Alad Zhenu

**Alad Zhenu** was a High-Ranking Red Shade and one of the three members of The High Trinity, the organization's command. Known throughout the planet as "the Ultimate Enforcer", Alad was ruthless to his enemies, but also considered to be very trustworthy and loyal to his causes as well as considerate for his comrades. One of his defining traits was his lack of an arm, as well as one bionic one.

## Biography

### Early Life

Born in a contested mining district, Alad witnessed Houses fighting for territory from an early age. The fighting claimed the life of one of his Brothers. His constant exposure to fighting pushed his career from mining to warfare, a decision which greatly disappointed his family despite the wealth it has brought them.

### His Twilight Years

Over his nearly 60 year career, Alad has done everything from street fights to escorts and assassinations of Underlords. This has lead to many stories and rumors of his deeds, including that no Underlord who sent assassins after Alad has survived more than 60 days from the day the order was issued. He is revered and feared by other Enforcers and the underground Crime World and has a massive circle of contacts in both areas.

45 years ago, Alad was a devoted recruit in The Collegium of Seekers, however, he was convinced to defect to the mysterious Order of Red Shades by spies of the organization. On one fateful night, as a reward for his work in the Collegium, he was taken to the Seekers' Artifact Chamber. The details of that night are shady at best, however, Alad stole a plasma cannon from the chamber and forced his way out of the Collegium. It was the night he officially joined the Order of the Red Shades, becoming its newest high ranking member.

30 years ago, Alad faced one of biggest challenges of his life as he was ambushed by an entire mid-class house - at least 150 people - all alone, facing them in a battle that lasted the entire night. He survived the encounter, however, he lost an arm and earned several cuts, burns and scars on his body, usually hidden by his clothing.

Alad spent the next forty years rebuilding the once prestigious organization to its former glory, finding new members and earning funding for the organization through gambling, enforcer work and robberies. Ten years ago, nearly all his efforts were destroyed as the new Red Shades decided to wage war against the Crimson Shell and the Seekers - a war that ended in humiliating defeat. After that, Alad went back to the drawing board, recruiting new members, including a young man named Lokhem Moloz and searching for a way to get the organization back into prominence without a direct war.

### Return to prominence

Five years ago, under the request of an Underlord named Lord Hielomax II - a former employer and close ally of Alad, the Order of the Red Shades infiltrated the Xalazarian House's Royal Archives in Ordovicia. He recruited a man named Grohdom - known within the organization as "The Ghost" for his specialty of infiltration and assassination - to search for information within the vast archives, Lokhem, known as "The Janitor" to remove any traces of their presence as well as his best friend, General Lev'Zom, to assist in their escape.

The Red Shades managed to attain valuable information on the Xalazarian throne, Collegium of Seekers and Xanemus Holhbane - an enigmatic, ancient figure, responsible for the Elden Ones' disappearance from the planet, though their intrusion was noticed halfway into the raid. Alad, Grohdom and Lokhem killed several guards and men present within the archives - most notable Propxan, a Seeker scholar and former ally of Alad, making their escape with the assistance of General Lev'Zom.

### Facing The Colossus

Following the infiltration of Xalazarian Royal Archives, the Red Shades began planning out a raid on the Collegium of Seekers. Alad got himself a new prosthetic arm - one that would come to be known as "The Obsidian Arm", reunited with Teraxian to discuss the sale of artifacts that would be stolen during the raid and got assistance of the Ano-Caris house, led by Lord Hielomax II, for the raid. Following this, the Shades prepared to initiate the raid. This involved Grohdom leaving to spy and learn more about the Collegium of Seekers, as well as Alad meeting Marjow Dekar - a young yet wise Red Shade famous for his stat-enhancing brews. Alad, however, held a grudge against Marjow, as he conducted business with the Church and the Seekers. After threatening and beating him up in an alleyway, Alad handed him a list of brews required for the raid. On the same night, Alad found out that Grohdom had killed himself to avoid capture by the Seekers, sending all of the info he acquired to the Red Shades before his death. His corpse was retrieved and returned to the Red Shades by a woman known as Dalamaxia.

