ProjectLightningBugRalZarekNiv-MizzetIzzet
It would seem that there was some noise in our communication channels and a good deal of confusion. Project Firefly is a failed experiment for a firethrowing thopter, the brainchild of a goblin artificer with a penchant for inventions that could cause vexatious mayhem. (He wanted to construct an army of these thopters and let them loose in the Tenth district, and continued with an experiment even after the patent was denied. Well, he did achieve in creating fiery mayhem, however he was burnt to a crisp by his failed machination.)
What we were truly interested in is Project Lightning Bug, a project spearheaded by Ral Zarek, Niv Mizzet’s advisor, himself. This project was started last year, after Jace Beleren solved the Implicit Maze and became the Living guildpact. Needless to say the dragon guildmaster was curious about the Living Guildpact who had foiled his plans of ascension, and seemingly arrived out of thin air. From what we can tell by following the paper trail of projects and research papers Niv-Mizzet must have observed that Jace was a planeswalker by the fact that he would disappear for extended periods of time. Maree, Chamberlain to the Firemind, suggested the idea of tracking Jace’s movements more closely. Ral Zarek was then appointed Head Researcher of the project and tasked with recording and explaining Jace’s many sudden disappearances.
For this, Ral designed a subtle enchantment that would deliver a small energetic pulse whenever it experienced an electrostatic discontinuity, such as a planeswalk (Interestingly, Dovin’s device works on a similar principle, except it prevents electrostatic discontinuity entirely). He then conjured a dynamic amplification field above the Tenth, which would magnify the tracking enchantment’s small pulses into detectable cracks of lightning overhead. Ral tweaked his persistent storm to weaken its precision so that Project Lightning Bug wouldn’t immediately prove the existence of Planeswalkers to the guildless masses. Unfortunately, one side effect of the project was to swamp the city in rain, ranging from an interminable drizzle to mighty storms. The people of Ravnica accepted those storms, as unlikely as they were, as a freak of nature.
Unbeknownst to Ral, Chamberlain Maree worked with Izmagnus Mizzix and recalibrated the detector spell to improve its range, showing there were far more irregularities than expected. Maree’s improvements threatened to reveal the existence of planeswalkers. Ral and Jace then contrived evidence that the system was demonstrably unreliable which caused Niv-Mizzet to lose interest.
Despite the loss of funding, Project Lightning Bug continued to show when a planeswalker entered or left Ravnica. As a result, Ral learned that a group of four planeswalkers had come to dwell on Ravnica. Lately, several unexplained spatial rifts have been appearing all over Ravnica, seemingly triggered by electrical magic. They imbue their surroundings with immunity to that same electrical magic. A large one gave birth to an electrical elemental. These might be a side effect from Project Lightning Bug
With the appearance of the unseen threat, the elder dragon Nicol Bolas, Niv-Mizzet’s interest in the project reignited and he ordered Ral to turn Project Lightning Bug into a beacon to call other planeswalkers to help fight back against Bolas. The Beacon is located in a bell tower of the Azorius Senate. The placement of the Planar Beacon had been dictated by the complex metaphysical geography of Ravnica, the same currents of energy that had powered the Implicit Maze. There had only been a few suitable places, according to the plans Niv-Mizzet had provided, and only this one Azorius outpost and skyship dock had a ready-built tower of the requisite height. Isperia had consented to an Izzet crew moving in and taking over the top floors of the tower, constructing the great machine to the Firemind’s specifications.
Summoning a great number of entities as powerful as planeswalkers to Ravnica is not an act the Firemind is willing to commit carelessly. Should he summon them too early, or summon the wrong ones, they may prove to be a greater threat to Niv-Mizzet than Bolas himself. After all, he is quite egoistical and not keen on sharing his power with others. In that vein he is delaying it’s activation until he is absolutely certain it is necessary. I may be able to activate it for short periods of time, if you needed me to for some reason, but it won’t be easy. Each activation will last for only a few short minutes and will cost me 3 lores!
There is a lot more to this story, I can continue following it, but I need more time.