: You're assuming, of course, that the Cycle can't handle
: Alric's success. I dunno. I tend to think the Leveller
: initiates these things but doesn't particularly care
: how they work out as long as a lot of people die in
: the process.
Mmm...I still think the Cycle's damaged/broken/to' up (unless Forrest's inverted thing holds). Yeah, a lot of people died, but the age is certainly one of Light rather than Dark so far. We've never heard of another supposedly-Dark Age when people had a nice time in spite of it.
: I do think Alric's intention is to solidify an empire of
: his own. Since the Ibis Crown apparently gave him no
: real battlefield power and Balmung was, while
: impressive, not as big a whoop as a dispersal dream, I
: tend to think that his retaking Muirthemne was a
: political move rather than a tactical one. I think he
: saw an opportunity to make himself Emperor at a time
: when nobody cared about the normal rules of succession
: and he jumped at it--the timing of his coronation
: makes no sense unless you think he wanted to get on
: that throne while he was still popular enough to hold
: it.
Given that GURPS describes Balmung as the most powerful magic weapon in the Mythworld, and the Ibis Crown as the most powerful magical artifact, I think they must have been pretty useful. Balmung is reusable, after all, as dispersal dreams are not. And as for the Ibis Crown, from what GURPS says it may be responsible for boosting his willpower and resistance to mind-control magics so that he can wield Balmung without it seizing control of him; it may help him cast the fear spells that allowed him to terrify the Dark army around the time of Twice Born, crippling their combat skills with panic; it may have enhanced his magical skillz so that he could out-wizard Soulblighter at the end. Even if it didn't directly enhance his battle prowess, greater wisdom and intelligence is always a good thing to have when fighting a war.
It doesn't seem to me that Alric would have a problem declaring himself emperor at any time. The West loves him--
he saved them from utter destruction twice! And the common folk apparently "always praised him for the change in their lives," even after sixty years had dulled the memories of the Fallen Lords. The only real advantages I can see in immediate emperorship (other than getting Balmung and the Ibis Crown) are that he secures the loyalty of Myrdred, and gets the Jmen to become Heron Guards again. Which are certainly useful.
: Wouldn't this be a natural function of the way thinks
: work? If the Leveller of each age is simply the Great
: Hero of the previous one returned, then if the
: Leveller wins he's going to keep going in the same
: direction while if the Hero wins he's going to turn
: everything upside down. If you're asking for some kind
: of grand comological principle that would make things
: so, I'm afraid I don't have an answer for this one.
Okay. Should have thought of that. :-) But the question can be rephrased as--why does the successful champion appear first as Light, then get corrupted to Dark? Why not the other way around? Just for the pathos factor of having the guy you used to worship come back and KIK your ass, or something more?
In light of what I said in the other response about the Light being an order/chaos balance and the Dark tending to extremes, a possible answer occurs to me. When the champion is born, the eternal spirit within him has relatively little influence--it's forgotten in the trauma of birth, or something. He's therefore a pretty normal, balanced guy, and finds himself on the side of the Light. But over the years of the next Light Age, after he defeats the Leveller and doesn't have much else to do but look inward, the spirit starts to manifest itself. (This is a fairly common doctrine in religions involving reincarnation, I believe; that as you age you begin to remember your past lives and see yourself as an eternal being.) The champion slides more and more toward his natural principle, and becomes insanely dedicated to chaos or order. Toward the end of the Light Age, the Leveller chooses to exploit this monomania and enters the champion--it's much easier to turn him to the Dark by convincing him that the world should be completely given over either to chaos or order, than it would be to convert the other champion, the one who's just been born and is therefore still sanely balanced.
Obviously, there are many possible variations of this theory, and I have no idea which one seems the most likely. But I bet you have an idea!
: Me, too! :)
Awww...group hug!
: Oh, and BTW, I loved your theory. If I've spent this much
: time picking it apart I hope you'll understand that's
: a sign of respect for it. Mostly, above, I've been
: trying to play Devil's Advocate.
Why, thank you. If I spent this much time defending it, I hope you'll understand that's a sign that...I..believe in it. Wait a minute, that's not a compliment. Sorry. ;-)
Keep up dem constructive criticisms!
--SiliconDream
