child to die, for what? The greater good? What good is a state that can’t hold high the life of a single child? With this philosophy, she hatched a plan, and after returning to service, she began her work, convincing some of her fellow knights of her point of view. Slowly she managed to turn two of her teammates, and convince them that there was a higher cause to serve here, the spirit of the Empress had been lost, and it was time to restore it. They would steal the Seal of Light and use it to show the empress for what she really was, they would use the seal as it had been meant to be used, to save life! So, with the help of the ever helpful Sister, they concocted a plan, the Sister’s friends would evacuate the castle, in this case by dropping a starship on it. (Well, trying to, they knew the knights would stop it, or they would use the Seal of Light to stop it themselves once they got it.) While everyone was gone or distracted, they would break into the castle vault and steal the Seal. With them was the Sister, Helga of Topaz and Qwess of Diamond, Jocasta (Mariasta’s sister) and Misa (one of the cultists who was really an assassin.) That was the plan, the reality was a little different. Kam guessed something was up when three of her team disappeared during the alert, and since there was another knight team closer than Mariasta had expected, Kam left the starship to them and followed her instincts. Instincts that led her to Castle Lio and her teammates. The short version is that the rogues really did get the Seal, but were confronted by the other team. They fought, and in the ensuing fight Mariasta was killed, the other two rendered unconscious and Jocasta slipped away with the Seal which will be the dark secret of their family. The ship did drop on the castle, which is why the players are in a new one, and everyone thought the seal was lost with the castle, when in reality Jocasta helped to get it away in the confusion. |