Mythlands: THE HEIST

Character Profiles: The Heist Part One (66-70)

Professor Moriarty - the fictional criminal mastermind known as 'The Napoleon of Crime' first appeared in the Sherlock Holmes stories created by Arthur Conan Doyle. He was based on a real life criminal mastermind called Adam Worth, and the phrase Napoleon of Crime was lifted from a Scotland Yard Inspector who used it to describe Worth.

Professor James Moriarty first appeared in 'The Final Problem' first published in the Strand Magazine in December 1893. This was of course the famous confrontation between Holmes and Moriarty at Reichenbach Falls where both were believed to have fallen over the waterfall and perished. Although the first written appearance of Moriarty, it was chronologically his last as other stories or mentions of him were set before this encounter.

The fourth (and final) Sherlock Holmes novel 'The Valley of Fear' (published 1914) is set before The Final Problem and involves Moriarty as a significant part of the plot. Apart from this, Moriarty is mentioned in five other stories. There's 'The Adventure of the Empty House' (published 1903) which is the direct sequel to The Final Problem - this details how Holmes survived the falls, but Moriarty did not.

The four other mentions can be found in - 'The Adventure of the Norwood Builder' (1903), 'The Adventure of the Missing Three Quarter' (1904), 'The Adventure of the Illustrious Client' (1924) and 'His Last Bow' (September 1917) which is the last chronological appearance of Sherlock Holmes in the Conan Doyle canon (set just before WWI).

In the Mythlands, the original version of Moriarty (not to be confused with dopplers from films or later works) has been at large since it's inception, no doubt familiarizing himself with the many fantasy lands and their inhabitants, but keeping a low profile, to avoid his arch enemy 'The Great Detective', possibly using and manipulating Moriarty dopplers as proxies to avoid detection.

He has been recruited to join the Cabal of top agents working for Loki and the Glass Cat, and was instrumental in the planning of the kidnapping of Professor  Andrew Ketterley from his highly secure compound in the Narnian wilderness. Moriarty plays a small but instrumental part in the events of the Heist and was no doubt part of the planning team for Loki's endgame as well.

Ivory Pawn 8 - The game of chess is believed to have originated in Eastern India, the Gupta Empire, sometime between the 3rd and 6th centuries (though it may have been based on even earlier games) where it was known as Chaturanga - over the centuries the game evolved into what we now know as chess.

Since that time the chess pieces; Kings (2), Queens (2), Bishops (4), Knights (4), Castles (4) and Pawns (16) have been familiar icons in literature, with many character based tales arising from them. The pieces above are divided into two opposing forces which could be Black and White - other variations include Red, Gold, Silver and more.

In the Mythlands there is a small but significant chess set population - some in wooden carved form, others robotic, others in the form of men or anthropomorphic animals.

Some sets have chosen to live together in communities and others have gone their own ways; one such is Ivory Pawn 8 of the Chess-Set (one of many) who prefers to be known as IP8. IP8 is the owner and chief cook at The Twisted Iguana, an inn/diner that he built in the 1980's. The Iguana is 60 miles south of the last tree of The Magic Forrest, and 40 miles into the southern desert. It acts as the first stop off point before embarking on the rest of the journey to Myth Vegas and the final desert stop to rest up and gas up, before leaving the desert on the journey north from Myth Vegas towards the Domain.

IP8 knows many of the frequent travelers and is a genial host, who cooks a mighty fine steak to boot. The Iguana is a convenient almost midway point for meetings between characters from Vegas and characters from Domain City. Big Bruin and his partner Ariel meet with Bruin's son Little Bear, there, to exchange knowledge at one stage during The Heist.