Mandu

One of the first humans created for the continent Nèilóng-Tǔ by Culpireal and Beathal, Mandu was exiled from humanity for showing signs of sorcery. He found a place with his future wife, Whisper, and sought out the powers of undeath given to mortalkind by Ghalzari - becoming a Lich to elongate his lifespan in order to keep his promise of forever to his wife. His life has since settled down into an advisory role, and a fatherly one.

## History

### Early Life

Mandu was created by Culpireal and Beathal shortly before the first war of the gods, alongside others in the first group of humans on Nèilóng-Tǔ. He was quickly exiled for displaying early signs of sorcery in the form of those around him showing signs of thirst or hunger even when they'd just eaten or drank. Mandu set out in search of answers about the magic he'd been given, learning of a lorekeeper that lived within the dragon emperor Kyoshan's imperial library in the city of Kyozo. He was briefly enslaved by Kyoshan, being released only when the dragon emperor decided he, "cursed" as he was with sorcery, was useless.

He eventually made his way into the imperial library, where he learned about the source of his magic from its Librarian, Whisper. His supposed "curse" was little more than a faint connection to Abaddon, presenting itself as a sorcerous bloodline. Mandu cemented himself within the library as an assistant to Whisper after learning this, knowing that he would not be welcomed back into human circles.

#### Lichdom

Mandu, after marrying Whisper, grew concerned with his shorter lifespan and what that meant for their relationship. He was eventually convinced of Lichdom as a solution to his mortality after reading several treatises about the Lich Queen Ghalzari's transformation and phylacteries. Mandu chose to make four phylacteries, avoiding the typical corruption faced by liches due to Ghalzari's hibernal state. His phylacteries are: his wedding ring, his cat familiar, Song, a scroll case within the Imperial Library, and, Whisper herself.

### Corruption

Mandu made efforts to stall the corruption that began to occur in Whisper due to her split body and soul by replicating daemonic rituals typically reserved for mezoch, which resulted in a curse spreading throughout his body. The curse visibly took the form of black marks along Mandu's limbs, extending inward from his hands and feet. Its impacts included a permanent physical feeling of Whisper's pulse, pain, and other ailments in the afflicted limbs, an alignment shift to Chaotic Evil, and paranoia.

When Whisper proved unable to combat her corruption with her current power, Mandu sought to bolster it by forming a religious cult in support of her, The Quills. He recruited every member of the organization, placing himself as its head and sole contact point with Whisper. No members of the organization save for himself were made aware of his marriage to her, nor of her corruption.

Mandu used his organization to learn the secrets of daemons and those close to daemons, using what he learned to blackmail or otherwise coerce those affected into granting their power or other resources to Whisper. He, during a plot to leverage Empress Huang Mei-hui's half-daemonic heritage, learned of the unusual circumstances of the former King Charles-René of Essian, and of his bastard son Fujiki Sakuya who was unaware he was the nobleman's son at all. With the former king, now going under the name Lys, acting against The Quills, Mandu took action to stop him in his tracks by sending Sakuya to Lys's doorstep as an implied sex worker, paying off the kitsune's hefty medical debts in return.

With Sakuya and Lys both out of the way, Mandu resumed his efforts at destabilizing the government of Kyozo before being slain by the nation's Guardian Dragon, Seong Min.

### Resurrection and The Kyozai Empire

Mandu, as a lich, resurrected shortly afterward in Whisper's Sanctuary. His curse was removed by the dying process. Now uncorrupted, Mandu returned to a role as an aid to Whisper and supported her opinions of a Kyozo-centered empire on the continent. He was tasked by the now-emperor Dũng Liang Heng to leverage his cult's information arm to destabilize the nation's adversarial powers, specifically the oni warlords of the northern kingdoms. Mandu's tactics proved controversial among the kingdom's leadership, especially the instigation of a coup that led to the mob killing of the shaman Yamutosu. Ultimately, Mandu's role in the early days of the empire's formation were regarded as successful, but their necessity and morality has been called into question by various sources during and since.

After the empire reached a stable state, Mandu settled into an advisory role to Whisper, and was officially titled Scribe of the Magister. He then passed leadership of The Quills onto his apprentice Tarquin. Mandu chose to get his cursemarks tattooed back onto his body as a physical symbol of his remaining ties both to Whisper and The Quills after questions of his loyalty to both were raised due to his place in government.

## Personal Life

### Romantic Relationships

#### Whisper

Mandu's first and only love is Whisper, whom Mandu has lived with since his early adulthood when Mandu arrived at her library in search of information about his sorcerous bloodline. He developed a crush on the daemon, particularly her true form, out of physical attraction speculated to have originated because of his daemon-tied nature. Regardless of the cause, Mandu did not reveal his attraction to Whisper until she made an effort to find human settlements - and potential human partners - for him to find companionship in when she discovered that he suffered from loneliness stemming from a subdued version of daemonic attachment periods.

Mandu sought her permission to court her after this, and Whisper agreed. He showed his love and appreciation to her through acts of service, desiring to show her that he could remain useful even (and especially) when his primary goal was affection. His efforts to learn her anatomy in order to craft clothing for her were particularly appreciated by the daemon, and contributed to Mandu's persistent hobbyist tailoring.

The pair married shortly after Mandu turned thirty-six, at an altar to Theabis. They did not have their first child until several thousand years later, after heaven's fall, after Theabis's return to power, and after the Darkscar had been stopped in its expansion. It was only with the world nearly-stable that they had their children - four of them, one right after the other. They have remained together since, adopting numerous cats along the way.