If Malystryx Was Evil

Tonight at work, Malystryx and I had an interesting conversation about what we would be if we'd been raised in an environment devoid of morals, faith, or any sense of guilt/conscience. It started with us discussing a game where characters could choose a good quest or an evil quest and could use their particular skills/gifts to accomplish either end.

We decided to write a post on our respective blogs describing what the other would be like if, with the same personality, strengths, and weaknesses, we were the product of environments that turned us evil.

So, my job is to describe what Malystryx would be if he was evil.

Malystryx is a man of honor, integrity, pride, fierce competitiveness, a black and white sense of right and wrong, no room for error, calculating, likes to stand back and observe others, find their weaknesses, make a strategy and implement it at the maximum opportunity for success; he doesn't consider failure an option, he protects fiercely those he loves, he values his world view highly enough that other's opinions of him rarely influence his decisions, and once he's commited himself to a course of action, nothing stops him.

In short, he makes either an excellent hero or a coldly calculating villain.

For the sake of this exercise, I'll paint a picture of Malystryx as the coldly calculating villain.

1. He would kill for gain or for revenge but rarely would it be an act of passion. Instead, the act of murder would be well-thought-out and deliberate, with maximum advantage for success and minimal chance for blame to fall on him.

2. He would use a sniper's rifle or con someone else into doing the dirty deed for him so that the crime couldn't be tied to him. In the rare instance where he was forced to kill "up close and personal", he would use hand to hand combat or a small, deadly dagger and it would be over before the victim knew what hit him.

3. He would have few friends and his enemies would constantly try to outguess him and fail.

4. He would expect complete loyalty to him and disloyalty would be viewed as unforgivable.

5. He would act for personal gain and to prove to himself that he was the best at everything. No one would outcon, outsmart, or outmaneuver him because he would always play to win and would be willing to do whatever it took.

6. He would seem cold and distant to his enemies and to those who didn't know him well enough to see that behind the silent watchfulness lay a depth of thought and emotion.

7. He might start his "evil" career with petty crimes like theft or fraud but he would distinguish himself quickly by always stealing the biggest, the best, and the most dangerous and by commiting the most complicated, outrageous fraud. He would graduate quickly from that to major crimes or running a major crime syndicate because he would constantly crave more challenge. Once he knew he could beat everyone on the playing field, he would up the game to attract better players until he leveled every field and controlled the entire city/nation/world.

8. He would always have a plan. Always. And his plan would be seven steps ahead of where anyone expected him to be.

9. Stealing or hurting anything he labelled as "his" would require that the perpetrator be punished in a way that set an example to others thinking of taking him on.

In short, Malystryx's personality devoid of a conscience would make for a pretty scary villain. How could he be defeated?

By exploiting his pride, refusing to play by his rules enough to goad him into a careless display of emotion/weakness and being ready to take him out when his emotions clouded his judgment. It would take a very determined, competitive, "out of the box" thinker with the same "do anything it takes to win" mindset and a mile-wide streak of foolish courage to do it.

Want to see what one of my best friends thinks I'd be like if I was evil? Go to Malystryx's blog (link on the right) and see for yourself. =)