Angered by the death, Alad made his way to the north to investigate rumors of a prison being overrun and a research facility destroyed. Arriving at the prison, he found the rumors to be true - and all of that was the doing of one massive, experimental laserblade wielding Prophaniti known as The Colossus. Following a brutal battle that saw Alad use several brews and his secret combat style in an attempt to best the Colossus, the mysterious, larger than life Prophaniti emerged victorious - though was prevented from killing Alad by Lord Mar'Puz, the most respected Red Shade.

Alad was taken to Mar'Puz's northern mansion to recover. Still distrustful of the Red Shade, he forced Mar'Puz's story out of him, learning of his deal with Dalamaxia, rescue of the Colossus as well as involvement in the previous generation of Red Shades. Satisfied with the answers and noticing the arrival of other Red Shades, Alad commenced the raid on the Collegium of Seekers.

### The Artifact Chamber

Alad Zhenu was instrumental in the Order of Red Shades' raid of the Collegium of Seekers, infiltrating their compound, murdering several guards and an apprentice Seeker to steal his uniform and completely destroying four out of the five alarms placed in the Collegium, as well as temporarily disabling the last and most complex one. On his way to disable the last alarm, he ran into Dalamaxia, who, while aware of Alad's true identity, allowed him to snoop around the Collegium temporarily due to a nearly 80-year old agreement between her and Lord Mar'Puz.

After disabling the final alarm, Alad used a haste brew to massively increase his speed, taking down several guards and exploring the seemingly endless labyrinth of the Collegium where the Artifact Chamber was rumored to be situated. During his exploration, he found an unlocked door. After he entered it, he found himself in one of the Collegium's infamous "clinics" riddled with experimented, broken Prophaniti. One of these mutated Prophaniti attacked Alad, mistaking him for Dalamaxia, attempting to suck his brain into his own body, but Alad managed to win the duel by firing a desperate blast of his cannon, killing the experiment that attacked him and causing the ceiling of the room to collapse, killing several more experiments in the process. Alad himself was knocked out due to the blast. As he woke up, he realized his arm was trapped under the rubble. After unsuccessfully trying to pull it out of the rubble and failing to establish contact with his comrades, Alad chose to cut his own arm off with his sword, freeing himself at the cost of massive blood loss. After wandering around for a while, he found his way to the artifact chamber, meeting another high-ranking Red Shade, a young lady known as Crolia. They tried to open the artifact chamber, however, were intercepted by Dalamaxia, who quickly dispatched both of the Prophaniti, forcing them to experience terrifying hallucinations of their loved ones and comrades being dissected by "The Fair Doctor".

Alad's life was saved by Marjow who, despite being outmatched, engaged Dalamaxia in battle. He later used his anti-hallucinogenic brew to relieve Alad's hallucinations. After Dalamaxia was surrounded and surrendered to the Red Shades, Alad was sent away to a quieter place for his wounds to be treated by some Red Shade operatives. The battle between Dalamaxia and the Red Shades resumed, and while Alad was not present for the rest of the fight, the combined efforts of Lokhem, Marjow, Rexanthrall, General Lev'Zom's personal squad and finally General Lev'Zom himself were enough to put an end to The Fair Doctor and destroy a mysterious Eye of Yath'enei.

### Movian Occupation

Alad and General Lev'Zom were greatly disgusted by the Movian occupation of Prophaniti. While the Red Shades remained a neutral, quiet force during the occupation, Alad and Lev'Zom went on individual and group missions to sabotage Movian convoys, destroy their supplies and disable their droids. The two warriors abandoned this small rebellion about three years after the occupation started after nearly getting their identities exposed in a close encounter with Movian droids.

