Speculation Competition Results

[Synchysi]

I critiqued entries from nine nations last night and came up with a winner. The runner-up's entry was too good to ignore, though, so they'll get a reward too.

I was probably a little more harsh judging the entries than I originally intended to be, but I still awarded amusing and nonsensical ideas. I've written out the pros and cons I found for each speculation, so if you want to see the grade for your nation's speculation, PM me. As for the speculations themselves, whether or not they're made public is up to the authoring nation.

If you do PM me for your nation's speculation grade, I'd like to ask that you post it somewhere in your nation's forum so I don't get 50 PMs from one nation asking for the results.

First place goes to Highland. I could only find one small flaw in their entry. Their reward is a new region. You'll need to contact the big man about the specifics of the region.

The Nameless Lands came in a very close second with by far the most amusing entry, and get rewarded with a free upgrade to the Mounted Archer regiment. You can contact me or Axiose about that.
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[Shrew]

Yay! We are second-rate awesome. I'll post our speculation so that others can enjoy or be filled with hate and anger, whichever is preferred.


Suikoden V Spoilers Ahead



SPECULATION
Lucretia is Hugo's Father

The question of Hugo's paternal figure has tormented Suikoden fans since the conclusion of Suikoden III. Tormented by comments like "Hugo got his hair color from his father," "Hugo's father was a kind man," and "We've seen Hugo's father before", Suikoden fans came to unreasonable conclusions that Hans Cunningham, Beachum, or some random Karayan soldier was Hugo's father. But thanks to new information presented in Suikoden V, Hugo's hidden genealogy has at last been revealed.

1) Lucretia is a Man
Many fans assume that Lucretia is female due to his hair, physical appearance, robes, voice, name, title of "Lady", and biographical information. While this conclusion seems apparent, it is founded on the same faulty principles of logic used to prove Evolution, the existence of microbes within our bodies, and the idea that cancer kills and does not produce puppies from thin air.

Characters like Kasios, Mara, and Shula prove that physical appearance is an erroneous method to determine gender. Lucretia's appearance and dress is irrelevant, except that the robes are rather large and not form fitting, contrary to the standard style of dress most Suikoden V females prefer. It is likely that they are hiding something. Although many characters refer to Lucretia as "Lady" and think of him as a woman, this is likely part of a ruse, a tactic which he used several times throughout Suikoden V. The characters surrounding him, such as Cius, are completely taken by the deception and do not question it. Only characters who know him from the past would be aware of the subterfuge. This explains his antagonism to Cathari, who could reveal his secret, and also the antagonism of Godwin, who would understandably be upset to find his mistress was not a miss. The evidence is further compounded when one considers that Lucretia will not enter the bath, since he is afraid his secret will be revealed.

Lucretia is also sexually involved with women, such as Lelei. While it is unclear what Lucretia thinks of Lelei, he keeps her closer than any other character, allowing her constant access to his room, and even letting her accompany him after the game's end. It would appear that Lelei's romantic desires were at least satisfied to an extent. While it could be claimed that Lelei is a lesbian, there is no evidence of relationships with other females. Thus if Lucretia is the only person Lelei has been involved with, it is impossible to conclude whether she is heterosexual or homosexual.

Finally, Lucretia is based heavily on the Chinese strategist Zhuge Liang, who was a man. Creating a female character based on a man is just plain silly.

2) Lucretia's Hair is Black
This is another point that appears absurd until considered carefully. While Lucretia looks like a blonde, his hair is actually dyed. The green tips of his bangs are evidence of tampering with the natural hair coloring. Further, because Lucretia is an adopted First-Class Harmonian, his parents would likely dye his hair blonde so that he could fit in easier. The original color was likely black, establishing the hereditary link to Hugo.

3) Lucretia is Connected to the Karaya Clan
It is accepted that Lucretia was born into the Karaya Clan, but was separated from them after the True Fire Rune went berserk and adopted by Harmonians. Since Lucretia vanishes after the end of the Falena Civil War, he must have traveled throughout the world, keeping a relatively low profile. Along the way he would have certainly visited his original people, and possibly even stayed to live with them. There he could have met Lucia and fell in love, resulting in the birth of Hugo. Lucretia likely either stayed behind during the events of Suikoden II in order to maintain his anonymity, or he left shortly after impregnating Lucia. By the time Hugo was fifteen, Lucretia had either left on his journey, or had died.

