Ananta

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• seagull man

The loss of Minos' First Temple to Sargon's occupation draws a parallel with the (partial) destruction of the Parthenon in Athens during the centuries of rule by the Ottoman Empire.

The Ottoman Empire existed from the 14th to early 20th century, and at its peak controlled large areas around the Eastern Mediterranean, including Egypt, Mesopotamia and the Balkans.  In the mid-15th century it conquered the remnants of the Byzantine Empire, including the lands of Greece.

The Parthenon stood for around 2000 years before it was heavily damaged during a Venetian invasion of Athens in 1687.  The Ottoman forces used the Parthenon as a gunpowder store, and Venetian shelling caused it to explode, collapsing much of the building.

The detailed reasons for the destruction of the Parthenon and the First Temple differ, but it shares the factor of an ancient cultural artefact being disregarded under foreign rule.  This continued as the Parthenon's remains were salvaged or sold off; most notably, at the start of the 19th century, Lord Elgin—the British Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire—removed half of the remaining sculptures with consent of the the Ottoman authorities.

Just as Minos is directly patterned on Greece, Sargon is... not *only* based upon the Ottoman Empire, but it's the most useful source material to keep in mind.  Hypergryph likes to make pretty direct political references to the 19th and early 20th centuries, and the Ottoman Empire was the dominant power in the region during that period.

While Greece first won its independence through a revolutionary war in the 1820s, this was only the start of a century of intermittent conflict to expand their control of Greek lands. In some ways, the conflict lingers on—Cyprus remains partitioned between Greek and Turkish communities, with a buffer zone policed by UN peacekeepers.

This is our fourth time getting a Cool Design Welfare Uncle that turns out to be racist in some way:

Patrizion's paternalistic superiority driving exclusion and then forced assimilation,

Skybox's opportunistic abuse of power to exploit foreign travellers, leading to off-hand contempt for pre-industrial peoples who are too poor to fleece,

Tin Man's calculated scapegoating of foreign nations to justify a buildup of military power to use against those nations,

And now Varkaris's anger at Sargonian occupation that becomes a hatred of Sargonians themselves.

At this point I wonder if it's not just coincidence—if HG are interested in exploring nuanced variations of racism (none of these are cartoonish KKK or Nazi-types, and the only case of real hatred is the hatred felt by the oppressed) as part of a more detailed character, but they're cautious about putting something potentially repellent on their breadwinning anime girls so they bundle it in with the more experimental characters.

As for Varkáris himself, I think it's helpful to consider the context around him in-game and in real-world history.

Varkáris is prejudiced against Sargonians, holding hatred against them on sight.  He voices this openly to Titi, and his hatred drives him to disrupt the establishment of peaceful relations between the two countries regardless of whether that risks further conflict.

He's not the only one.  Though they remain nameless, somebody attempted to assassinate Titi mid-ceremony.  Varkáris only attempted to steal the historical artefact that was to be presented in the trade, then later challenged Titi to an open duel.

Varkáris was ready to execute a captive Sargonian officer, but he stayed his hand when the trumpets of peace blared.

In the other direction, Varkáris enjoys the tacit defence of the Minosian state.  While he's arrested for his theft, and even charged with treason, every single Minosian politician we see takes action to facilitate his escape from jail and from punishment.  While he was placed on death row to satisfy the vice-ambassador, his punishment is commuted to a simple ostracism vote.  Even if the powers-that-be view his prejudice as a problem to be managed, they ultimately work to shield him from the consequences of his actions.

The Ottoman Empire was an intermingled multi-ethnic place, and reorganising its lands along ethnic lines required much bloodshed.  Reading up on this has been a grisly reminder of how common acts of ethnic cleansing were during these nationalist wars.

Both sides of the wars perpetrated these atrocities: Ottomans massacred Greeks, Greeks massacred Turks.  The century of Greek expansion ends not only with a genocide of the Greek population of Asia Minor but a mutual forced exchange of civilians of the "enemy" ethnicity between Greece and Turkey.  These pogroms and reprisals are a useful tool for nationalism, and they require the footsoldiers to believe their hatred is just and good.

For his part, much of Varkáris's character is about him moderating and coming to terms with his hatred.  His recruitment dialogue warns you to keep him away from Sargonians, and much ink is spilled in his files on how to keep him from threatening Rhodes Island's multi-ethnic harmony.  It's even reflected in gameplay—his base skill causes him to lose morale if stationed alongside Sargonian operators.

And yet, it doesn't lower the morale of the Sargonians.  In the end, Varkáris didn't cause trouble on the landship, even when Gavial accidentally wallops him.  He even had a mystery adventure with Narantuya:

I'm reminded of Kal'tsit's early attitude towards the Doctor here.  He can't easily let go of his anger and hatred, he can't easily forget what led him here.  But he does recognise the injustice in making others suffer for his pain.

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