Mosh

Mosh "The Negotiator" is a diplomat of the Kolshet Empire, as well as the head of Division P in the Ministry of Occult Investigations.

## Biography

Mosh was born in the Aegiman Empire, and was abandoned soon after birth, only to be found and adopted by the pharaoh's wife, who intended to use the child as a body double for her daughter, the current Pharaoh Antaemnekht. Growing up, Mosh received a royal education, including sorcery and diplomacy to convincingly portray his sister at events. The two were very close growing up, but Mosh always held some resentment since as far as everyone was concerned, he didn't exist. Him showing a similar aptitude to his sister for divine sorcery was one of the few times his family was genuinely proud of him. As a child, he wasn't even given a name; his sister named him against the will of her parents as part of her efforts to make him feel like he did matter.

Eventually, there was an assassination attempt against Antaemnekht, and Mosh was wounded in the leg by a cursed spear. The curse prevented him from healing properly, causing him to develop a limp. This made him unable to fulfil his duty as a body double, as it would raise questions about why Antaemnekht sometimes had a limp and didn't at other times. Despite Antaemnekht's protests, it was decided that Mosh had outlived his usefulness and should be disposed of, lest he give up the royal family's secrets.

He was taken deep into the Aegiman desert by two of the pharaoh's most trusted guards and forced to kneel in the sands. As the guard brought his khopesh down towards Mosh's neck, the guard dropped down dead, his life, and that of his accomplice, snuffed out by Mosh accidentally releasing some of his magic. Mosh, waiting for the kiss of the blade, heard the bodies hit the sand. He then looked and saw them, and wormed his way over to the dropped khopesh, using it to sever his bonds.

Mosh then made his way through the desert. When he thought thirst was going to get the better of him, he held his hands to the sky, and it started raining. He eventually made his way to a small town and, having no food, started begging. The local magistrate, not liking the look of this beggar, tried having him banned from the town. Mosh returned, every day in a new form, until the magistrate tried having him killed. Mosh avoided the attempts on his life, and decided to use his magic to punish the magistrate by making life miserable for all the town's inhabitants while using his shapeshifting to perfectly blend in. Every day, Mosh would release a different plague on the town, until eventually, after causing the deaths of all the firstborn children in the town, the magistrate was strung up on the gates of his dwelling, and an offering of food and drink was put outside to try to placate this person they believed to be a vengeful spirit sent by the gods to test them and punish their sins.

Mosh eventually left the desert, and crossed the Vulcan Mountains. There, he stumbled into the Plateau, and was found by Kleightus. Kleightus was impressed by what he'd heard about this man, and offered him a job. Mosh was cautious, but decided to accept so he wouldn't have to keep begging. He was taken to Ordning, and Kleightus presented him to Keisara. Mosh told his story, and Keisara commended him for his oratory. He was appointed as a diplomat of the empire, and was sent on a number of journeys to other nations the Kolshet Empire had dealings with.

Mosh, in his free time, started collecting prophecies, and developed a close friendship with Gor the All-Seeing. When Kleightus was stripped of his military rank and instead given the role of Minister of the Ministry of Occult Investigations, Mosh was offered the role of overseeing a division based on collecting and interpreting prophecies and those associated with them. Thankful to Kleightus for bringing him to the Kolshet Empire in the first place, Mosh accepted. His division is one of the more "hands-off" ones for its overseer, allowing Mosh to continue in his role as a dipomat.

After the end of the Firbolg Civil War, Mosh was sent to Mano to negotiate with the emperor due to the Kolshet Empire and Manian Empire having contested claims over the remains of the Great Forest. He was given special instructions from Keisara herself to have the Opuleni Novelli and Maximi Superbi households only minimally affected by his plagues. Around this time, he learned that a number of individuals of interest he was having monitored were likely going to be targeted by Princess Skarlat. Not having the manpower himself to bring them to safety, he made the decision of requesting Division S bring them in which, after slaughtering an entire settlement in the Teohicun Mountains and Division P itself getting attacked, they succeeded in doing.

When he finally arrived in the Manian capital, Mosh went straight to Emperor Manus XIV Medicus, and told him to relinquish his claims of the Great Forest. The emperor refused, so Mosh left, and summoned a powerful blood monster, He-who-dances-in-blood, upstream of Mano on the river Manu, turning the river to blood. This was quickly fixed by the party, after Aly had a dance-off with he-who-dances-in-blood, and Mosh returned to the emperor the next day to repeat his demands. The emperor once again refused, so that night Mosh summoned a horde of frogs to cause havoc in the city. He then returned to the emperor again, and once again was refused. The next night, he turned all the dust of the city into lice. When he went to the emperor on that day, Aly was there to negotiate on the Manian behalf. They negotiated, with Mosh learning a good deal about the emperor in the process. Seeing that the court mage was not present at negotiations, Mosh accepted Manian rule of the region once containing the Great Forest in return for the Kolshet Empire being able to have a coastal enclave and the sacred tree of Mano being taken to that enclave. Mosh stopped his plagues, but Mano's court mage's capacity for performing realm magic was crippled due to the removal of the source's manifestation right after the Source, which strengthened the mebhaighl of the city, was lost. Even when a new manifestation appears there, Mano's capacity for realm magic will be permanently crippled due to that realm magic source quickly degrading to the point of uselessness. Mosh then went north to oversee the construction of the enclave.

## Powers and Abilities

Mosh is an accomplished spellcaster, currently on the way to becoming a hero deity. He specialises in conjuring plagues that can cripple large areas, and uses creative uses of his spells to increase their effectiveness in that regard. He is also a skilled shapeshifter, owing to his changeling nature, and is trained in the diplomatic and priestly arts. He does suffer from an incurable curse that has damaged his left leg.