4) Lucretia Appears Prior to the Events of Suikoden III
Many fans claim Konami has said that Hugo's father had already been seen, though the statement remains unconfirmed. While this could disprove Lucretia's claim to paternity, it is important to remember that Suikoden V happens before Suikoden III. Suikoden V was a long time in development, running alongside Suikoden IV, and it is likely the principal planning for the game began during Suikoden III. As the chief strategist, Lucretia would likely be among the first characters developed especially due to his connection to Hugo. Thus, confused members of Konami probably made these comments in passing, forgetting that Suikoden V had not yet been released.

5) Lucretia and Lucia Both Begin With Luc and End With ia
The similarity between the names proves the two were meant for each other. And since they share "Luc", a major character in Suikoden, this cannot be ignored as idle speculation.

6) Numerology
Numerology is the study of numbers and how they determine one's fate. If one assigns numbers to roman letters (1-26), the numerologic sum of Lucretia and Lucia equals 135, the same as the sum of Hugo off Karaya, "off" being used instead of "of" because of the translation precedent in Final Fantasy VII: "Off Course" instead of "Of Course". Numerology proves beyond a doubt that Hugo must be the child of Lucretia and Lucia, and also that Hugo is the antichrist.
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Fear our Vagueness.

[Sage]

For everyone's reading pleasure, here is Highland's award-winning theory, borrowed from aydas_arrow who also happens to be a Highlander.

Theory: Pesmerga was in Suikoden IV as the Fog Ship Captain

Pesmerga being the Fog Ship Captain of Suikoden IV is a logical conclusion drawn from the lack of specific knowledge about both of them and certain pieces of circumstantial evidence. The strongest point of information is the Captain's disdain for chaos and a widely accepted rumor about Yuber and Pesmerga. That rumor is that Pesmerga and Yuber are the embodiments of order and chaos, respectively. Regardless of whether this rumor is true, Yuber's affiliation or, at the very least, his appeal for chaos is documented from Suikoden III. The Captain dislikes chaos and Pesmerga is chasing, presumably for violent reasons, Yuber, who is associated with chaos. Thus, they both dislike chaos.

They dislike chaos so much that they are both pursuing chaos/Yuber to destroy it/him. The Captain was harboring Ted and the Soul Eater for this purpose. Yuber was with Neclord and Windy when they destroyed the hidden village trying to get the Soul Eater. By keeping the Soul Eater with him, the Captain wanted to attract Yuber to him, hoping that Yuber was still looking for that rune. We know Pesmerga stayed near areas, people, and objects that had contact with Yuber before: Neclord and the Dragon Star Sword, for example. Neither the Captain nor Pesmerga were fond of the actual physical chase, but rather wanted to wait for Yuber to "stop by" so to speak.

There are other smaller circumstantial points that help support the case for this theory. The Captain is not from the Suikoworld and neither is Pesmerga. The Captain did not appear in his true form. Givin the mystery surrounding the Pesmerga/Yuber duo and the "He's not human" comments, we can assume that neither one of them are in their true form either. The Captain said that he would return and if he is indeed Pesmerga, this prophecy came true as we saw Pesmerga in Suikoden I and II.

To sum things up, both the Fog Ship Captain and Pesmerga are said to not be of the Suikoworld, they are possibly two forms of the same being, both share a strong dislike for chaos, and assuming they are indeed the same being, one fulfilled the promise of the other.
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[Timbo]

Shrew, I love yours, it is beautiful. Lots of respect for that one.

Edit: This was Armes entry. Yes, it's full of holes, but I tought it was funny.

Speculation

Viki is the true hero of Suikoden

1. Viki has been in every Suikoden game- Viki is one of two characters to have been in every single Suikoden game and possess a star. Why would this be the case if she were not the main character of the series? Jeane, the only other character to possess a star and be in all of the Suikodens, is clearly not the main character, as she is the designated sex appeal of the series and the sex appeal of the series can never be viewed by the audience for anything other then their bodies, making it nearly impossible for the audience to view her as a hero. Since Jeane is no longer a possibility, the only other possibility is Viki.

2.Viki's teleportation makes her the most important person of any of the Suikoden armies- Viki's teleportation abilities clearly make her the most beneficial member of any of the armies of any of the Suikoden games. The ability to teleport decreases the fatigue of any travelers (they don‘t have to walk or run to where they are going), makes communication more efficient (being able to be there automatically makes it easier to tell people what is going on), decreases the amount of time needed to travel, increases the amount of time that can be used for planning( less travel time increase planning time), makes retreat in battles more effective and saves the army the cost of having to buy boats and other transportation supplies. Clearly, no Suikoden army could have won with out Viki's assistance. Her versatility and usefulness is unrivaled by any other character in the series.