### The Elden Paradox

A year after the Movian occupation began, Alad got strange, recurring dreams about an ancient Prophaniti palace made completely out of stone, with a faint voice calling out to him, telling him to seek the palace out. He endured these dreams for four years before finally caving in to the pressure one night, grabbing several Artifacts of Xanemus and setting out into the Movian-occupied surface in search of the mysterious palace. After finally locating it and breaking down several barriers guarding it, Alad found his way inside of the Stone Palace, or what he would soon learn was better known as the Elden Paradox. After trying to abandon the journey and finding out the door was not there anymore, he saw the bodies of inhabitants of the palace seemingly frozen in time, all with terrified expressions on their faces. Afraid to touch the walls or anything in the palace, he carefully navigated his way through it in hopes of finding a way out. Two hours later, he almost became one of the Palace's many statues himself as the Palace started shifting its rooms and walls around. He barely managed to land on safe ground, escaping a horrible fate. As he went deeper into the palace, he discovered notes and writings from a human explorer who visited the palace hundreds of thousands of years ago and ultimately lost his sanity. A while later, he also found the stone corpse of the human. It was there that he was greeted by a mysterious, frail Prophaniti who was barely kept alive by life support - Yosifix Aurorus, or "The Man in the Stone Palace". After taking Alad into the center of the palace - the only place that was unaffected by the constant shifting of the palace's layout, he introduced himself as a member of Xanemus Holhbane's squad who was trapped in the palace by the Elden Ones, unable to die and unable to make his way out of it. Alad soon realized that time was slowed down in the palace, as Yosifix claimed that he spent eighteen million years in it. He told Alad stories of the Great Rebellion and warned him of the Elden Ones' might, as well as telling him about a way to potentially escape the palace by destabilizing the stargem core powering it. Alad, assisted by Yosifix, managed to find and destabilize the core, though that only managed to temporarily bring the palace back to life. The palace would shift back and forth between being alive and frozen in time, with the screams of its alive once more inhabitants being replaced by silence time after time. After being lead back to the center of the palace by Yosifix, Alad received several items from him - a mysterious vial containing what Yosifix called the Tears of Time, The Yakatushian Bow - one of Xanemus Holhbane's 18 artifacts and the protective gear that was keeping Yosifix alive. Due to taking off the gear while the palace was alive, Yosifix's body began to crumble and he slowly died as Alad rushed in search of the exit, carrying Yosifix in his hands in hopes of letting the old friend of Xanemus Holhbane see the light of the Luminatar one last time.

After he escaped from the paradox, Alad confirmed Yosifix's theory, as despite spending days in the palace, only a couple of hours had passed outside of it. He sealed off the entrance to the palace permanently, starting to make his way back to Guiltimus.

### Final Mission

On his way back from the palace, Alad received a distress call from Marjow. He was informed of grave news - the Red Shades headquarters were attacked and heavily damaged, Lokhem, Crolia and many others were kidnapped and General Lev'Zom was severely injured by the hands . Not long after talking to the Ultimate Enforcer, Marjow was kidnapped as well.

Alad returned to Guiltimus in the early hours of the morning, finding the usually bustling city completely silent. He made his way to the destroyed headquarters of the Red Shades, heading inside in search of any survivors, where he found the bartender, still alive but crucified and mortally wounded. Alad prepared to put the bartender out of his misery, however, the bartender was shot and killed by another figure, one that dragged Alad in the shadows. Alad prepared to fight and kill the figure, but was stopped when the bartender's body detonated, causing a massive explosion that would've killed Alad had he not been pulled away. After getting a better look at the figure, he realized it was General Lev'Zom, heavily wounded, but still alive. Lev'Zom berated Alad for his careless, soft nature before the two made their way out of the ruins of the headquarters, venturing into the slums in hopes of finding someone who can treat Lev'Zom's wounds and give information on where the kidnapped Red Shades were being kept. In the slums, Alad received a card from Avtolgus - a mysterious Red Shade widely believed to be a myth by most of the lower-ranking members due to his tendency to hide from the rest of his comrades. The card pointed him to another prison in the North, where his comrades were being kept. With this information, Alad assembled all available Red Shades, preparing for a massive expedition and an assault on the prison, while General Lev'Zom was placed in the care of "The Doctor" - another high-ranking Red Shade.

