Mel's Pirate Backstory

[Shiva Indis]

I remember seeing a thread about Mel and his background as a pirate, and what the deal was with Meribia's name changing, etc, etc; (though I can't seem to find it anymore) and I've found some data that clarifies it somewhat. Since it comes from a Lunar TSS guidebook (specifically L:TSS World of Lunar and Capture Guide), I've put it in TSS's board.

In the days when Mel was a pirate, Meribia had a different name. Unfortunately, it seems the scenario staff never decided what it would be, and in the article they continue to refer to the city as Meribia in lieu of the former name. At any rate, Meribia became a wealthy port very quickly, and the wealth attracted pirates and swindlers. Mel (he went by Mel Alkirk in these days) was among the strongest of these pirates.

Of course, there were a lot of very wealthy Meribian merchants and nobles who wanted to get rid of the pirates, and they would regularly organize fleets to sail out and wage war against them, but the pirates almost always defeated them. Once the merchants hatched a plan for a pincer attack using fleets from both Meribia and Saith. A young Dyne accompanied the Saith fleet in hopes of crossing to the continent, and this is where the legend of Mel and Dyne's 7 day battle comes from.

The 7 day naval battle ended in a draw, but by this point Dyne and Mel had already struck up a friendship. Mel agreed to take Dyne to the continent, where Dyne resumed his adventures.

Dyne and Mel met again after Dyne resolved to become Dragonmaster, and needed to cross to Caldor to see the White Dragon. But the seas seemed to be as full of Meribian politics in those days as they were full of water, and they encountered a strange ship engaged in a battle with the Meribian Navy. Mel decided to board the strange ship, and found that the only daughter of the governor of Meribia was a captive on board; she had recently been kidnapped as leverage against her father. She would later marry Mel and become Jessica's mother.

The marriage was a popular subject of gossip all over the region, because it was still very, very unusual for a humans and beastfolk to wed (and that's not even getting into their vastly different social positions). Mel became both governor and admiral of Meribia and changed his name to Mel de Alkirk. At the same time the name of the city was changed to Meribia.

The article unfortunately doesn't say why the city's name was changed, or who's idea it was, but it doesn't seem that it was Mel's idea.

I don't know about the rest of you, I but think these scenarios sound like they'd be really cool to play. Adventure on the high seas!

[GhaleonOne]

I think it would make for a great addition to that part of the game if they do a Four Heroes story. It's too bad this kind of material was never brought into English.

[DevNall]

And here I figured Dyne would have seen the White Dragon first.

To tell the truth, thinking back I was kind of surprised that Ghaleon didn't know the location of the White Dragon; I wonder how late into their quest Ghaleon actually joined the party.

[GhaleonOne]

Depends on what timeline they'll go with. This is excluding Ghaleon if it goes off of the manga storyline. In the manga, Ghaleon found Dyne as a younger teen in Burg. He was already well on in years (though aged much much slower than humans), and was a traveling priest of Althena. It should be interesting to see if they do a Four Heroes game, and how they handle the role of healer. Dyne will obviously be the Alex/Hiro fighter type. Mel will be the Kyle-like powerful fighter. Lemia, I assume, being an Ausa, will be primarily a wizard. Does that leave Ghaleon to play the priest/healer? I always assumed him to be a powerful wizard, likely more powerful than any Ausa, even before his role as Magic Emperor. He's never done a healing spell in a Lunar game, but the manga states he was a priest. Should be interesting to see how they run with it if/when they do a Four Heroes game.

[Shiva Indis]

More than just the manga supports Ghaleon as a healer. In Silver Star Story, it looks like Four Heroes Ghaleon was a priest. His costume shares certain similarities with Jessica's, as well as Phacia's priestess costume - most evident are the white hoods and the gold medalions.

For comparison:
Phacia as head priestess
Jess
And while this isn't clear enough, (I'll have to upload the settei sketch) Four Heroes Ghaleon

Edit: As promised, the Four Heroes Ghaleon design sketch. If it doesn't load, try pasting the link into your address bar.

[drumlord]

Wow, that's a very compelling graphical argument actually. Never noticed that before.

[DevNall]

I'm looking forward to it, personally.

[GhaleonOne]

Actually, yeah, I think you made a great case for it. It's just weird that in both TSS and SSSC, he just had powerful attack spells. And then becomes a sword master in EB. The man is just an all around fighting machine!

[DevNall]

Actually, yeah, I think you made a great case for it. It's just weird that in both TSS and SSSC, he just had powerful attack spells.

Well, I would assume after "the events of 15 years ago", he totally renounced his priesthood and everything that went with it.

[NallOne]

Hmm. I always imagined him as the Red Mage type. Being proficient in damaging and healing forms of Magic. It's just that he's never seen as the "Oh, you have an owie! Let Ghaleon make it better!" type during TSS/SSSC or EB/EBC. Not to mention he wasn't exactly happy with Althena so I doubt he'd be very content using her powers to heal. (Then again...he planned to use her powers anyway..) Maybe the Ghaleon prior to snapping was a bubbly healer?

