Role

Chapter 15

Despite the relatively short lives of arials and the sparseness of their
towns or villages, there exist some social distinctions within sufficiently
large arial societies. Maldaris was born to the rulers of a small township
called Asharkand, a name derived directly from the ruling family's name.

Maldaris was the 'prince' in Asharkand, and was to take over after his
father's demise. While he was young, he was given every bit of education
deemed necessary to a noble prince, which included extensive study of
philosophy, logic, magic, diplomacy, deportment, and simply too much for a
young arial to cope with, despite their racial intelligence. Young Maldaris
was not evil to begin with, but some events changed it all.

He was idealistic. He believed that he had a true calling to rule his
people. He believed that he was the one most suited to ruling the people
of Asharkand, and that was exactly what his father and the rest of the
family believed as well. The commoners were to be protected and led with
the superior wisdom of the Asharkands, and anyone seeking to gain power is
considered evil and disruptive to the society, and hence executed. Every
means of repressing opposition was used in Asharkand, which left the town
in a state of constant tension.

It did not take long for the neighbouring town to take advantage of this
state of affairs by inciting rebellion and arming the commoners. In short,
Asharkand was renamed New Township of Equality, and the 'foolish',
'rebellious' peasants took over. Maldaris' family was slain in a swift
strike, but Maldaris managed to use a magical device to transport himself
to safety.