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[personal profile] keleren
Some time ago, I said that I would try to explain, at least from my perspective, what I meant in regards to Alexis, the Dark Heart, and her "third half." This will likely be confusing, but hopefully context and a delineation of what is known will help in understanding it.

I have written of my experiences with the bakali, as well as the origin of the dark wilderness spirit known as the Dark Heart, formed by the sincali when they tried to give life to their own "god," after the other gods had abandoned them. I have also made mention at various times of merin, those who carry enough of a spark within their souls to truly affect change in the world.

In some way, Alexis' and Gwynnion's souls are tied to each other by a kharmic bond that even they do not fully understand. This tale includes a great deal of chronomantic strangeness, at least from our perspectives, because of the actions of several people, including the two of them.

At some point, in some version of the past, Gwynnion and the figure known as Daniel encountered some aspect of Chaos -- the same aspect that waits for Galen Dracos to succeed so that it may strike against him when he is truly weakest (one presumes). One of the two of them because corrupted by Chaos, and at some point in that timeline, Alexis also succumbed to Chaos. Either Gwynnion or Daniel made a decision, calling upon the whole of their being and arcane knowledge as yet "unremembered" by Gwynnion in order to "trade" places with the other, in the hopes that the other could find a solution to the original problem.

In this second timeline, beginning with the corruption of the other, Daniel was apparently uncorrupt, but Gwynnion was. As time progressed, things became more desperate as Gwynnion led Chaos into the world, devestating almost all of Ansalon, casting the Conclave to rubble, and slaughtering nearly everyone on Ansalon. Daniel made a similar sacrifice as the other had before, and things were "reset" once again.

At some point during this timeline, as far as I know, Alexis's pure spirit became disincarnate, wrestling with the Chaos spirit known as the Dark Heart. All that we know is that Alexis hoped to force the Dark Heart into incarnation, offering the spirit the chance to experience mortality while also gaining an opportunity at purification. Alexis trapped her Chaos aspect within a crystaline prison, while at the same time tricking the Dark Heart into incarnation.

We arrive at this present timeline, unchanged as far as we could tell with no signs of trouble. Gwynnion here has been uncorrupted, while Daniel is corrupt. The Dark Heart has been forced into incarnation as the "other half" of Alexis's soul (since the Chaos aspect is imprisoned in the gem prison), while Alexis has incarnated as the Knight of the Sword she is. Alas, Alexis knew little of what had happened while disincarnate (being used to being an incarnate being, I presume), and it was not until Gwynnion discovered more information that Alexis's crypt was found with the body of an eight year old Solamnic girl in it, with the gem prison of Alexis's Chaos aspect.

During Gwynnion's Test of High Sorcery, Alexis accompanied her into the chambers of the Tower of Wayreth. The two emerged with almost no memory of what had occurred, but both bore the white rose tattoo associated with the entity known as Cordella the Red.

Cordella the Red was the daughter and apprentice of the first Master of the Red Robes, and she apparently learned of the machinations of Chaos during her original lifetime. She went among the bakali for a time, stealing their secrets of Tobril magic and lore in order to develop a better means of protecting herself and others from the spread of Chaos. At some point, she apotheosized in such a way that she became the essence behind the tattoo, insuring that those who bore that mark were tied so much to the Court of Light that they could not be tainted by Chaos. However, because Cordella is now a disincarnate spirit, she needed a means of anchoring herself on Krynn -- otherwise she would drift unconsciously away from the world and likely into some upper echelon of the Tobril and Celestial Order. To this end, she "created" a manifestation of herself in the world, a "mortal" Cordella tied to the world, and only vaguely aware of her true nature or of the knowledge Cordella had acquired (as much to protect the essence of Cordella as anything else).

During her Test, Gwynnion and Alexis attracted the attention of Cordella, and they (as far as can be told) accepted the protection of the tattoo, preventing either from being tainted by Chaos (remember Daniel, Alexis's Chaos aspect, and the spirit of Chaos that is the Dark Heart). However, in order to protect herself (as well as presumably Gwynnion and Alexis at the time, for they were much less experienced than they are now), either Par-Salain or Cordella removed most of their memories of the Test itself. What is curious, one should note, is that according to those who were present in Wayreth at the time (Samkin, Thorn, Oskerr, and Tomas), Gwynnion's half-brother Ke'Lanthinel had been present with them during the last part of the Test, for he had been Testing at roughly the same time. I would be curious to inquire of the Master of Goodlund what he recalls of the shared portion of the Test, although it is entirely possible that Cordella appeared seperately or privately, before Lanthinel appeared (such as when I encountered Lil'Athrial during our respective Tests).

For whatever reason, Daniel is incarnate in this world, and in many ways he is the other half of Gwynnion's soul. Perhaps they are soulmates, or perhaps the tension between Chaos, Law, and the will of the merin involved has forced both to be incarnate at the same time in this timeline. Daniel has associated with forces allied with the Dragonarmies, including Gwynnion's biological father, an assassin (as far as is known). The Master of Goodlund once encountered Daniel in a tavern in Palanthus, forcing Daniel to fall back once a spell battle erupted.

At the same time, the Dark Heart's incarnation in this timeline has been as the so-called Queen of Sancrist, Alexiel. Where Alexis sought to restore the Knights to something of their previous glory, Alexiel has sought to destroy and weaken the Knights as she can. As to whether Daniel and Alexiel cooperate with each other, I would point out that their "better halves," Gwynnion and Alexis do, and presumably they would rather work together against their "twins" much as the other side would.

Gwynnion hopes that in this timeline she can discover how to reunite herself with Daniel in a way that will restore balance to their souls, without simply one succumbing to the other. Were Gwynnion to fail in this regard, she would likely be consumed (spiritually) by Daniel. One presumes that should all else fail, she will work to try to subsume Daniel, but this remains to be seen.

At the same time, Alexis could be seen as (although currently she is unsure of how to do so) trying to work towards the point of achieving a balanced union with the Dark Heart, purifying that dark spirit by taking it into her own.

Also, I get the impression that in the Daniel-Gwynnion tug of war that has previously occurred, one or the other has tried to remedy the situation on their own. Perhaps this time Gwynnion will enlist the aid of others, or at least their support, since the previous attempts would seem to be less than successful.
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keleren

August 2006

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