"Althena, lend me your power!" ::sprinkles dust on Dyne and heals his wounds::

"In the name of the Goddess!" ::scares the enemies away::

I don't think I could ever look at him the same way again.

[Kizyr]

Actually, yeah, I think you made a great case for it. It's just weird that in both TSS and SSSC, he just had powerful attack spells. And then becomes a sword master in EB. The man is just an all around fighting machine!

Right... in the Vane manga he performed healing spells, in TSS he performed powerful attack spells, and in EB he did swordsmanship (amplified by magic). He turned into a jack-of-all-trades and a master of all of them, at that. But, while he's still younger, I see him with less of the physical fighting and more of the healing spells.

Perhaps his embittered nature after Dyne's loss caused him to pursue more destructive arts? It's not like he never had the ability, but his vengeance may have driven him to hone in on that ability. Going by that, he'd likely be the healer of the party in a Four Heroes game. KF

[Shiva Indis]

Perhaps his embittered nature after Dyne's loss caused him to pursue more destructive arts? It's not like he never had the ability, but his vengeance may have driven him to hone in on that ability. Going by that, he'd likely be the healer of the party in a Four Heroes game. KF

I think Akari Funato agrees with you (and DevNall), and she goes a step further and visually severs Ghaleon from Althena's service at the end of the Vane Airship Stories manga. The last image of Ghaleon is as he is walking away from Althena's rebirth, and the cord of his pendant (which seems to be an unstated symbol of Althena's priesthood) has just snapped, and is falling away.

I've long suspected that Funato had some influence on the decision to make Ghaleon a priest in his younger years, though I have no way to prove it.

[Alunissage]

All this is really interesting. It also confirms something I've long thought would be reasonable -- that Mel inherited the governorship through his wife rather than just through popular acclaim. She was already called a nobleman's daughter in the game, but it didn't go further than that. My other theory was that he got the last name from her family, as only rulers seemed to have last names (this was before I knew that Ramus, Nash, Myght, and even Alex and Luna originally had them), and this, while not really accurate, has a minor parallel in his changing his name then. (My third theory, that Dyne fought Mel because Mel was holding his future wife for ransom or similar, didn't pan out, but it's not that far off the mark.) It always struck me as odd that Jessica's last name is just Alkirk, not de Alkirk...well, always since I actually noticed it, which wasn't that long ago. I don't remember if she has the 'de' in SSSC (in English, I mean), but she doesn't in TSS, nor, of course, in the Japanese games.

And yeah, I remember Ghaleon using at least one healing spell in the Vheen manga, on the young Dyne. It invoked Althena, of course. I didn't catch the breaking pendant at the end but it certainly makes sense. He would have had no reason to hate the Goddess before her and Dyne's actions.

On the topic of a Four Heroes party, wasn't Dyne called a magician in both TSS and SSS? I'd see him as parallel to TSS Alex rather than SSS Alex, then. The reason I mention this is because Laike is clearly a powerful fighter and swordsman; there are several NPCs who remark on it, particularly when they try to extort protection money from him. However, he may not have been that strong a fighter while Dragonmaster, and became one after he lost his magic -- I'm drawing a parallel to Ghaleon becoming a stronger fighter/attack mage after renouncing the Goddess.

Also, I'd propose Alex's father Noah as the Ramus-type...not in the business sense, of course, but as the one who starts out with the hero but ends up staying behind. Come to that, maybe that's more of a Luna type. He mentions journeying with Dyne but staying on Caldor ('nother theory: that he wanted to return to Thalia). The ship captain also adventured with Dyne, at least in TSS; however, that's probably referring to the battle at sea. I've also wondered if Jess's mom (too bad she doesn't seem to have a name anywhere) came along for part of it. The roots of her early death could even have been in that journey.

For the April Fool's Four Hero Story, G1 had a fairy acting as the flying cat member, to go along with Ghaleon's affinity for these otherwise inconspicuous creatures. That'd be another interesting thing to see. I wonder if there's text anywhere to explain the fairies? They're his prisoners in TSS, but he's their savior in EB/EBC. I forget what they are in SSS.

[Ardekh]

I always loved the idea of the relationship between Mel and Jessica's mother, because it ended racism between humans and beastmen. NPCs spoke about how everything was changing, because Mel was working to end the racism. And by EB, nobody cares at all, and two are in highest positions of power. In DS, of course, the beastmen are prominant, and if they made a Four Heros story, it would be in the time when humans dominated. So anyway, it's great to hear more about that, because I always wondered how Mel and Jessmother met, what the circumstances were.

And now I know the 7 day battle between Mel and Dyne wasn't just a really long sword fight.

In Silver Star Story, Jess is de Alkirk.

Hmm...now I have to draw this...

[Kazie Solo]

Is that 7-day battle the one Jess mentioned in SSSC before they entered the Grindery?

And in LL, Saria told Luna that Noah went to the Continent with Dyne but had to return to Burg due to injuries. It would've been cool if Noah didn't go back to Burg, don't you think?