Belqar Ka'Akkaret

> "*Belqar Ka'Akkaret, the Supreme, King of Akkanur, Champion of Nakkal, Protector of the Faithful, Master of the Great Sand Sea, Lord of the Surqan, Keeper of the Blue Ziggurat, Custodian of the Imperishable Tombs, Guardian of the Faithful, Confounder of Heretics, Bane of Heathens and Despoiler of Evil*"
> ― Belqar's full list of titles
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**King Belqar Ka'Akkaret**, better known as **Belqar the Supreme**, was King of Akkanur from to 229BC to his death in 104BC. He was the longest-reigning monarch in world history, ruling for 105 years, and was also the youngest Elbaqari king at the time of his coronation, being crowned at the meagre age of sixteen - which is proportionally much younger for Sand Elves than it is for Humans.

Belqar is regarded by many historians to have been the most successful Kalzuranuri monarch in history; with a combination of military force and diplomacy, he was able to rapidly expand the borders of Akkanur to encompass the entire Surqan river and the Kalzuranuri coast, making him the most prolific conqueror in Inecurian history besides Athdus the Great. Belqar was also successful at maintaining and protecting his gains; he eliminated the persistent threats on the frontiers by subjugating many Quahestolek tribes and obliterating many Miari tribes, and he became beloved across Kalzuranur for defeat of the Warpath of Warmaster Ironskull, killing the Warmaster by his own hand.

Belqar's achievements were not solely in war; he sponsored a great variety of construction projects, both functional and monumental in nature, and he restored the decaying Imperishable Tombs and substantially renovated the Blue Ziggurat. He was successful at picking out skilled and innovative engineers to serve under him, and their developments in sewage management in Akkur itself were later replicated across Kalzuranur, giving the country a reputation for clean cities.

Although extraordinarily successful in his own life, Belqar's empire crumbled rapidly after his death; he only bore a single male heir, Ninebar, whose sickly constitution greatly limited his activities and weakened his position as much as it weakened his body. The empire would quickly fragment under Ninebar, before shattering entirely when he died young, leading to a succession war in Akkanur which was eventually won by Belqar's daughter, Ammera. Merely a century had passed after Belqar's death when Akkanur itself fell to the soldiers of Adwan, the new great power of Kalzuranur, which would maintain its empire to the present day.

## Personality and Personal Life

All the contemporary sources writing about Belqar depict him as a man of extreme arrogance. He openly believed himself to be the greatest man alive, giving himself numerous aggrandising titles and referring to himself as the "highest mortal". However, the contemporary sources generally do not actually see this as a flaw of Belqar, largely because they agree with him.

Though humility was certainly not a quality Belqar had in any abundance, the sources state that he hated sycophantry; he expected to be treated with the respect that the world's greatest man deserved, but he was disgusted by flattery, and always quickly put a stop to false praise - according to him, his real achievements were so numerous and so great that to invent false victories was to disrespect them, and in turn disrespect him.

Belqar's love for himself was only exceeded by his love for Nakkal and for his family. He was known to be a pious man, praying frequently and never failing to take up his religious duties as king, and he spent extraordinary sums of money renovating temples and constructing new ones. He was also praised by later authors (mostly those living after the time of Rahera Baqrahanet) for not attempting to exploit loopholes to get around religious commandments, as many Elbaqarim of the period were known to do; he always kept the fasts, funded charitable organisations and projects, harshly punished abuses towards slaves, and - according to the sources - never so much as laid a hand on another woman besides his wife.

Belqar's fervent love for his family is a facet of Belqar that has often been romanticised and praised in popular culture. Since he believed himself to be the greatest man alive, that necessarily meant that his wife was the greatest woman, and his children were the greatest children. Belqar's chastity and loyalty to his wife Shera was uncommonly strong for an Elbaqari nobleman of his time period; he was known to harshly rebuke nobles who suggested that he take a concubine, stubbornly refusing to take another woman even after an attack by a Miari witch left Shera mutilated, disfigured and barren. The witch who assaulted Shera was captured and tortured, and was made to witness his entire tribe being burned alive before he too suffered the same fate.

Belqar also greatly adored his son Ninebar despite his frailty and chronic poor health, and equally cherished his daughter Ammera; he was greatly involved in their education and in their lives generally, insisting on spending time with them whenever he had the opportunity, since his duties as king took up so much of his time. This was possibly a response to the lack of a father figure in his own life; Belqar's father died when he was young and generally did not exist in his life even before then, and he likely desired to avoid the same fate for his own children.