Last night, after re-reading the history section of GURPS for kicks, I started thinking about how my old east-west, west-east wave theory fit into the new cycles we know of, as well as Silicon's excellent Alric/Connacht reincarnation theory.
At first glance, it would seem that it fits just fine; in the Second Era (Age of Reason), an even number, the hero came from the east. In the Fifth Era (Sword Age), an odd number, he came from the west. That's how my old theory prescribed it, right?
But looking deeper, things start to get screwy. I'm going to use "GA" and "BA" for "Good Alric" and "Bad Alric", as well as "GC" and "BC" for "Good Connacht" and "Bad Connacht". The left column is the west, the right column the east. The number on the far left is number of the era. Arrows indicate who beat who. The 5th era is shown as it SHOULD have been - that is, Balor should have defeated Alric and began a new reign of terror.
2 | ?? <- GA (Tireces defeats some Leveller)
3 | ?? ?? ?? (Moagim defeats some Hero, rest unknown)
4 | BA <- GC (Connacht defeats "Moagim reborn")
5 | GA <- BC (Balor defeats Alric)
Now, if we look for a pattern there, it firstly appears that the force coming from the East always wins. Secondly, it appears that the a spirit (Alric or Connacht) comes from a given direction two times in a row. So, with these patterns, fill in the form and get:
2 | BC <- GA (Tireces defeats some Leveller)
3 | GC <- BA (Moagim defeats some Great Hero)
4 | BA <- GC (Connacht defeats "Moagim reborn")
5 | GA <- BC (Balor defeats Alric)
So we have our pattern! Just for fun (and comprehensability) I'm gonna put it in a readable text format. For unnamed people, I put whether they are good or evil and what Era they're in (as in, Evil2, Good3, etc).
Second Era (Age of Reason).
Tireces (Great Hero, Alric) is born in the East.
Evil2 (Leveller, Connacht) is born in the West.
Tireces and Evil2 fight.
Evil2 dies.
Tireces disappears.
Third Era (Wind Age).
Moagim (Leveller, Alric) reappears in the East.
Good3 (Great Hero, Connacht) is born in the West.
Moagim and Good3 fight.
Good3 dies.
Moagim dies.
Fourth Era (Wolf Age)
Connacht (Great Hero, Connacht) is born in the East.
Evil4 (Leveller, Alric) is born in the West.
Connacht and Evil4 fight.
Evil4 dies.
Connacht disappears.
Fifth Era (Sword Age)
Balor (Leveller, Connacht) reappears in the East.
Alric (Great Hero, Alric) is born in the West.
Balor and Alric fight.
Alric dies.
Balor dies.
Or, to genericize (?) it:
GA born in east, BC born in west.
BC dies, GA disappears.
BA reappears in east, GC born in west.
GC dies, BA dies.
GC born in east, BA born in west.
BA dies, GC disappears.
BC reappears in east, GA born in west.
GA dies, BC dies.
