Castle Sturmvoraus

Castle Stormvoraus is the residence and family seat of the Princely House of Stormvoraus.

The castle is situated in the town of Sturmhalten, which commands Balan’s Gap, a mountain pass of strategic importance, especially following the destruction of the Passholdt bridge.

When Agatha and Master Payne’s Circus of Adventure arrive in Sturmhalten, Prince Aaronev Wilhelm Stormvoraus IV is ruler. He is an arrogant, tyrannical and powerful spark who had previously confiscated the Muse Tinka from Master Payne’s Circus. He is also a fan of Heterodyne shows, and ordered a command performance of “The Socket Wench of Prague,” one of the more bawdy stories.

The town boasts a small but well-appointed theatre. The ‘royal box’ is fitted with a machine gun that the Prince has used to “liven up” dull performances, as well as a sonic analyzer console that indicates Agatha’s voice is a close match for that of Lucrezia Mongfish.

The castle is a powerful fortress, and warded by a “lightning moat,” a rare but highly effective defensive feature. Inside, Castle Stormvoraus is an elegant and luxurious dwelling decorated in a High Victorian style. The prince lives there with his son, Tarvek, also a spark, and daughter, Anevka. Anevka, critically injured by one of Aaronev’s experiments, exists in the body of a clank built by Tarvek based upon Tinka’s design. Anevka is attended at most times by four footmen, who carry around her external life support system.

Castle Sturmvoraus includes well equipped workshop/laboratories for Aaronev as well as separate facilities in the South Tower used by Tarvek.

The Castle houses a secret chapel to The Other, used by Aaronev and the Geisterdamen, which holds the Summoning Engine used to try to download The Other’s consciousness into ‘suitable’ female specimens, heretofore with unsuccessful results.

Castle Sturmvoraus also has dungeons, which in turn are linked to extensive sewers, underground passages, oubliettes, and deep lying enormous caverns. The party attempting to rescue Agatha, including Lars, Krosp, Zeetha, Oggie, Dimo, and Maxim, enters the precincts of the Castle through the sewers. They encounter numerous monsters presumed to be leftover Stormvoraus experiments, including one that costs Dimo his left arm. In one of the oubliettes they find and liberate a storyteller (the comic image of Phil Foglio) who Oggie recognizes as a great-great grandson. The party also encounters an army of Geisterdamen moving through the underground highway, transporting slaver wasp engines.