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The Eternal Champions, Pt. 2

Posted By: SiliconDream =PN= (mates.HIP.Berkeley.EDU)
Date: 3/25/2000 at 5:23 a.m.

Man, I'm sorry that I'm filling up the board with this stuff, but I can't stop thinking about it!

Okay, so I think I see the root of the differences in character between A and C, and it's chaos vs. order. Or anarchy vs. law. Or freedom vs. authority. All the same basic idea, though you use different words depending on which side you're on.

Doesn't this explain the disparate personality traits they have? A prefers a highly centralized, simplified government because he wants to minimize the effect of authority, but he has to remain in power to prevent others from taking control and oppressing their fellow man--he commands everyone directly so that they won't be commanding each other. (And isn't that all paradoxical and profound?) C prefers a multilevel government because that embodies the principle of order--everyone taking orders from their betters, and giving orders to their lessers. Everyone has a place, and knows exactly what their status is relative to those around them.

Why does A like to gather magical artifacts, while C likes to destroy or hide them? Because magic is the enemy of law. Its rules are not known, and perhaps there are no real rules. You never quite know what's going to happen with magic. A likes that; C doesn't.

The bit I mentioned about A preferring self-reliant soldiers, while C likes to give his soldiers precise, explicit, small-scope orders and have them obey them to the letter, fits perfectly. A wants his soldiers to be free; C wants them to be orderly. And what Dave pointed out about their fighting styles also fits. A takes risks, makes snap decisions, keeps his opponent off-guard and does the unexpected; C plots, devises schemes, figures out what his opponent will do and adapts accordingly. C wins by figuring out what the rules are and exploiting them; A wins by breaking the rules.

Now, I'm not saying A embodies freedom while C embodies order, any more than the Light embodies good while the Dark embodies evil. (The Light is obviously better than the Dark, on average, but it's just as obvious that neither is purely good or purely evil.) I'm also not saying that A's incarnations always act in a pro-chaos manner while C's act to promote order--their Light vs. Dark affiliation heavily influences this, since the Light seems strongly allied to order while the Dark is linked to chaos. What I *am* saying is that in a given situation, A acts more freely and unpredictably, and works harder to promote freedom and chaos, than C would in the same situation. So, for instance, Alric isn't obviously an anarchic, chaotic kind of guy because his Light affiliation tends to cancel out his chaotic impulses. But if he was a C-incarnation, he'd be even more order-oriented, as Connacht was.

We can see the influence of the two conflicts--Light and Dark, order and chaos--in the 4-Age cycle. Each Age is governed by a different combination of principles, one from each conflict, so that you have the 4 alignments so familiar from RPGs: chaotic good, orderly good, chaotic evil, orderly evil. These alignments are evident in the last four Ages, each colored by the champion who established it:

The Age of Reason--ushered in by the A-hero Tireces, this is therefore an Age of chaotic good. Now, you may not think of chaos as friendly to reason, but I'd argue that in a medievalish setting like Myth, what reason, science, magic and philosophy need most to develop is freedom--freedom to think outside prescribed limits, freedom to test established hypotheses. By helping thinkers look past the rules established by humans, the chaotic influence allowed them to detect the rules of the natural world. See how much speculation I can produce from a 3-word Age title? :-)

The Wind Age--ushered in by the A-Leveller Moagim, this is therefore an Age of chaotic evil. It's dominated by the Myrkridia, who are as close to pure chaos as you can get. They didn't have any grand plans for world domination--they just ran around randomly, killing anyone they happened to meet.

The Wolf Age--ushered in by the C-Hero Connacht, this is therefore an Age of orderly good. And indeed, what it's famous for is harboring the "greatest empire the world has ever known." An enormous chunk of the world, all under the same law. Prosperity, contentment, everyone knowing their place in the world. This is notably *not* an Age of Reason--who needs to think about unknowns when everything's laid out for you? Little wonder that Myrdred, the greatest thinker of the Age, developed a taste for manipulation; it's almost irrestible when you can see everyone around you closely and carefully following the rules.

The Sword Age--this *was* going to be ushered in by the C-Leveller Balor, and would therefore be an Age of orderly evil. It's pretty clear that this was what he was aiming for--Balor rules Fallen Lords rule Shades rule undead. A clockwork society, in which most of the members aren't even self-aware enough to step out of line. But A (he is the rule-breaker, after all) managed to beat the odds and win as Alric, so perhaps the Age will be one of chaotic good after all. It's too soon to be sure that Alric's emphasis is on freedom rather than empire, and on learning and consciousness expansion rather than mental streamlining, but I think this is likely. He has gained Myrdred as an ally, after all.

So, assuming you buy all this, there's an obvious question to consider. Why does the cycle run in the order it does? Why is a Light Age always followed by a Dark Age of the same order/chaos alignment, and why is a Dark Age always followed by a Light Age of the opposite order/chaos alignment? Tell me, tell me!

God, I love Bungie!

--SiliconDream

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