Alad assembled hundreds of Red Shades from all around the planet, making his way to the northern border in a massive convoy. At the border, he found it blocked by representatives the Church of the Crimson Shell, lead by Propxan II. Realizing their convoy was heavily outnumbered, the Red Shades prepared to make a final stand, however, Propxan II informed Alad that he would be allowed to cross the border if all of his comrades stayed behind. Promising that no harm would come to them if they didn't try to fight the Crimson Shell forces, Propxan II let Alad through on his sandskimmer. After Alad got far away from the border, he heard shouting and gunfire from a distance, presuming his comrades to be as good as dead. Unbeknownst to him, the fighting was, in fact, a one-sided massacre of the Crimson Shell operatives at the hands of Avtolgus. Alad made his way to the prison mentioned by Avtolgus, overpowering most of the guards with all of the Artifacts of Xanemus and breaking his way inside.

On the inside, he once again got contacted by Marjow, being informed that a rebellion was already taking place in the prison and that three of the prison blocks were struggling to hold their own against their captors. Alad assisted a mysterious group not affiliated with the Red Shades in clearing out one of the prison blocks while Avtolgus once again lent his assistance to the Red Shades, clearing out two other prison blocks. After reuniting with his comrades, Alad and the rest of the Red Shades celebrated victory, but were left in shock and horror as a Crimson Shell priest descended from the upper floor, sending them an ominous warning, one that turned out to be a warning about the arrival of an Elden One on the scene. The Elden One quickly broke the minds of the Red Shades and the mysterious group. Many committed suicide while the rest were left in a hopeless, catatonic state. Only Alad and Avtolgus managed to resist the Elden Ones' manipulation - Alad's heart was too bright and pure to be manipulated, while Avtolgus' was the opposite - too tainted and corrupted by what would later be reveled to be an advanced form of Metamorphosis.

After inspiring everybody to come to their senses and not give up yet, Alad told them to make their way through the chilling northern wastelands to Lord Mar'Puz's villa, where they would be taken care of. After everyone but Lokhem, who spectated the fight from far away, fled the scene, Alad armed himself with all the Artifacts of Xanemus, preparing to face the Elden One before it fully awakened, becoming the unstoppable, invincible force that was feared throughout the galaxy. Though he put up a good fight, he was quickly bested by the incomprehensible being, getting mortally wounded. In that moment, he finally figured out a way to potentially banish the creature, consuming the Tears of Time gifted to him by Yosifix - a brew that would cure Alad's injuries and bring him to a physical state far stronger than his prime enhanced by Marjow's brews would have been, allowing him to dodge the creature's attacks. Despite being able to avoid further harm, Alad realized his cannon wasn't powerful enough to deal any damage. Starting to feel his body disintegrating, Alad prepared for his final attack by overcharging the cannon, preparing to expend all of its' energy in a blast he called the Infinite Finality - though he knew that both he and the cannon would be gone for good after the attack. Acknowledging the threat, the Elden One began to frantically attack Alad, seriously wounding him once more. Despite being on the verge of losing his consciousness, Alad kept charging the cannon. One of the mysterious entity's attacks was about to rip Alad to pieces when he was once again saved by the interference of Avtolgus, who fought and managed to injure the being, however, was too exhausted from overusing his power to be of any further assistance. Nevertheless, his interference bought Alad enough time to unleash Infinite Finality, encompassing the area in an angelic light that banished the Elden One and blew a hole in the cave system that reached all the way into the Prophaniti surface.

Alad laid on the ground, nearly dead, but glad that he managed to save his comrades and Lokhem. After one last chat with Lokhem, Alad's body crumbled into nothingness and his existence was erased. Only his Obsidian Arm remained as a memoir of Prophaniti's greatest Enforcer.

