Mahkhal Caspien (The Assassin)

"I've been dead for 42 years... Today's the day I live."

### Relatives

Howard Caspien (Father), Mary Caspien (Mother), Charlie Caspien (Sister), Montgomery Caspien (Brother)

## Mahkhal Caspien (The Assassin)

Mahkhal is the main character of The Road, he is first seen waking up in an empty plaza, and walking over to Declan Anderson (The Poet), wondering what's happening. Declan doesn't really answer any of Mahkhal's questions, before sending him out on his way. Mahkhal is usually a very serious person, who just want's to reach his goal, but he will make the occasional funny comment, he cares deeply about his friends, and he doesn't want them to get killed at the end, so he leaves them. When they come back, and find him on The Poet's island, the battered and bruised Mahkhal realizes that nothing matters anymore, and that they will follow him anyway, and he decides that it is better for them to die at his hands, then to The Poet's. Mahkhal dies in 2089 at the end of the game, after beating Declan by pure adrenaline.

## History

### Local58

Mahkhal is referenced and included several times throughout local58, in dream sequences and flashbacks. More info will be added soon.

### The Road

Before the events of the road, it is known that Mahkhal was born from two parents, a so far unmentioned mother named Mary Caspien, and his father (Howard Caspien). Based on the provided flashbacks, Howard was insanely abusive toward the Caspiens' youngest daughter Charlie. Mahkhal is first seen entering Montgomery Caspien's house in 2069. After Monty and Shelly go through some unpleasant exchanges, Monty encourages Mahkhal to go have some beers with him in his back yard, where he then spills his feelings to Mahkhal about his dis-satisfaction of his life, and states that he wishes it was more like his brothers. Mahkhal then tells him that he doesn't know that he wants that. It is unknown what happens directly after this.

Mahkhal is later seen teaching his weekly fencing class, where he finds a homeless kid glaring at his fencing students. Mahkhal tells the kid that he can join the class free of charge if he wants to, and it is implied that Mahkhal taught this homeless kid how to fence and fist fight, until he was almost better than Mahkhal. This homeless kid was Declan Anderson, who later is referred to as The Poet, and becomes the strongest individual in the general area that The Road takes place in.

Sometime after this, during the same year, Mahkhal gets a frantic call from his mother, demanding that he drive down to his parents' house, to stop Howard from abusing Charlie. Mahkhal does what he is asked, and he gets there to find the house torn apart. He arrives to Charlies bedroom to find her being emotionally and physically abused by Howard. Mahkhal demands his father to stop. Howard then challenges Mahkhal, and asks him what he would do about it, before telling him that he's a poor excuse for a man. Mahkhal is conflicted, and doesn't want to hurt his father, so he leaves the house after being hit in the head with a bottle of alcohol from Howard.

Days after this exchange, Mahkhal finds out that Howards abuse went too far, and Charlie had died from a poorly placed punch to the head, Mahkhal enters into a deep state of depression, and struggles to keep his fencing class going, canceling the weekly class left and right, as a young Bernard Antheraim finds out what happened to his friend Charlie, and also enters a state of depression.

Bernard ends up coming to the conclusion that Mahkhal is at fault for Charlies death, and also enters into a state of depression.

Mahkhal re-opens his fencing class to find it burning down to the ground. He panics and quickly enters the building, where he finds Declan Anderson with his face cut off. Declan tells Mahkhal that Bernard did it with a saw, and that he mentioned Charlie as well. In a complete state of shock, Mahkhal slowly starts leaving the building, wanting to totally forget his past, and start over, all while Declan pleads with him not to leave.

Declan is picked up by the fire department and transferred to the ICU in a hospital. It is unknown what Mahkhal had to go through in the following months.

When the government is overthrown in 2070, Mahkhal's whereabouts are unknown, and The Road never explains what happened, to make him wake up 19 years later, in a deserted plaza, with no memories. It could be possible that Mahkhal wanted to forget everything, and that the journey to find out who he was during The Road, is all just bringing back his past unwanted self anyway.

