Subject: MYSTARA-L Digest - 30 Jan 2006 to 31 Jan 2006 (#2006-17) From: MYSTARA-L automatic digest system Date: 01/02/2006, 19:00 To: MYSTARA-L@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM Reply-to: Mystara RPG Discussion There is 1 message totalling 89 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. Alphaks (was: Flaems...) ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 31 Jan 2006 09:22:54 +0200 From: Ville V Lahde Subject: Alphaks (was: Flaems...) I wanted to comment on something that was written of Alphaks during this thread: If we look at the ofiicial story of Alphaks, he doesn't come off as a simply evil character. He is originally an Emperor of Old Alphatia, a supporter of the Fire Faction. But as he is written in DotE, in the beginning of the conflict he is wise enough to keep his allegiance hidden and stay neutral. But as the conflict intensifies and spills over from the academic trenches, he decides to intervene. His decision to side with the Fire Faction isn't based on his original allegiance, however. He reviews all of the philosophical material created by both sects (which says something of his endurance, intelligence and learning!) and makes a stupid one-sided judgement on this basis. So what we have is well-meaning buffoon, whose interventions only make the situation worse. Alphaks the Emperor is wise, intelligent, stupid all the same time - and most of all, he can't grasp the complexities of "human" nature (considering we are talking of an alien species). Soon the violence begins, and Alphaks is caught in the middle. He decides to respond to the terrorist action of the Air Followers perhaps justly (when they destroy the University), but the Fire faction extremists erode his legitimacy by responding with atrocities. Alphaks's final folly is that he can't bring himself to punish these murderers. His weakness of will is perhaps his eventual downfall. Thus: Alphaks becomes the leader of the Followers of Fire in the Civil War partly by accident. In his own perception he must believe that he was always "forced" to violence by others: terrorists, ungrateful subjects, rebels, extremists - and most of all "the Circumstances". But in the end the long war brings out the worse angels of his nature: he is intensely temperamental and gets violently angry about any setbacks and "wrongs" that he suffers. He is unforgiving and unyielding, holding on to his throne to the bitter end (not letting "the trators to the Empire" take it). And yes, in the end he is left behind even by his own followers, who realize that they must try to make peace with the Followers of Air. To no avail, as the leaders of that faction aren't carved from any different wood. They leave their enemies behind in a ravaged world. Some of the Flaem are helped out by friendly Immortals (perhaps their Fire Patrons?). Alphaks - now a full-fledged fanatic, perhaps a madman - is left alone. It must have been at such a moment when a dark Immortal, perhaps Thanatos, approached him. The forge of politics and war had made him excellent raw material for such schemes. Alphaks the Immortal isn't "evil" in the conventional AD&D-style. His own evil is grown in the soil of bitterness, misperceptions of self and wish for revenge on those who rebelled against him (Alphatians) and let him (Flaems). Anyone else is just a tool. Related notes: - Andrew wrote : "(note that this is a later addendum to the information in Gaz3, which had the Flaemish as originally Alphaks the Immortals' followers. Later products- notably DotE- note that Alphaks was mortal at the time.)" This must have been most likely just a slip. The story of Alphaks was laid down already in M1 and M2. In the original story he became immortal after his downfall. So I guess the writer of the above quote meant that the ancestors of the Flaem followed then-emperor Alphaks, also a Follower of Fire, during the process that led to war. - About Flaem culture: I wouldn't link the original Mystaran Flaem religion and their barbaric practices (human sacrifice etc.) simplistically to Alphaks's influence. Mystara has always been a shades-of-grey-world. Many cultures has such barbaric facets (Ethengars, Thyatians, Ostlanders, Heldann...) that do not necessarily stem from "Evil" influences. ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ------------------------------ End of MYSTARA-L Digest - 30 Jan 2006 to 31 Jan 2006 (#2006-17) ***************************************************************