3. Each Suikoden is set in a different alternate timeline, not in the same world- Many would believe that they are playing one large Suikoden world, those people would be mistaken! Viki appears in Suikoden 5, which occurs before Suikoden 2 and she had met Killey, Georg and Lorelei. But, in Suikoden 2, no one pays any heed to Viki or acts as if they met her before. Given the fact of her importance and keep the troops ready for battle and in communications, the idea that they would forget about her or ignore her is absurd, the only possibility is that they have never met he before, meaning that there are alternate realities. Further evidence is Luc's attempt to destroy the True Wind Rune in Suikoden 3, destroying the predestined future, which would also diverge the timeline. Seeing as Viki is in every one of these worlds and appears to be the same Viki, based upon her references to other lands and situations outlined in previous games, the only possibility is that she is traveling to alternate realities.

4. Viki's forgetfullness is a charade- Viki's personality can be described as ‘a forgetful airhead' to the untrained eye. But, clearly, no person who has the capacity to transport instantly and is a capable mage, based on her high MAG stat, could be as forgetful as they appear. The only possibility, is that it is a charade. Why would she do this? Viki, with her ability to alter space, would also alter the effects of time. Altering time can lead to dreadful outcomes and the less revealed and altered with, the better. Viki, while posing as an airhead, helps alter less of time by making no one pay attention to her when she speaks or acts. Also, her contributions to the army are often looked over, which would support the idea that she is letting the ‘hero' of each game, take credit and become their destined role in their timeline.

5. Viki is an homage to another reality traveling hero- One may not realize it, but Viki is an homage to the marvel comic character Blink. Viki's blinking rune gives her her abilities and is an extending version of BLink;s name, they both share teleportation powers, Viki's star's name in Shui hu Zhuan is "The Spotted Necked Tiger", (Blink is a ferocious fighter, whose neck has a collar on it that has small circles on it. Calling her "A spotted Necked Tiger", would make sense.), Viki travels to different worlds assisting in the saving of kingdoms, Blink travels from dimension to dimension correcting the time streams and saving worlds. The connection is obvious. Blink's ability to lead and teleport her comrades would lead many to believe that she is the most integral member of "The Exiles", the series Blink is a character in, hinting at Viki being the most important character of the Suikoden series, the series Viki is in, furthering supporting that Viki is the true hero of the Suikoden series!
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"There is no normal life, there's just life. Now get on with it"

[Aurelien]

Well here's Jowston. The idea was from Stormbringer, and some of the works were Starslasher's too, but mostly mine. The last bit there which probably explains why it didn't win (because I am the suxx0rz!) but I thought that it's something fun, and has never been touched before. So in my book, Stormbringer and Starslasher are still the winners. Mwahahah. They get uhmm, a big clap from me and hand shake as a reward. Congratulations boys and girls.

Nation: City-States of Jowston
Theory: True Runes not only grant immortality, but also curse the bearers with infertility

No Suikoden hero would be complete without the ability to wield one of the 27 True Runes. Having a True Rune attached not only grants the person vast amounts of power, but it also bestows upon him or her immortality. But one trait that may be true is the fact that any person who has the power of a True Rune will lose their ability to bear children. While this fact is not directly stated within the games, and no information on this topic has been released by Konami, we believe that there is ample evidence, both in-game and not, that points towards the infertility of the Rune bearers.

Firstly, we would like to list the 18 known True Runes and their bearers:
1. Beast Rune: L'Renouille
2. Rune of Beginning: None (Never known to be born by anyone as a whole and both Bright Shield and Black Sword Runes do not share the True Rune trait of immortality)
3. Blue Moon Rune: Sierra, Neclord
4. Rune of Change: Leader of Sindar (Unknown)
5. Circle Rune: Hikusaak
6. Dragon Rune: Joshua Levenheit, Millia
7. Eightfold Rune: Yuber
8. Gate Rune: Windy, Leknaat (Separated as Back and Front Rune, but sharing the True Rune trait of immortality)
9. Rune of Life and Death (Souleater Rune): Ted, Tir McDohl
10. Night Rune: Star Dragon Sword (Edge, Viktor)
11. Rune of Punishment: Lazlo, Man buried in Obel ruins, Queen of Obel, Graham Cray's son, Graham Cray, Rikie's husband, Brandeau, Glen Cott.
12. Sovereign Rune: Barbarossa
13. Sun Rune: Arshtat Falenas
14. True Earth Rune: Sasarai
15. True Fire Rune: Hugo/Chris/Geddoe, Flame Champion
16. True Lightning Rune: Geddoe/Hugo
17. True Water Rune: Wyatt Lightfellow, Chris/Hugo
18. True Wind Rune: Luc

