Difference between revisions of "Sayid ibn Maimun"

Revision as of 18:16, 21 February 2009

Sayid ibn Maimun is, perhaps, one of the most important and controversial of the members of Alexandria's First Stand, second only to Steros Meroand himself, as the two were most influential early mentors of Alexandria. Sayid's testimonial, which predates all but those of Dadtim and Kivan, is the foundation of the Petran Heresy, which asserts that Alexandria is not the Omnity herself, but rather a warrior/prophet sent by a monotheistic deity to put down the Dark Lord. According to the Alexandrian Canon, Sayid betrayed Alexandria in her moment of greatest need, necessitating the Martyrdom. Considering his closeness to and obvious fondness for Alexandria, the cause of his treachery is still the source of extreme debate. The Canon of Orthodoxy and the church proper give no hint, but in drama, literature, and folk tales, two motivations are usually suggested. First, it is often hinted that Sayid grew bitter and resentful of the comparatively massive influence that Steros' wielded with Alexandria during those last years when the First Stand was reunited. Others place the blame not on Sayid directly, but rather indirectly, through use of cursed and evil weapons and armor, and that suggest his famed arsenal turned against him at the critical hour.

Origins and Pre-Tragidore Life

Sayid was born the youngest son in a large family of successful merchant-marines in coastal Petra. As the baby in a wealthy family, he was afforded tremendous luxury and freedom from the responsibilities of his older siblings. Growing up, Sayid was predictably rambunctious, energetic, and entitled, but also contained the seeds of competence and ambition. Without managerial obligations to tie him down, he threw himself into the most most appealing and exciting part of his mercantile heritage: adventuring, traveling, and treasure hunting.

As a young man, Sayid arrived on the mainland aboard one of his father's merchant vessels in search of adventure and gold. The ship, returning to Petra from the Sidhe-Praxen isles, carried with it the war-mage princess of the Elven Kingdoms, Marrwyn Teldandilion, who was on the run from the boredom and responsibility of her heritage. In the port city, the pair were tied to Steros and Dadtim the Elder when a holy man prophesied that the four would assist Gods with an ancient battle. It was this prophecy that brought the four to Tragidor, and introduced them to Alexandria and Arek. It was during this period that Sayid also discovered the Black Scythe, the cursed scimitar that would become his trademark weapon.

Mentoring Alexandria

After the destruction of Tragidor, Sayid was responsible for mentoring Alexandria, and adopted several of the Children of Tragedy, including Mikos Lygit. While Steros raised the majority of the Tragidorian orphans in the disciplined and severe barracks of the Church of Tarlos, Sayid's received an upbringing more akin to his own. He taught them how to look good, gain advantage, fight, and most importantly, to win, but turned a blind eye to any trouble they caused. Predictably, this caused significant conflict with Steros and his crew of monastic law-enforcers, led by the orphan Mythrian Arabelle.

Under his tutelage, Alexandria learned a level of polish and trickery that would become essential as she rose to power and importance. Sayid, himself a deeply cunning and adept socialite, taught Alexandria to predict and exploit opportunity, to be attentive to and competent with trickery and deceit, and to carry herself with poise while doing it. Many of the political and social machinations so effectively employed by Alexandria during the Prophet's War and the Second Crusade, detailed in the Testimonial of Marrwyn, can be attributed to Sayid's tutelage.

The Petran Civil War

In 34 BI, after the First Stand rescued Marrwyn Teldandilion from her captivity and forced marriage, Sayid received word of family problems and the First Stand split. Sayid, Mikos, Marrwyn, and Sharksy Seven-Fingers traveled to Petra, where they found Sayid's family murdered or or dispersed and his fortunes in ruin. Sayid petitioned Emperor Haddad VIII for aid and redress, but instead became involved in a scheme by the Princess Hadiya--a clandestine practitioner of illegal divination. Hoping to recover some of his lost fortunes, the group (with Hadiya) raided the tomb of a Pre-Petran Pharaoh, where Sayid received the cursed Bracers of the Moon King.

While returning from this expedition, the group was ambushed by a Bedouin tribe. The Bedouins, themselves actively practicing Moon Children, recognized Sayid's newly acquired bracers and became convinced he represented the return of the old Pharaohs. Sayid encouraged these belief's, and through a combination of clashes, manipulations, and assassinations, forged an iron peace between the feuding Bedouin tribes and was declared Ishkahn, the Reborn King.

Despite his newly acquired power, Sayid was deeply unhappy during this period. In part, he was uncomfortable with the religious zealotry and nomadic life of his Bedouin subjects and wished to return to the city. Also, Sayid learned the dark truth behind his family's downfall--his eldest brother had turned on his family and people, allied with servitor elves, and was attacking the Empire. Sayid sent two of his Tragidorian wards, Thidrall and Klane, to the Emperor to offer an alliance. The Emperor--convinced that Sayid had kidnapped his daughter and was unifying the tribes against him--instead executed the two wards and Sayid's remaining family.

Furious with grief, Sayid stirred his forces into a religious rage over the incident, forced a marriage on Hadiya, and made war with both the forces of the Empire and the servitor armies. Again, waging a campaign of assassinations and strategic military clashes against the two weakened armies (famously neutralizing Petran firearms using storms summoned by powerful Bedouin elemental magics), he quickly defeated both. Sayid himself indicates that he kept the Emperor alive until the very end to "witness the entirety of his ruin" before executing him and his remaining family and declaring himself Emperor Sayid X.

