Cal Suresh

* 3D
* 2D

Cal Suresh is one of the Inhabitants. He resides in Chapter 7, being represented by the Quad Cannon Costume.

## Background

Cal was an unbeatable chess champion before he lost his winning streak to a young player who challenged and out-manoeuvred him. After the surprising experience, Cal throws away his adoration of chess, angry for his first ever defeat, and Lance used him to create Fortstopher IV.

After the Nega-Boss was destroyed, Cal regained his chess passion and no longer flew into a rage whenever he lost.

## Appearance

Cal is a man with tanned skin, bushy eyebrows, indigo-colored hair, and teal eyes. He wears a grey blazer with matching pants and brown, worn out dress shoes. He also wears a yellow button-up shirt with a red tie, as well as a black belt with a silver buckle.

## Personality

While his personality in game is so far unclear, in the novel- "Balan Wonderworld ~Maestro of Mystery, Theatre of Wonders~"- Cal bears a distinct personality. He is shown to be clever and quite the problem-solver, most likely due to his experience in chess. Cal used to win each chess tournament due to his skill. One day, a younger chess player challenges him to a game. Cal tries to win, but the young chess player beats him. Filled with rage, he throws out his chess things including his trophies. This causes him to be corrupted. In the end, Cal calms down and learns that it is alright to lose some games. Another young person asks to teach him how to play chess. After that, Cal regains his passion of chess.

## Name in Other Languages

 Japanese
 T. Chinese

## Trivia

* Although Cal centers his motif on chess, in the novel, Cal's "name" while Wonderworld was under Lance's control was "Checkered King".
	+ However, both chess and checkers use the same-patterned board.
* In the novel, it is revealed that he had a wife. Upset by his continued losses, Cal failed to see his wife's worsening condition with an unknown illness, and she passed before he could do anything about it. It is implied that this is the true reason for his distress.
* In the novel, on his stage, Cal is regarded as a king. With him is a woman of his creation whom he regards as his queen. It is implied that the woman shares a likeness with his late wife, as Cal speaks to this queen as he's about to leave Wonderworld, telling her that he will try to move on.
* When Cal teaches other young players chess in his world's ending, Balan can be seen playing a game of chess of his own.
* The fact that the Costume that represents him, the Quad Cannon, lacks limbs makes Cal Suresh the only character who is represented by a Costume of a limbless being.
* In the novel, after the events of Wonderworld, he is seen to be holding chess lessons for those younger than him. He is also seen to have picked up cooking as a hobby.
* Cal shares his hair colour with Yuri Brand and Sana Hudson; they have purple hair. This makes him the second Inhabitant to share a hair colour with someone that was seen before them.
	+ Cal is also the fifth Inhabitant to have hair of an unnatural colour, with his hair being purple.
		- Yuri Brand and Sana Hudson, as mentioned before, have purple hair.
		- Haoyu Chang has green hair.
		- Cass Milligan has emerald green hair (though she is given turquoise hair in the novel).
* In the novel, Cal has a sign outside his stage that says, *"There's nothing wrong with me. Nothing whatsover."* This is a contradiction to his true personality, which is full of regret that his wife had died and he did not do anything to cure her illness.
* It is possible that Cal is inspired by Bobby Fischer, a real life chess champion who went insane.

## Quotes

* "Hello, hello, and welcome to my kingdom, Streetbeat. Allow me to introduce my queen." - Cal's first words in the novel.
* "I've never given it much thought until now, but I've realized I know next to nothing about Wonderworld. Everyone is a master of their own stage, each fashioning it in whatever way they like. All our stages are different, but they share two things in common: the drops, and the Negati that appear to take them. Oh, and every so often Lance comes to show us how to improve our stage. Never have I wondered what the drops or Negati *are.* And our names... Streetbeat, you said you never had a name until you met Clocktower Kid, isn't that right? Likewise, for me. The first time I realized I needed a name was when Clocktower Kid brought Madame of the Mansion to visit. Otherwise, we wouldn't have been able to communicate. Wonderworld is the name of this place, right? And we need names in order to distinguish one thing from another. So, if this world has a *name*, it must be to distinguish it from *another world*. And... no, I'm spinning yarn from air. It's an outlandish theory, forget I said anything." - Cal, moments away from unraveling one of Wonderworld's secrets, only to abandon the thought last minute.
* "I was the world champion. I was something of a prodigy when I was younger. For over a decade, I was the reigning champion. They said I was untouchable. I was the best at chess, and then I found a wonderful wife to marry. Everything was perfect. So perfect. I didn't even realize it at the time. Then one day this kid of about twenty turned up, and suddenly my hold on the title of champion wasn't as secure as it had been. He was pulling it right out from under me. Maybe my confidence was shaken. Maybe I just wasn't as sharp as I had been. Either way, I couldn't seem to win. My rank kept getting lower and lower until I was playing against *teenagers* who were better than me. I remember one match against a fourteen-year-old boy. He moved his queen to a position that confused me a great deal, for if she were lost, the king would be left vulnerable. No matter how you looked at the board, it seemed like he was handing me victory on a silver platter. But my intuition was telling me I was going to lose. I looked at the boy's face and saw he was smiling, ever so faintly. I made my moves, all pretty standard. On the third move, I finally realized what he was playing at, but there was nothing I could do to stop it. I lost, and sank into a deep despair. But I wallowed so much in my own self-pity that I never even noticed the sickness quietly ravaging my wife's body until I was too late. I lost the love of my life because I couldn't see anything beyond my own selfish desire to be the chess champion again. I threw everything away. All my chess sets, all my medals and trophies. All of it." - Cal explains his fall into despair to Leo.

 Characters