Out of the above list, we could immediately strike out Beast Rune, Rune of Beginning, and Rune of Change because of the obvious reasons. L'Renouille is not a person, Rune of Beginning never had a known bearer, while we don't know who exactly bear the Rune of Change. Therefore, these three True Runes are going to be left out and we are left with 15 True Runes.

1. Blue Moon Rune: Sierra, and Neclord.
Sierra and Neclord did not have any children. Sierra is speculated to be Nash's wife, and even if it's true, there was no mention of Nash having a child. Neclord claimed to have had many brides in the past. Yet, there was not a single mention of his child. These two clearly showed that despite many relationships in the past that they have had experienced, the fact that they had no child was due to their inability to bear children.

2. Circle Rune: Hikusaak.
Hikusaak did not have any children. This is clearly shown by the fact that he chose to create Luc and Sasarai as his clones. The commonly accepted reason for the clones creation was to make Luc and Sasarai as vessels of True Earth and True Wind Runes. But behind that camouflage, the real reason was to hide Hikusaak's infertility.

3.Dragon Rune: Joshua Levenheit, Milia.
Joshua Levenheit did not have children. Milia had a daughter named Sharon. Joshua is known to have lived for more than 200 years. Yet there was no evidence whatsoever to say that he had any children. He lived for a long time and it was time for him to pass on the Dragon Rune to a successor. Knowing the pain of being cursed with infertility, Joshua decided that such thing should not be experienced by the successor. Hence, choosing Milia who have had a daughter born prior to bearing the Dragon Rune. The fact that Milia only had Sharon as the lone child showed that once she became the successor of the Dragon Rune, she was cursed with the infertility.

4. Eightfold Rune: Yuber.
Yuber did not have any children. Short and easy. Not that he would like to have children. He could not have children even if he wanted to. Infertile!

5. Gate Rune: Windy, Leknaat
Windy and Leknaat did not have any children. Windy was known to share similar beauty to Claudia Rugner, the late wife of Barbarossa Rugner. Yet, there was no known story of her having a child prior to marrying Barbarossa. After marrying the emperor himself, they still did not have any children. It is an interesting strong supporting evidence because it is illogical to not have an heir to the throne. Not because they did not want to have an heir, but because they were unable to.

Leknaat, on the other hand, had been on the run that there was no time for her to be romantically involved with men. But as we know, Leknaat is the wise one, the one that knows all things. This includes the fact that as the bearer of the Back Gate Rune, she knew that she was infertile. But female intuition could not be hidden forever. She 'saved' Luc from Hikusaak's Holy Kingdom of Harmonia. But did she really? No. She did it because she wanted to have a child but unable to do so. Hence, kidnapping a boy. Because she's blind, she couldn't tell at first that Luc was actually a clone and not even human.

6. Rune of Life and Death (Souleater Rune): Ted, Tir McDohl.
Ted and Tir did not have children. Ted had lived for hundreds of years, yet there was no mention of him having any children. There is a theory of him being involved in a homosexual relationship with Aldo that could give the answer as to 'why'he did not have children. But the real reason is because he was infertile. This was later on supported by Tir McDohl. Unlike Ted, Tir had a female admirer in Kasumi. Being a young teenager, Tir was embarrassed with his infertility. So he avoided to commit into a relationship with Kasumi. He camouflaged the act as if it was due to the immortality, but as a son of one of the Great Generals in (then) Scarlet Moon Empire, and later on the leader of the Liberation Army, it would be a great embarrassment to his manhood by being infertile. The solution? Ran away in the middle of the celebration and went on a journey. Infertily knows no boundaries, even if you are a hero, you are not excluded.

