Forum:The Storm King Conspiracy w/twist

The Storm KIng Conspiracy?

Basically, The Order simply sets out to establish a new Storm King. Lucrezia sees an opportunity to use the prophesy to her advantage.

The Storm King Conspiracy was a long term and fairly massive effort by the Mongfish family to gain control of Europa. They planned on doing this by invoking memories of Andronicus Valois, the Storm King, who had brough order and peace to Western Europa. His greatest accomplishment was stopping the feared Heterodynes at Balan's Gap. As part of the Treaty of Sturmhalten, Andronicus was to marry Euphrosynia Heterodyne, daughter of Clemethious, sister of Bludtharst. Apparently, Euphrosynia vanished before or shortly after the ceremony, which caused Andronicus to turn to Bludtharst for help.

Popular legend had it that Euphrosynia was stolen by an ally of the Heterodynes. In truth, she had run afoul of some unknown force or being while searching for secrets in Van Rijn's lab. Bludtharst used the opportunity to turn Andronicus against his own Shining Coalition. He was killed after heavy losses. Or was he? Van Rijn was charged with entombing him and he did so in the Corbettite Vaults under Paris using Prende's Lantern and leaving the muse herself to guard him.

With the death of Valois, Europa's Sparks began quarreling among themselves which resulted in the Long War. Individual Noble houses battled each other, laying waste to the lands between their castles and fortified towns.

Perhaps the Mongfish saw a chance to gather the houses to their leadership by reviving the Storm King. Joining with several house, they saw to it that the Valois line would produce a suitable male heir for the Lightning Throne. The memory of Andronicus Valois and his reign carried sufficient power to gain followers.

Then the Heterodyne Boys came on the scene. Europa began to flock to its new heroes. This is where Lucrezia enters the plot. When the Boys take down her father, she gets an idea. Revive the Andronicus - Euphrosynia story with its prophesy -"Peace will only be found when the Storm King and the Heterodyne Princess are wed." There is now a Good Heterodyne - a Hero - to add force to the Storm King's legacy. And Lucrezia conceives a way to be the Heterodyne Princess - a true Heterodyne with control of the Castle and the Jägerkin.

As Lucrezia works her wiles on Bill Heterodyne, the Sturmvoraus / von Blitzengaard / others produce suitable male heirs. Tarvek is the annointed one, with Martellus and maybe a few cousins as backup. (Timing is fuzzy as the Foglos deliberately make it fuzzy). Unfortunately for Lucrezia, the Heterodynes "so rarely produce girls" and Klaus Barry is born. Not necessarily a problem, just a delay. She begins preparing to manipulate the creation of a daughter. A specific daughter, one with her voice (mostly), one that she can inhabit via her summoning engine. The daughter will be set up to meet and marry Tarvek or one of the cousins if Tarvek fails to pan out. Lucrezia will actually be in charge, behind the throne, as her own daughter. For whatever reason (the Foglio's wanted it that way - they are the authors. They outrank you.), the last Heterodyne Princess was Euphrosynia, two centuries earlier. A female Heterodyne would catch peoples attention. It caught ("to have found you out of nowhere - it's too perfect.") when he realized he had the Heterodyne Princess in his arms. Add to that,  saying "The Order spent years creating a Storm King shaped hole in the world." In other words, the legend of Andronicus and Euphrosynia was spun up, enhanced, by the Order.

Lucrezia experiments with the transfer of conscious.She manages to transfer Otilia's mind into her construct, Von Pinn. Then she transfers Castle Heterodyne - a part as there seems to be no central "brain" to the Castle - into Otilia's shell. Was she planning to swap out her daughter's conscious and replace it with her own? What was the goal of her mind swap experiments?

Something goes horribly wrong. That something is known as the attack on Castle Heterodyne (Phil apparently said that it was more of an accident). Lucrezia disappeared (she may or may not have been pregnant at the time. It is fuzzy. In Vitro fertilization was probably involved.). The Other attacks Europa. Bill and Barry disappear three years later. Klaus returns and forges an empire from the ruins.

The Order and remaining Mongfish attempt to salvage the plot. They need to replace Lucrezia's planned daughter. They groom Zola as a fake Heterodyne as the original Princess is lost. She clearly states that is to be her Storm King so Tarvek was the Order's chosen. Over the 16 or so years after the disappearance of the Heterodyne Boys, the plotters began to split into factions and develop their own ideas and plans (as evidenced by Tarvek and Anevka plotting against their father). But Agatha announces her presence to the world at Sturmhalten and seriously injures Klaus while trashing a Wulfenbach Battalion with a circus. The Order, taken by surprise, has to quickly stage the Opera to remind the populace of the prophesy then rush Zola to Mechancicsburg and then try to capture it with both her and Tarvek (he's in the Great Hospital) inside. Gil becomes a major fly in the ointment. All hell breaks loose as the various factions make their own moves against the Empire. The Conspiracy begins to unwind as a free-for-all erupts in Europa.

Zola fails at Mechanicsburg. Agatha is eventually recognized as the Heterodyne. Her arrival disrupted the Storm King plot. The appearance of Andronicus Valois pretty much ends it with Martellus finishing off the undead king and taking his crown. Martellus is still trying to use the prophesy to his advantage (good luck with that). Fred1740 (talk) 02:46, June 25, 2018 (UTC)