## Appearance

Mahkhal is a bearded man in his early forties, he is very tall and lightly muscular. At the start of the game he carries a sword and a Gat. By the player's choice, he can lose one or both of his arms, if he loses any arms, he will lose those respective weapons. Mahkhal hasblack hair and black eyes, he wears light-weight black armor and a navy blue undershirt.

## Attributes

Physical strength level: 7/10

Speed: Fast

Pain Tolerance: Medium-High

Armor: High

Range: Medium-High

Learning Capacity: Medium-Low

## Skill List

Peircing Shot

Flourish

Berserk

Jumping Stab

Machine Gat Stab

Fireball

Tackle

Big Slash

Suprise Attack

Flip Kick

Head Slide

Drop Kick

Dust Up

Receding Stance

Home Run Head Slide

## Personality

Mahkhal is a quiet, very serious, and rarely happy man. He doesn't show much emotion, other than anger toward Bernard. Mahkhal has a tough appearance, he is tall muscular and lean, and has long hair, and an unkempt beard. Depite his tough exterior, he is actually very shy, and doesn't speak unless he needs to. He has also proven to be very kind in select situations.

Mahkhal is very dedicated to is goal of getting his memories back, and ending Declan's 4 year long, endless calamity of a reign over the areas seen in The Road.

Mahkhal's personality can change based on the player's decisions in the game. The player can choose to be selfish, and put people and items on the line for Mahkhal's own well being, or they can be selfless, and give up their arms to save their friends' well being. Mahkhal is serious and never smiles throughout the entirety of The Road, unless it is a flashback from before the apocolypsr, and any silly or non-serious thing he says or does, isn't genuine, and is only to further his goal of getting his memories back, and getting to Declan.

Before the gameplay of The Road, Mahkhal lived a very grim and depressing life, with many things going wrong, and many life-ruining experiences. Often times he'd depend on one thing to either distract him, or keep him happy, and often times, these things would be quickly taken from him, leaving him with nothing. His abuse from his father Howard left him unable to experience love the same way as others, and the only people who he truly developed love for, we're his mother, his brother Monty, and his 3 party members who helped him to reach his goal during The Road.

## Tips

Mahkhal is by far one of the strongest characters in the entire game, alongside Monty, John Johnson, and The Poet. Even when missing two limbs, and despite being fairly weak at the beginning, Mahkhal grows steadily stronger as the game progresses- he gains the ability to stun, mass Attack, perform skills that leech health, and deal strong, single-target damage. Mahkhal doesn't have any debuff removers or support abilites though, making him entirely damage focused. Mahkhal can be well partnered with anyone, and his large variety of moves allows him to be useful in any situation, despite any loss of his arms that may happen.

## Trivia

* If Mahkhal loses both of his arms, he can no longer use the skills "Big Slash", "Piercing Shot", or "Berserk." and the attack that replaces his normal sword attack, is a normal headbutt attack. Mahkhal can still use certain skills, however.
* Mahkhal was originally going to only be referred to as "The Assassin" and you wouldn't ever learn his name, but that idea was later scrapped.
* Mahkhal wasn't named after any particular person.
* Mahkhal wanted to get married one day, but on top of everything he had to go through, he was never able to find a good partner.
* Mahkhal is 6'5" or 196cm tall, and is the second tallest character of the main cast of party members in the game.
* Mahkhal appears several times in local58 during flashbacks, or dream sequences.
* All of the Caspiens are very tall. Tallness is said to be a common thing in the Caspien family.
* Mahkhal is Dutch/Irish.
* Mahkhal is my first real videogame character I've ever created.
* It's implied in some flashbacks that Mahkhal would often run away from situations involving his father, or involving difficult subjects in general.
* Mahkhal and his brother Monty share the same sized shoes, size 14.
* Mahkhal's brother Monty, was his best friend in life.
* Mahkhal has really bad teeth, and rarely ever shows them.
* It is unknown whether Mahkhal truly cared for Declan, or if he treated him nicely to make himself feel better about his life.
* Mahkhal is a introvert.
* There are a few unused sprites for Mahkhal.
* If you get to the end of the game, and fight the poet's army with both arms, you will still lose your left arm due to the bodily harm that Declan's soldiers create.
* Mahkhal was taught fencing by his grandmother.
* Mahkhal used to have a shaven face.