7. Night Rune: Star Dragon Sword (Edge, Viktor)
The Star Dragon Sword did not have children (Mini Star Dragon Sword?). Edge and Viktor did not either. Okay this is a tricky one because there is no known fact yet on whether the True Rune is the sword or the sword users also. So I'll cover both, and the fact remains that none of them had children. A sword definitely can't have children. So Star Dragon Sword is out of the equation. Edge clearly did not have children. His 'zebra print'shirt seemed to be a diversion so that people would question his fashion sense rather than his (lack of) fertility.

Now Viktor is interesting. Known as the bear. From the page http://www.bearden.org/Bear%20Facts/Family%20Life.htm a sentence that really interests me is "After mating, the males of all bear species wander off and have nothing to do with rearing the cubs." This seems to fit Viktor's lifestyle that went from one place to the other, and quite possibly after (an attempt to) mating. Living from place to place. In a relationship with the likes from a girl next door Daisy to the high profile Annabelle. Yet, not even a child. Viktor was infertile.

8. Rune of Punishment: Lazlo, Man buried in Obel ruins, Queen of Obel, Graham Cray's son, Graham Cray, Rikie's husband, Brandeau, Glen Cott.
Wow this one is a long list. Some of them had children. Some of them not. But the similarities between all of them was that the children were not born while they were in possession of the Rune of Punishment. This is clearly shown by the following points:
8.1. Graham Cray's son bore the rune before the father.
8.2. Rikie's husband bore the rune after Rakgi was born.
8.3. Glen Cott bore the rune after Katarina was born.
8.4. Queen of Obel bore the rune after her children were born.

Added by the fact that Lazlo and Brandeau had no children, it is very conclusive that they were all infertile.

9. Sovereign Rune: Barbarossa Rugner
Barbarossa Rugner did not have a child. The blood line of the Rugners finished at the hand of Barbarossa Rugner. Married to two beautiful women in Claudia and Windy. Yet, had not a single heir to the throne. One man, two women, no child? Infertile!

10. Sun Rune: Arshtat Falenas
Arshtat Falenas had children. Once again, bore the True Rune after giving birth to children scenario. This is clearly showing that infertility comes with the True Rune as one package. She knows that bearing the Sun Rune would make her infertile. Lucretia knew that too. But knowing that the queen has had heirs already, making her infertile would not be a problem. Hence, a worthy option to take.

11. True Earth Rune: Sasarai
12. True Wind Rune: Luc
Sasarai and Luc did not have children. Why? Well for one, they kind of look like girls. So girls might not want them anyways (Sarah is weird, so she's an exception). But more importantly, because they're infertile and cannot bear children even if they wanted to have one. That, and they're clones too. And whose clones were they? Hikusaak, another infertile man. Poor Sasarai and Luc. Screwed on so many different levels that it's not even funny.

13. True Fire Rune: Hugo/Chris/Geddoe, Flame Champion
14. True Lightning Rune: Geddoe/Hugo
15. True Water Rune: Wyatt Lightfellow, Chris/Hugo
I'll combine them all. Hugo, Chris, Geddoe, and Flame Champion had no children. Wyatt had a daughter named Chris. Hugo was too young to look at girls anyways so he might not know yet that he's actually infertile. He'd be devastated once he realized the truth one day. Chris was a tomboy. She did not show any interest in having children. Unfortunately, her infertility would break so many men's hearts *cough*ZexenKnights*cough*. Geddoe had lived long enough, yet despite the many tales he could tell about his eye-patch, he had no such luck in children department due to his infertility.

Then the issue of Wyatt Lightfellow, father of Chris Lightfellow. A quick look at the timeline will show that he had ample time between the end of the Fire Bringer war and the birth of Chris to seal away half of his rune's power, thus regaining his ability to procreate. He was a smart man, he knew that by sealing away half of the True Water Rune's power, he would regain his fertility long enough to allow him to have a daughter. He is the only one that knows the secret to go around the infertility curse, most likely informed by the all-femme village of Alma Kinan. Lucky man!!

Now the last one is the Flame Champion. He is an interesting case. Chose to bear the True Fire Rune and then married Sana. Unlike Wyatt, Flame Champion did not have the luxury of the smart information from the Alma Kinan ladies. He thought that sealing away True Fire Rune would give his fertility back. BIG MISTAKE!

