Achilles

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You are Achilles! Oh no. <a title="Jona Lendering, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Achilles_fighting_against_Memnon_Leiden_Rijksmuseum_voor_Oudheden.jpg"><img width="256" alt="Achilles fighting against Memnon Leiden Rijksmuseum voor Oudheden" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/ba/Achilles_fighting_against_Memnon_Leiden_Rijksmuseum_voor_Oudheden.jpg/256px-Achilles_fighting_against_Memnon_Leiden_Rijksmuseum_voor_Oudheden.jpg"></a> (This is you, Achilles, as painted on a pot around 300 BCE -- over 2,000 years ago! You're a warrior.) You are on the battlefield at Troy. <<if $journey is true>>You know that you and your fellow Greek warriors came here 10 years ago to get Helen back, after she ran off (or was abducted) and left her husband<<else>>[[Journey<-How did you end up here]]?<</if>> You are an ANGRY MAN. You have lost your "special friend." <<if $Patroclus is true>>You know Patroclus died when you sent him out to fight in the battle dressed in your armor.<<else>>[[Patroclus<-Who was that?]]<</if>> Long ago, your mother told you something about your fate -- something that sets you apart from everyone else. <<if $doublefate is true>>You know it's your DOUBLE FATE<<else>>[[What is it?->Double fate]]<</if>> You are hunting down someone down, looking for revenge. <<if $Hector is true>>You know it's Hector, the Trojan prince who killed your special friend Patroclus.<<else>>[[Hector<-Who is it?]]<</if>> Achilles, find your [[destiny]]!

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Your fate can go one of two directions, depending on the choices you make. We call this your... <<linkreplace "(click to see)">>DOUBLE FATE<</linkreplace>> Here is what you said to the embassy that came to persuade you to return to the fight (Iliad 9.410): "For my mother the goddess, silver-footed Thetis, telleth me that ''twofold fates'' are bearing me toward the doom of death: if I abide here and war about the city of the Trojans, then lost is my home-return, but my renown shall be imperishable; but if I return home to my dear native land, lost then is my glorious renown, yet shall my life long endure, neither shall the doom of death come soon upon me." So, Achilles, your double fate means you have a choice: 1) Stay and fight at Troy and get <<linkreplace "(click to see)">>GLORY<</linkreplace>>, but <<linkreplace "(click to see)">>DIE YOUNG<</linkreplace>>. 2) Leave the battle, go home, no glory, but live a long, long, long (boring) life. Achilles, do you understand your fate? If so, proceed to the [[testing ground->fate quiz]]!

Achilles, this is the testing ground! Tell us about your fate! Choose right, and you may continue. Choose wrong, and you'll go back to relearn. Achilles, first, what kind of fate do you have? <label><<radiobutton "$userfatetype" "1">>Single</label> <label><<radiobutton "$userfatetype" "2">>Double</label> <label><<radiobutton "$userfatetype" "3">>Triple</label> Achilles, second, if you die young, what compensation do you get? (five letters, starts with a "g", write *lower case*) <<textbox "$usercompensationtype" "">> When you have selected your answers, then [[proceed|fate quiz part two]]

<<if $userfatetype is "2" and $usercompensationtype is "glory">> <<set $doublefate to true>> Achilles, you passed the test! You have a DOUBLE FATE -- stay at Troy, fight and get GLORY, but die young, OR go home, live a long, boring life with no glory. [[Proceed!|Home]] <<else>> <<set $doublefate to false>> Achilles, you did not pass. You must try again. [[proceed|Double fate]] <</if>>

It all started when <<linkreplace "(click to see)">>HELEN<</linkreplace>> ran off from her husband. <figure><a title="Evelyn De Morgan , Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Helen_of_Troy.jpg"><img width="256" alt="Helen of Troy" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/94/Helen_of_Troy.jpg/256px-Helen_of_Troy.jpg"></a><figcaption>Helen of Troy, as imagined in a drawing from the late 19th century</figcaption></figure> She left Menelaus, her husband in Sparta, and went to Troy to be with Paris. Was Helen abducted? Did she run off willingly? <<linkreplace "(click to see)">>NO ONE KNOWS! different people tell different stories<</linkreplace>> (One thing is clear. This story starts off by blaming a woman. What do we call it when the story begins by blaming a woman? "Cherchez la femme." Google it sometime. That's the story here.) Achilles, you and your fellow Greeks sailed across the Aegean Sea to Troy to get Helen back. That was 10 years ago! It's been 10 years of slaughter and plague and general mayhem. Achilles, proceed to the [[testing ground->journey quiz]]!

Achilles, you are at the testing ground to see whether you understand how you got to Troy! Enter the name of the Greek woman who left her husband and sailed to Troy -- the woman whom you and everyone else blame for starting this terrible war! (Write all lower case.) <<textbox "$userhelensname" "">> Achilles, now state how many years ago it was that you and the other Greeks sailed to Troy. (Enter the number with numerals.) <<textbox "$usertenyearsago" "">> When you are ready, [[proceed->journey quiz part two]]!

<<if $userhelensname is "helen" and $usertenyearsago is "10">> <<set $journey to true>> Achilles, you passed! Ten years ago you and your fellow Greeks sailed to Troy to retrieve Helen. [[Proceed|Home]] <<else>> <<set $journey to false>> Achilles, you did not pass. You must try again. [[proceed|Journey]] <</if>>

He was your special friend, ever since you grew up together. His name was Patroclus. They asked you to come back into the fight, Achilles, but you refused. You were too angry still at Agamemnon, and how he had dishonored you by taking away your war prize. You weren't about to go fight and die for Agamemnon. But something had to be done. All your comrades were dying on the battlefield. You sent out Patroclus dressed in YOUR OWN ARMOR. That would show them. But it didn't work. He was killed. Hector killed Patroclus with the help of the gods. Hector, that son of the Trojan king, Priam. Hector TOOK YOUR ARMOR off Patroclus' dead body, and he wears it for himself! Now, Achilles, you are REALLY angry. You have lost your friend, and you have lost your armor. <<set $Patroclus to true>> [[Proceed->Home]]

You hunt Hector down. You kill him. You drag his body around the city of Troy seven times. You bring Hector's body back with you to your tent in the Greek camp. <<set $Hector to true>> [[Proceed->Home]]