### Legacy

Alad's death greatly shook the Order of Red Shades as well as many of his current and former allies. His Obsidian Arm was buried at the Red Shade headquarters, where a grave was made for him beside Grohdom's.

Following Alad's death, Lev'Zom blamed himself for the death of his best friend, spiraling into a depression. Lokhem and Crolia temporarily left the Order of Red Shades, though every night Lokhem would return to the Red Shade headquarters to put a bottle of whiskey by Alad's and Grohdom's graves.

Marjow would be shaken by Alad's death, spending his days attempting to wrap his head around the Tears of Time - the mysterious brew that forced Alad's body to crumble. He dedicated his days to search for a way to recreate the brew without the adverse effects, as well as any potential ways to return Alad back to life, though his search was ultimately fruitless. He replaced Alad in the Red Shade High Trinity.

Lord Mar'Puz and the Colossus took an extended break at the Northern Mansion to mourn the death of their comrade. Lord Mar'Puz ended up passing away a few weeks after Alad's death, at the age of 119.

Avtolgus once again went absent, reappearing a couple months later to talk about the Redlight Broadcast with Marjow Dekar, as well as crashing a Red Shade meeting to destroy the high trinity's thrones, signifying the end to the High Trinity - Alad's own idea.

The death delayed Lokhem's and Crolia's wedding. Proud to be the adoptive Alad Zhenu and to wield the Yakatushian Bow gifted to him, Lokhem took up his last name, becoming Lokhem Moloz-Zhenu.

## Skills and abilities

* **Unknown martial art -** Alad was able to assume a scorpion-like stance and ferociously dash at his opponent, piercing through them with one of his arms. This technique was used twice - against Loxares, who was defeated and died from the wounds and Rexanthrall, who received moderate injuries.
* **Charisma and leadership -** Alad was an inspiring individual, shaping Lokhem into the man he is today. His charismatic speech was powerful enough to let the Red Shades snap out from an Elden One's manipulation. Aside from that, Alad demonstrated great leadership skills, leading countless missions during his time as a Red Shade to great success.
* **Expert fighter and weapons user -** Alad was a skilled and fearsome combatant with both his fists and his weapons, beating a metamorphosis-enhanced Loxares in hand to hand combat and wielding many weapons with great precision. He was also shown to be a quick learner when it came to weapons he hadn't used before, wielding the Bow of Yakatush, Marjow's dagger and General Lev'Zom's hammer at a decent level not long after he acquired them.
* **Extensive knowledge of the Prophaniti houses, military field and underground -** Due to his years of service as an enforcer-for-hire, Alad had connections and knowledge of many houses, particularly the Ano-Caris house. He was also aware of many important figures in the military field, such as Underlord Ohol of Siluria and had knowledge and connections in the criminal world, even being part of Loxares' gang at one point.

## Equipment

* **Cannon of Luminatar** - Alad's signature weapon, the Cannon of Luminatar, is a 1.2 million year old artifact said to be forged in the star itself. The cannon charges up and fires powerful blasts of plasma. Their strength ranges from weak blasts intended to kill a single person to blasts powerful enough to bring down entire buildings. In the final moments of Alad's battle versus an Elden One, the cannon was destroyed.

> **Cannon Mode - Infinite Finality:**Alad's strongest attack, Infinite Finality, is a blast that expends all of the cannon's energy in a single shot, unleashing a holy light powerful enough to banish an Elden One and blow a massive hole in the cave system, exposing the surface. This blast overloads the stargem powering the cannon, destroying both it and the artifact in the process. The user is susceptible to the power of this mode and faces high risk of death if not wearing high-tier heat resistant equipment.
>
>

* **Adaptive Tangazium Armor -** Xanemus’ adaptive armor suits itself to the user’s carapace