Let's backtrack a bit and look at things in chronological order.
1. Flame Champion married Sana as True Fire Rune bearer.
2. They tried to have babies. Did not work.
3. Realized that it was due to the infertility curse of True Fire Rune.
4. Thought "Hey, how about if I seal the True Fire Rune? It should get rid of the curse"
5. BIG MISTAKE!
6. Sped up his ageing.
7. Ooops! Too old to have babies!
8. DEAD -_-;
9. Unlucky man!

Alright now you have survived reading the whole theory from City-States of Jowston. True Runes not only grant immortality, but also cursed the bearers with infertility. 18 known True Runes, LOTS of known current and past bearers, and not even one person was proven to be fertile while bearing the True Rune. Why? Because they are infertile.

Thank you for reading.

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And to my own comment regarding the entries that have been posted

1. Highland. Good solid theory for sure. Not surprising that it's the winner. Congratulations.
2. Nameless Lands. Best so far IMO, though touching on a mystery that has been questioned gazillion of times, the solution in this theory is nothing boring at all. Great original theory, great fun supporting evidences.
3. Armes. Good one, I think. Holes indeed, but hey, Jowston got tons more, so I'm not complaining.

Good job, everyone. Been fun reading.
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~City-States of Jowston and Tinto Republic~
06.06.2004 - 20.01.2008

[fuji]

Wow, those were great, though I must admit the Nameless one actually got more than a few chuckles out of me.

Thanks Synchysi for running the contest, hope you'll decide to run another one sometime in the future. It was great fun.
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______ "We're still flying"

___ "That's not much"

"It's enough"

[Pierrot Le Fou]

Congratulations to the winners!

I really like all of these, very entertaining. This was Kooluk's, its a pretty pointless theory, but that was the whole appeal! I wrote a first draft, and Ley sort of produced it all.

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Twaikin is a Narcissist!

1. Twaikin spent the better portion of his life with other dwarves: Thats right, he was born in the year 435 in the Village of the Dwarves in Toran. These particular dwarves are a very private people, and seem to follow the old traditions moreso than their Falenan cousins. The residents of this Village also despise outsiders, particularly humans and elves, so one would think that Twaikin would naturally live by these principles right? Well he doesn't; He is more than willing to set himself up in situations that will involve interaction with other species, thus, for a dwarf, he is rather outgoing.

2. Twaikin has a beauty spot under his left eye: What would compel a dwarf to shave their beard, which is their most precious feature? Dwarves seem to subconciously measure one another's character by the length and fullness of their beards; Twaikin already has a flaw in his appearance, a beauty spot on his face. One would think Twaikin would be self concious of this spot, and would thusly grow the most flowing of beards to show other dwarves he isn't ashamed of his appearance. Possesing a healthy beard will still make you an attractive and respected member of dwarven society even if you were covered in bodily inperfections. Yet Twaikin accentuates this spot by shaving his beard. Perhaps this shows a part of Twaikin's personality that isn't particularily notable upon first meetings.

3. Twaikin strives to share his passion: One of his letters he leaves in the Flame Champion's comment box states, "Hi! Why don't you dig a hole, too! It's fun because you can go to new places! Ha, ha, ha!" Meanwhile the people of the Village of the Dwarves in Toran hardly seem interested in the explorer lifestyle. Where would he get the drive to dig then? Simple, digging is instinctual for dwarves, and is most prevalent in Twaikin out of his entire tribe. The obsession with the act of digging is not his only quirk however, he's been known to give farmers (Barts) earthworms! My theory is it's symbolism for him, when he's not traveling to other places he is taking pleasure in excavating creatures and artifacts; all of this while attempting to bring his friends and aquaintances closer to understanding his lifestyle. In Twaikin's mind, if you're not living his way you're not living at all.

4. Twaikin digs his way to the Flower General's retreat: Twaikin tells the Flame Champion of his greatest accomplishment; 10 years before the Second Fire Bringer War he digs a tunnel to the heart of Toran. To dig that far must've taken months, maybe close to a year. He made his way to a place he'd never seen before, which is worth any amount of time to an explorer like him. As he surfaced, he found himself to be in a mansion's courtyard surrounded by flowers, one property of the ex Flower General Milich Oppenheimer, Scarleticia Castle. It was there that Twaikin changed his outlook.

