: The comet is still up there, if the normal rules
: of astrophysics hold, and the Leveller doesn't die
: just because Balor sucked and Alric ruled.
Interestingly enough, it seems the normal rules of astrophysics don't hold. The comet sometimes comes from the east, sometimes from the west. Though I suppose comets don't rise & fall like the sun & moon do; they're like stars or planets, at relatively fixed positions in the sky. So the comet could appear in the east relative to the earth on one pass, and then appear to the west in the next, if its orbit was erratic in just the right way.
: Sure. We could get into a long discussion as to whether
: events in the game suggest that the crown and the
: sword have the power to live up to their hype, but it
: seems like a rather fruitless thread to start. I will
: mention that the berserk who picks up Balmung in the
: catacombs doesn't seem to be possessed by it, but
: that's about as far as I think we need to go with
: this. The value of the crown and the sword as symbols
: are, I think, more important.
: My point here was just that his claim of succession is a
: very, very thin one. He's an usurper under any canon
: of law you choose to name. That doesn't mean he isn't
: popular and it doesn't mean he's in the wrong--there
: is no line of succession at this point, so taking the
: crown for himself isn't going to get him into a lot of
: trouble. Ceiscoran and Connacht are both dead.
: However, in peace time I think he would have had a
: much harder time just waltzing in and declaring
: himself Emperor. No king, no matter how popular, rules
: by his will alone. He needs the support of the rest of
: the government. During wartime he has that support
: automatically because he's commander in chief--every
: other military leader in the free world has sworn
: fealty to him. As soon as the army is demobilized,
: however, he's going to be faced by a whole bunch of
: lesser lords with their own political futures to think
: of who might oppose him. Alric is very popular and by
: accident of misfortune he happens to be the last truly
: powerful archmage left alive but no matter how
: anarchic and freedom-loving he is, he's still a
: political figure and political figures will always
: have enemies.
: I like your theory, but I think mine (that the Leveller's
: only interest is in population control) works in
: conjunction with it. As each Leveller-infested guy
: gets older, he's going to become more and more
: powerful. The Leveller doesn't like exceptionally
: powerful people--they're too dangerous, they have the
: capacity to wipe out entire races (as Balor almost did
: with Muirthemne). I think, when the time comes the
: divinity sabotages its avatar (in the traditional
: sense, that's what the human half of the Leveller is)
: and lets some fresh blood in, knowing that when it
: comes time again, there'll be a perfect host waiting
: for it. To go along with your theory, maybe the
: Leveller (who you seem to be claiming is present in
: the Champion from birth) inspires the Hero as
: well--this would be kind of dodgy considering the
: "there are many heros, but only one
: leveller" quote, but we all know how flimsy that
: one is.
: Hey, you think MB the Hed is agent of this Leveller? I
: dunno, MB!!!! Uh, sorry. What I meant to say was that
: maybe the Leveller sabotages his human half by sending
: agents like, for example, the Head.
: Whoops... um, yeah, see above. And here are a couple
: more, just for kicks: It's easier to bend a good man
: to evil than an evil man to good. Evil is just too
: seductive.
: Another: With great age comes great rigidity. I'm
: thinking of a kind of long-view-mentality, which makes
: you start thinking that you know better than everybody
: else and that the ends justify the means. The
: Levellers, then, aren't "evil" in the common
: sense, they just have less interest in the feelings of
: others. When you're effectively immortal it's hard to
: look at normal mortals with any kind of respect. Your
: own goals, which are long-term and well-thought-out,
: start seeming like the right thing to do regardless of
: how many puny folk get hurt in the process. And yes, I
: do still believe that Balor thought of himself as
: Connacht and a good guy right up until his head got
: cut off.
: A third: To gain power in the Mythworld you have to have
: a weakness. When you start out as the Great Hero you
: have relatively little power. To beat the Leveller you
: have to grab as much as you can get. As a result, you
: develop character flaws--which manifest themselves in
: things like Balor's totally stoopid inability to
: resist smiting Myrkridian standards and also in
: Shiver's vanity. The Leveller can't just overcome your
: core personality--it needs a crack to seep in through,
: and these weaknesses provide such a crack. The Heros,
: with less power than the Levellers, can't be
: contaminated as easily. Alric, in his time, may be
: undone by his hatred of horses--the next Great Hero
: may actually use some cavalry units. One good cavalry
: charge could knock out an entire platoon of dwarven
: mortars and could run circles around a whole tribe of
: zerks, but Alric will still refuse to invest in a
: couple of saddles and a lance or two. I like this
: theory because it explains both how Heros get turned
: to the dark and also how Levellers eventually get
: defeated.
: Aw, shucks, ya big lug.
: Yeah, you and your old man. Oh, wait, that didn't even
: make sense. 8-p
: As if I could stop now...
: --David Wellington
