Khonda (God)

## Birth and Youth

When Zyitalan decided to find an heir to his seat of Godship, he wanted to make certain his replacement would be able to handle the burden. Due to his desire to have only the best option replace him, Zyitalan did not want to put all his hopes in a single offspring. To ensure he had many options, Zyitalan planted his seed in the pregnant bellies of many women across the world. Each of these children were to be reared without his intervention at the start, as he wanted to see how each grew on their own. After some time, he knew he would need to start testing them, and so he begun to complicate their lives.

Khonda's life has been one of constant change and common hardships as a result of this. As a Lukar born not only on the Mainland but if mixed blood, Khonda was not accepted by his kin. He was a Black-Water by Clan, and lived in the worst conditions when his family stayed in the Lukar embassy territories. Due to this, his family often left the safety of the Lukar embassies to work alongside the Staeri.

When the young boy was around three, his family settled in a small village near the Ebonwood(a large stretch of forest that has been declared too dangerous for common exploration and entry by the Court) called Gristdale. Gristdale was an up-incoming settlement that had been looking for strong and fearless workers to tend to the local lumber mill and to assist with constructing the new buildings that were needed. Being Lukars, his parents easily fit this bill and begun working for the village. For two years, life seemed to settle down and the family remained happily in Gristdale.

This peace would remain until a lumberjack and mill worker, Enjoul Velatoni, went missing in the spring. Being a liked member of the small community of no more than a eighty citizens, there was a wide search for him but he could not be found. Life went on in Gristdale until the winter season came. It was then that the fate of Enjoul would be discovered. Late in the night the Bells of Warning, a system set up in cities near the Ebonwood, begun to chime their song of alarm. A group of outsiders entered the village swiftly, not with the intent of raiding the settlement for their gold or goods, but rather to feast. Enjoul was one of the twenty creatures out for blood and flesh, having been infected with the Crimson Curse.

Khonda's parents locked their two sons in their cellar, hoping to protect them from the savage fate the rest of the settlement was facing. They defended their home with their lives, but that was not enough for the Crimson Cursed. Melaak, his elder brother, knew it wouldn't be long before they were found. Melaak took Khonda, wrapped him in a blanket and gave him a simple dagger to protect himself with. The pair then attempted to flee the burning remains of Gristdale. What is known is that Melaak lead his brother along the border of the Ebonwood, hoping their black pelts would help them blend into the shadows of the forest in the darkness of night. They managed to make it a decent distance from the city before the Crimson Cursed tracked them down. Melaak held back the two Cursed long enough for his young brother to escape.

It was a short time later that the lost and horrified Khonda was found by a fisherman at the lake of Telyon, about ten miles north of Gristdale. That fisherman brought Khonda to the settlement of Da'yae, a two day trip west, in hopes of returning him to a Lukar embassy there. Upon making it to Da'yae, it was discovered that the embassy had been moved to Synoet - which would have been another four day trip farther east and to the coast. The Ashsta who found the young Lukar could not make this trip and so left the boy at the temple of Zyitalan.

The priesthood of the Greater God decided to take the child in. Upon him telling the Staeri what his name was, the old Ashsta scoffed. They would not call him by his 'beast name' and so dubbed him 'Nokyiita' (No-kie-eat-ta) as it meant 'nameless one' in the old tongue and meant he would not be given a proper Ashsta name. The Lukar was assigned to a traveling group of priests that moved throughout Myerdal in order to spread the word of Zyitalan. He spent the remainder of his childhood helping the holy men aid those in need, learning of the Greater God, and becoming a rather charismatic and up-beat Lukar.

## Adulthood and Aspirations

By the time Khonda was twenty, he had been given his own small group of priests to explore the farther reaches of the tundra. He went from small settlement to small settlement, tending to the sick, bringing food to area that requested it, and teaching of Zyitalan. It was during his travels that Khonda discovered the fate of his brother, Melaak. He, in defending his brother, had become stricken with the Crimson Curse. Melaak now blamed Khonda for his ailment and swore to one day do to his sibling what was done to him. Khonda was not upset with Melaak, he understood the anger that now fulled his brother, and he longed for an answer to how to help the Crimson Cursed. Khonda spent the next ten years helping defend settlements from the Cursed and working to try to find a cure.

His research and desire to ensure no other met the fate his family had that Khonda made it back to Gristdale with his following. He had, at this point, collected about twenty able bodies that believed in his preaching and swore themselves to his faith to the point of aiding him with his travels - with many more sharing his teachings in their various settlements. Gristdale was now referred to as Ebonguard and was a garrison designed to ensure that no more Crimson Cursed made it out of the Ebonwood. Khonda settled in the garrison, constructing a temple to Zyitalan. When he was not preaching of the Greater God, he was tended the wounded in the camp, researching the Curse, or praying for answers.

Melaak, insulted by Khonda's return to the very placed that cursed him, came to carry out the threat he had promised. It was this encounter with Melaak that would set in stone his place as a favored child of Zyitalan. What is commonly known of the encounter between Melaak and Khonda is often different according to where you hear the story, though it is thought that the people of Ebonguard are the ones who tell The Tale of the Brothers the most accurately. The one detail that all the various versions of the story gets right is that Nokyiita slays his Cursed brother for slandering Zyitalan and refusing to accept his aid in finding a cure for the Crimson Curse.

It is thought that that night, when praying for forgiveness for killing his brother, Khonda spoke with Zyitalan for the first time. It was from that point on that Khonda worked harder to spread kindess and hope to the land, trying to unite a people who had been wracked with illness and inner quarrels. The common races believe that this is when Khonda begun to ascend to god-hood.