Explanation
Still feeling the euphoria of accomplishment, Twaikin studied the abandoned castle with great pride. He even went as far as breaking and entering, and proceded to examine the interior as well. One can imagine Twaikin's astonishment of the construction, the design, the smells, the overall atmosphere of something new. He was facinated by the abundance of color, and style this place emitted. Coming from such a repressed society as the Dwarven Village, Twaikin was overwhelmed to say the least, he wanted this new feeling to last forever. He was excited, so excited in fact that he would make a change in his life. One could even go as far as to say he had found a solution to his mid-life crisis. From then on, the rebellious yet exuberant dwarf would embrace the life of a Narcissistic Dwarf, though different from a Human Dwarf, still shares aspects the same as any other person who has bouts of narcissism, taking a stand of non conformity for years to come. After the war he started a new adventure that would begin at the Great Hollow. He would still embrace his fellow dwarves should he ever return to the Village, although with his new way of life, he may find the conservative Dwarfs belligerent towards him.
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A not unblack dog was chasing a not unsmall rabbit across a not ungreen field.

[Parallax]

Umm, here was the Scarlet Moon Empire's deal. It was a good discussion and a number of people contributed in a major way, and I sort of edited it and put the whole thing together.

Hikusaak is a not an evil mastermind, but a hero

This is our basic speculation.

1. The first mention of Hikusaak in Suikoden lore is as part of the Hero War. The name itself implies that he was a Hero, because the war accomplished the founding of the Holy Kingdom of Harmonia. This is very similar to other wars that Tenkai stars have fought. The Toran Liberation War founded the Toran Republic out of the ashes of the Scarlet Moon Empire. The Dunan Unification War defeated Highland and founded the Dunan Republic in place of the City-States of Jowston. The Fire Bringer (and second Fire Bringer) Wars established Grassland as a unified power, instead of a diverse group of clans. The Island Nations Federation was born out of the war against the Kooluk Expansionist Force. Therefore, it is not unreasonable to guess that Hikusaak was able to forge Harmonia out of a very similar set of circumstances.

2. Hikusaak's various "misdeeds" can be explained away.

i. He butchered the Gate Rune Clan. We only know of two members of the Gate Rune Clan, Leknaat and Windy. Leknaat is somewhat benevolent to our knowledge, though she remains an enigma. Windy, however, was unquestionably evil. She's basically the villain of Suikoden I, much more so than Barbarossa Rugner. What if the rest of the Gate Rune Clan were as evil as Windy? We don't know, so we can't condemn him for this action.

ii. Sasarai says that the orders to invade Grassland came from Hikusaak himself. All speculation about whether or not Sasarai is the one who's actually in charge of Harmonia aside, even if the orders did come from Hikusaak, who still serves as a 'shadow ruler', we don't know how much Hikusaak knew about the happenings in Grassland. He might well have known about the Destroyers, and their attempt to cultivate a war between the Zexen Federation and the Grassland Clans. Hikusaak might have seen the invasion by Harmonian forces as a peacekeeping operation. We don't know what specific objectives Harmonia wanted to achieve, but we certainly are not told that they wanted the mass loss of life by either Zexen or Grassland. What if Hikusaak simply wanted to stop the war, and to stop Luc from destroying the True Wind Rune?

iii. The Scarlet Moon Empire secession - It is claimed that due to brilliant and unorthodox strategy, the secession was successful without shedding blood. However, that strategy was a simple one: Hikusaak was talked into allowing the Scarlet Moon Empire to form. It didn't take much convincing once he was certain that there would be no war, which he wanted to avoid at all costs, particularly since it might lead to the misuse of True Runes such as the Rugner Clan's Sovereign Rune.

3. Hikusaak is gathering the True Runes for a benevolent purpose.

Given the destructive nature of the True Runes, and how little it seems that the very vast majority of people in the Suikoden world know about them, it would seem a logical step to control their use. The relationship is analagous to nuclear weapons in our own world. Very few people would want a rogue non-state actor like al-Qaeda to have access to nuclear weapons. Very few nations would want a nation like North Korea to have them. Hikusaak views True Runes in much the same way. Runes like the Sun Rune can destroy entire nations in a heartbeat, and so for someone who actually has a great deal of information about True Runes and their use to want to collect them and prevent them from being abused is a very logical step. From what we know, Hikusaak did not ever use his True Runes as an attempt to gain power over other nations. In fact, Harmonia has been losing territory since its inception. Sasarai and Luc do not use their True Runes to influence events in other nations. Luc didn't use his in either Suikoden I or II (except to defeat Sasarai in II, but that's a different issue. Notice that Sasarai did not retaliate with his own True Rune when challenged.)
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He's a victim - not a perp - and I'm choosing to let him go.