Sayid and Alexandria Reunited

Sayid spent the majority of the next decade solidifying his power as Emperor, and took no significant part in the Prophet's War beyond providing Alexandria's forces with material support. In 21 BI, after Alexandria returned from the West and finished the War, Sayid immediately recognized Alexia but did not return to her side. To regain her advisor, Alexandria was forced to leave her forces in the hands of Sterros and Mythrian and sail the Lost Fleet to Petra and personally convince Sayid to return. Oddly, Sayid mentions nothing of what they spoke of the night her fleet arrived, but when the sun rose the next morning, he was convinced.

Sayid returned to the mainland and commited considerable forces to her cause. The alliance of Alexia, Petra, and Ubrekt began the task of uniting the nations of the mainland under one banner to resist the Dark Lord. Shortly thereafter, Alexandria assumed the Omnity after entering the Ivory Obelisk. This action released the bonds on the Dark Lord's prison, and the resulting invasion of the Shadow Horde quickly united the other kingdoms in her Crusade. During the Crusade, Sayid acted as one of the Omnity's key generals, and Alexandria's forces repelled the invasion and launched a counterattack into the Kingdom of Shadow itself.

What happened in the twisting and illusory confusion of the Kingdom of Shadow differs markedly from account to account, even within the Canon of Orthodoxy itself. Sayid escaped the Martyrdom Blast, and returned with his remnant forces to Petra. As accounts of the battle began to spread, and survivors began to write their own testimonials, the general consensus was that Sayid critically wounding Alexandria as she battled the with the Dark Lord, forcing her into the Martyrdom. Sayid's own account lays the blame on Antioch, the former Sorcerer-King of Hakan Free City.

Final Years and Death

Sayid drove Petra through 28 years of general peace and prosperity. His testimonial, although largely autobiographical, was critical in merging the folk beliefs of Petra with the new Alexandrian faith. However, in death Sayid's iron grip on Petra was released, and the state fractured. Although he officially passed his throne to his adopted Tragidorian son Mikos, the Empress Hydia would not allow the office to fall into the hands of a foreigner. She, with the help of the urbanized and secular Petrans, effectively usurped Mikos's authority and had him exiled. Mikos rallied many Bedouin and rural Petrans into a loosely organized force and harassed Petra for many years. When finally driven out of Petra, Mikos' people retreated into the Ulan and merged with the fractious tribes already living there, where they preached a personalized version of Petran Alexandrianism, Zupanism, which focused primarily on the importance of Sayid and the Moon Children.

Personality and Testimonial

Most characterizations of Sayid depict him as a loud-mouthed and unpredictable swashbuckler with the considerable social and martial prowess. His often erratic and impetuous decision making seems to derive from an unfailing believe that Fate, above all else, dictates the rise and fall of great people--a belief consistent with the vague monotheism practiced in Petra at the time. This belief, predictably, was a direct cause of considerable personal trouble, most significantly the two powerful curses he acquired during his career.

Sayid's testimonial reflects this personality clearly, and is a largely autobiographical and self-aggrandizing document about his personal accomplishments. Sayid's testimonial also reflects his strong personal disdain for the gods and religions of pre-Alexandrian mainland religions. Unlike other testimonials, he characterized Alexandria not as a servant that ascends and replaces the old gods, but instead as the prophet of an undefined divine power that closely resembles Sayid's personal belief in Fate.

Controversy and Conflict

More than any other member of The Stand--even the enigmatic Antioch--Sayid is surrounded by controversy and conflict. At the core of this conflict is his role in the Martyrdom. The two branches of Alexandrian worship differ fundamentally on this point, with Sterros's Orthodoxy claiming that Sayid betrayed Alexandria, while Sayid's Petran version claims Antioch was the offending party. However, this fundamental controversy is augmented by a number of qualities of Sayid's personality and history.

The most significant cause of controversy surrounding Sayid is his dubious moral integrity. Even in the most glowing descriptions (which are usually autobiographical) he is a violent and unpredictable bully who felt entitled to amass considerable power through deceit, warfare, and assassination. In addition, he proudly displayed and frequently used two incredibly powerful and evil cursed artifacts--the Black Scyth and the Bracers of the Moon King--which seemed to drive many of his personal ambitions and further compromise his already suspect integrity. While there is little doubt that Sayid had tremendous affection for Alexandria, he was a man with many secret and not-so-secret ambitions and influences that may have directed his actions.

Also, many of the accounts of the First Stand chronicle the deeply personal conflict between Sterros and Sayid. By all respects, their personalities are diametric opposites, with Sayid as a irreverent and chaotic gambler building a cult of personality, and Sterros as a highly structured and devout zealot building an administrative empire. Direct confrontations between the two over leadership of the Stand, mentorship of Alexandria, and raising of orphans are well documented. This conflict could, on one hand, have cause Sayid to become resentful and jealous of Alexandria as Sterros became closer and more powerful. On the other, it casts doubt on Sterros's motivations in fingering Sayid as the Betrayer of Alexandria.

Trivia

• Sayid famously refused to give the secret of firearms to Alexandria, even under heavy pressure and demands. That secret, even to this day, is only known to Petran engineers.
• Matt's description of the Empress Hydia's feeling on Mikos running Petra: "[she] wasn't about to see that shit run by some guy from moronland"