Phantasy Star: Fringes of Algo

Actually according to the compendium:

She has an attractive body and a gentle disposition, but when she is deeply invested in a battle, she shows her courageous side.

Attractive body means she isn't a Loli. If you take midevil lifestyle into account, attractive body means either hourglass or "Large tracks of land" according to Monty Python and the holy grail. It isn't too far fetched to assume that on their journey,

Rhys and Lena had a little fun.

Therefore Lena has a daughter named Sari and her father is elsewhere.

Anyone else find it slightly amusing that Rhys gets to choose from LENA or marLENA? Ayn gets a LYNN or a LANN? It also seems that L names for females are the norm on Alisa 3. Lena, Lynn, Lann, Laia, Luna, Luise, etc.

I also like this line from Capowski: ""The prince's offspring will wander afar, and his grandson will be cursed with a really stupid name." (Reference to 3rd generation hero names: Shiin, Noin, Fuin, Ruin)

ROFL

Didn't Capowski then say about Aron/Ruin's name "Okay, he has a three-fourths chance of being cursed with a stupid name?" =p

Yes she did..

PS 3 is full of all sorts of cloyingness and it loves using L names.

Rick wrote:PS 3 is full of all sorts of cloyingness and it loves using L names.

Except for the English version, which thankfully changed most of the names. Ruin is especially terrible. It might be a fine name in Japanese (or wherever it came from), but it doesn't work well in English.

RW - I think Sari looks mostly like a more intense Lena, except for the nose. I'm not sure if I'm seeing any Rhys in her, though. However, I'm looking forward to more of your story. *poke poke* (Sorry! I know you and Srijita are really busy. I can be patient... I think. )

I do have a theory-related question: Supposing Rhys is Sari's father, did Sari ever know this? Did anyone besides Lena know this? I know that inbreeding of royals is nothing new, but the thought of Ayn and Sari together--if they were half-siblings--is way icky. Like, Egyptian royalty icky. I would hope that if someone else knew they were siblings that there would be an intervention before they got married!

Considering that L and R are often interchangeable when translating from Japanese, I think it would have been more fitting if Capowski had listed Aron's alternate name as Luin instead.

I come from a culture that is absolutely paranoid about the genetic consequences of inbreeding. Two bloodlines have to be seven times removed before marriage can even be considered - and even then, it is generally discouraged. I kid you not: seven times removed. Given that Lyle and Maia are cousins, the idea of Ayn marrying Thea is enough for me to put on a Lisa Simpson expression and say: "Eww". The notion of Ayn and Sari hooking up, if Rhys is Sari's father, raises the ick factor way off the scale.

The notion that Lena might have succumbed to heartbreak after being jilted by Rhys conflicts with my perception of her as a strong, independent woman. I'm inclined to agree with Tanith: assuming Rhys was enough of a cad to knock her up and then leave her, any emotional attachment she had for him would surely give way to anger before long. At the very least, she would determine that she was better off without him. The situation changes if she never disclosed her pregnancy to him; in that case she might still have some sympathy for him. But she would presumably have her hands full helping to run Satera and being an unwed mother in a pre-sexual liberation era. I doubt defending Rhys would be high on her agenda.

Did Sari get to know her mother? If not, is it possible that Lena died in childbirth?

Perhaps the stress of being a single mother (though as royalty you'd assume she had plenty of servants to help her raise Sari) and running two kingdoms* while they were both under siege, and eventually losing Satera, were what really caused her death. Maybe the townsfolk got romantic about her death--since they might also be bitter about Rhys's abandonment of his kingdom--and started a rumor that Lena's death was due to heartache over Rhys.

*Assuming Lena had to ascend to the throne of Landen at a fairly young age.

Inbreeding is totally ick in our cultural worldview, but try to think of it without an ethnocentric perspective. Different cultures have their own norms and values, and they vary. What is gross and ick to you (such as first cousin marriage), is accepted today and celebrated in other cultures (such as Hawaiian).

Consider Greek mythology, let alone literature from the ancient world; Kronos and Rhea, brother and sister, making Zeus and the other Olympian gods, and Zeus also marries his own sister, Hera. In the ancient world, sibling marriages were widespread at least during the Graeco-Roman period of Egyptian history. Sure, this stuff is majorly taboo (which fascinated Freud and applied it to psychology!), but consider cultural norms that exist elsewhere (past and present) that's totally taboo in the western world today.

My thinking, is that in a sparse population, and between royal bloodlines, maybe anything goes in such a culture!

If Rhys is the father of Sari, I don't think Lena knew she was pregnant, and I don't think Rhys meant to abandon her; he just split from Landen and Lena had to take care of herself. Maybe he didn't even know.

Rune_Walsh wrote:Inbreeding is totally ick in our cultural worldview, but try to think of it without an ethnocentric perspective.

All astute points, but there are reasons why inbreeding has been discouraged in your culture and mine, and those reasons may pertain to its impact on health. This is an issue that has been highlighted recently in the UK.

If Rhys is the father of Sari, I don't think Lena knew she was pregnant, and I don't think Rhys meant to abandon her; he just split from Landen and Lena had to take care of herself. Maybe he didn't even know.

That has to be the premise we work on: either Lena did not discover her pregnancy until they had parted company, or she chose not to disclose it to him because she perceived his love for Maia. Otherwise Rhys becomes a less than sympathetic character.

Just curious.. Is Sari's age ever said? I'm just curious cause of my theory.. As someone said before that Sari looks like a more serious Lena.. But what in a different sence, Sari was Lena.. I mean in Ayn's story Lena is nowhere to be found, as well as Sari is nowhere to be found in Nials story..

Sure some might argue that if Sari and Lena were the same person, in Nials story that Lena would have Sari's image.. Not really, only cause Sari has trained for years, while Lena lived in comfort with Rhys. Is it said in game that Sari says she's the daughter of Lena? Or just the princess of Satera. Cause if she's the princess, it could be that after Rhys married Maia that Lena never married, therefore she stayed the princess.

From the description that Thoul has provided on the site.. "Sari is filled with anger over Rhys' choice to marry Maia and put aside his ties to Landen. She intends to take this anger out on Ayn"

Why would Sari have a problem with this? If Lena loves Rhys wouldn't she teach her kingdom that if Orakio's bloodline can share that of Laya's then peace can be brought together in the two kingdoms, she would have tought this to her daughter.

In my theory, if Sari is indeed Lena, when Rhys chose Maia, Lena was heartbroken, returned to Satera, and ruled. Many years passed and she encountered Ayn. His resemblance looks somewhat like Rhys in his youth and it angered her, causing her to attack.