> structure. Despite its bulky appearance, it’s a medium-weight armor for the
> Modern Day Prophaniti.
>
>

> The armor is made out of rare, otherworldly crystal known as Tangazium, granting it its adaptive properties. The crystal is quite flexible, causing minimal impairment to the user’s mobility. It’s incredibly tough, said to be able to withstand the wrath of the Luminaor itself.
>
>

> If the wielder has sustained damage or lost body
>
>
> parts, the artifact does it’s best to repair the wounds by filling them with
> the crystal mass and creating new crystal limbs, albeit slightly harder to
>
>
>
> operate than regular organic ones or even high-tier prosthetics.
>
>

* > **Dual Pistols -**This Xanemusian artifact is comprised of two pieces – a regular, golden pistol and a grey, hand-cannon like pistol. When wielded together, these artifacts are said to be able to pierce through all defenses.
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>

> The Golden pistol fires heavy bolts that pierce through the toughest of armors. It is even able to damage the carapace of Prophaniti affected by Metamorphosis.
>
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> The Grey Cannon releases a barrage of shotgun pellets
> powerful enough to shred those hit by them at full speed into the afterlife. Should they survive the initial onslaught, the pellets will stick to their body, exploding in spectacular fashion and bringing an end to them.
>
>

* **The Black Staff -** The Black Staff is a Xanemusian artifact used mainly for melee purposes. It absorbs the blood of the enemies it damages, using it to temporarily grow in size. There seems to be no limit to the growth of the staff, though it starts reverting to its original size after around two minutes of not receiving any blood.

* **The Yakatushian Bow -**The Yakatushian Bow, named after a region of ancient Prophaniti noted for it’s storms, is an artifact formerly belonging to Xanemus Holhbane and later given into the possession of Yosifix Lezivogad in preparation for The Great Rebellion. Due to Yosifix’s trapping in The Stone Palace, no other person came in possession of the bow for over 1.2 million years. It is one of the 18 pieces of Xanemus’ legendary arsenal, as well as one of the last to ever be forged.

> The mighty bow forges the air into powerful, whistling slashes of wind - it’s arrows. The slashes of wind can rip their way through several verminks and in extreme cases even bring down entire buildings. The bow’s main drawback is in it’s range - the arrows grow weaker as they cross large distances, becoming no stronger than regular arrows or even dissipating entirely if the range is vast enough. Due to the whistling of the arrows and their destructive nature, it’s not the greatest of fits for stealth-related tasks.
>
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> The Yakatushian Bow serves a purpose of both multi-target destruction from mid-range as well as a single-target assassination from afar. In the hands of a skilled wielder, it’s one of the most versatile artifacts the Xanemusian collection has to offer.
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* **General Lev'Zom's Hammer** (Temporarily) - Temporarily gifted to Alad for his assault on Jahalonthrall prison, Alad used the mighty hammer, said to burn as hot as the Luminatar itself, to break down the near-indestructible doors the prison.
* **The Crystal Dagger** (Temporarily) - Borrowed from Marjow during times of civil unrest, this dagger was used by Alad to assassinate Lord Hielomax II by crystallizing his bloodstream.
* **The Tears of Time** - the Ultimate Brew gifted to Alad by Yosifix in the stone palace, this brew heals any and all injuries and puts the user's body in beyond peak condition for a few moments. The side effect of using the brew is that its user will sacrifice all of their remaining time in the world, crumbling into nothingness. The brew's duration is directly based on how much time to live the user has left.
* **Several Brews** - Alad used several brews created by Marjow to enhance his speed, endurance and strength in his battle against the Colossus, as well as the raid on the Artifact Chamber
* **The Obsidian Arm** - Alad's prosthetic arm, the Obsidian Arm, is high-tier prosthetic built for maximum efficiency and precision. The Arm also has a secret trick up its sleeve - it can fire a wild barrage of metal thorns that can pierce through carapaces of regular Prophaniti. Following Alad's death, the Obsidian Arm was buried in his grave.