Tolui

Alakai, Mingzhi Empress

*"I traveled Asia and Africa, delving headfirst into both the tales of my forebears, and annals of history that span back to the earliest days of man. I journeyed to America--the untouched paradise--a land considered by many to have been a cradle of democracy. Finally, I toured Europe, a continent said to have led the charge - the first to successfully wrest itself from its nesting ground, exploring and bridging the gap between civilizations that previously knew nothing of each others' existence. Systems of government, feats of engineering, and codes of law, some of which still serve as precedent even to this day - the many roads I've walked - all seemed to lead back West. I learned, listened, and most of all, saw with my own eyes the nature of this...* New World Order*, to which we were entrusted.*

*But what I expected would fill me with awe, instead left me with nothing but disappointment and shame."*

-Prince Tolui to Lei Tjin-Fei and Hikawa Toyonari, recounting his education

**Tolui** (born 8 December 1995), courtesy name **Enzhe (恩哲)**, is the Prince of the New Yuan Dynasty, and de facto head of the Imperial Regency Council established to govern on behalf of his younger sister, the underage Mingzhi Empress. Born **Khereid Dorjigiin Tolui**, he is the firstborn son of the late Mengyan Emperor, born some years before the Metahuman coup that uprooted the old world governments in place of the Dynastic Congress.

## Appearance

Tolui is a lanky man with Asiatic features and a sharp, analyzing glint in the eyes. Though his jet black hair is largely unkempt, his facial hair is often trimmed short and neat. He is usually tall, clocking in at an imposing 6'11'' (211 cm), towering over many of his peers.

He tends to dress sharply, typically donning either casual dress or, if on official business, a fine western-style military uniform often worn by royalty around the world.

## Personality

Despite his disdain for the cutthroat nature of the world of politics, Prince Tolui has grown to become a beacon of both reason and stability in the Yuan regime. He is level-headed and quite humble, often forsaking his own immense influence over the Empress for the betterment of the Empire as a whole. He has shown to have a surprisingly strong sense of morality, abhorring war in all its forms and favoring a peaceful and pragmatic approach to most conflict.

Much of this attitude comes from his time spent outside of both politics and royal responsibilities for much of his teenage life. This austere, "un-Princely" upbringing among what many of the nobility and fellow Metahumans would consider "mundane peasants," has led to the Prince not just understanding, but often empathizing with the plight of the normal humans living beneath the Dynastic system. As such, in a sea of zealots and radicals, Tolui has distinguished himself as a passionate defender of the people.

However, following the ascension of his sister to the Imperial throne, and the subsequent thrusting of immense governing responsibility upon Tolui's shoulders, the recent years of incessant politicking among the seemingly chaotic Dynastic powers has left the Prince seeming somewhat dejected. He is easily capable of hiding this mindset in the presence of others, but the facade often falls in private, typically manifesting in bouts of cynicism and weariness.

## Biography

Tolui was brought into the world during a time of strife. Following the rise of his Metahuman father to the Lord of Mongolia and internationally-recognized Great Lord of East Asia, the soon-to-be heir to Dorji's Mongol Khanate (and eventually an all-powerful Dynasty in China) had a much more austere upbringing, and was initially forced to work hard for what he wanted in life. His father, though compelled to centralize as much power as he could around himself, nonetheless made sure that his firstborn was given a proper education. After his powers manifested, Tolui spent much of his childhood bouncing between various schools--first in China and later Japan, before touring the various surviving universities in the now Dynastic-ruled Europe. This lifestyle was hardly as uprooting for the young Prince as it would have been for other children, as his powers of teleportation allowed him to easily attend school, live at home, and visit friends and relatives whenever he willed it.

It was in his later teen years that Tolui was shown to have an exceptional intellect, and a deep-seated love for history, literature, and linguistics. While wholeheartedly supporting the Metahuman cause, he nonetheless was fascinated by the more democratic governments that came before. He quickly came to the conclusion that, as it was the Metahumans that lorded over them, it was their newfound duty to guide the common people to a better future - an opinion that was often deeply shunned by the more despotic, vengeful, and paranoid regimes of the new world order. And though the tyrannical Mengyan Emperor was certainly not of this mindset--and in fact often punished him severely for openly expressing such thoughts--Tolui catered a certain respect for his father, who nonetheless provided him with the freedom to explore and learn about the world around him.

Tolui completed his schooling and returned to Mongolia just in time for the Emperor, having spent the past several years carving out his new realm, to perish in an untimely assassination attempt. The news came as a grave shock to the then nineteen year-old Prince, who still felt that he was grossly unprepared for the trials and tribulations that came with governing an entire continent. Thankfully, however, his academic skill would pay off with the timely formation of the Imperial Regency Council, which swiftly formed a cohesive central government before a power gap could send East Asia into another bloody civil war. Over the next few days, the Mongols' immediate lords assembled a 'Kurultai' to elect the next monarch from the late Emperor's surviving children. It was here that the wheel of fate would take another unexpected turn, and lead to her little sister Alakai being placed on the throne in his stead - a unanimous decision spawned out of her miraculous inheriting of the late Emperor's powers over nature itself, thus convincing them that she is truly the next living incarnation of Tengri, and rightful successor to Genghis Khan himself.

Many in the upper echelons of power expected this to come as an outrage to Tolui, having for much of his life been considered the designated heir to the throne. But even to this day, the Prince hides his relief that he was spared the responsibility of leading an Empire already on strained terms with various Metahuman regimes around the world. Unfortunately, this has proven to make little difference, as the age and inexperience of the newly-proclaimed Mingzhi Empress renders her unable to effectively govern without the assistance of both him and the rest of her ministers. As such, the educated and pragmatic Prince Tolui remains as the undisputed head of the Imperial Regency Council, ever standing by his sister's side and providing all the assistance she needs to steer the fledgling Dynasty on the right path to glory and prosperity.

## Powers & Skills

### ***Supernatural Abilities***

**Teleportation:** A power inherited via his father from birth; With enough concentration, Tolui can vanish out of thin air and, in the blink of an eye, reappear in a different location. The only limitation of this ability is that he must have either seen or know the appearance of his intended destination, though this can easily be solved with a recent photo or recording of the location in question. In the event that his destination is "blocked" by any means, the jump attempt seems to "fizzle out," like a failed magical spell.

Though this holds little benefit in combat besides offering a convenient method of escape, it presents countless possibilities in terms of travel. Over the years, he has since discovered that there is little to no limit on the distance he can transport himself--a theory he put to the test when he executed a perfect jump from Mongolia all the way to the other side of the globe, appearing unscathed in the Americas before seamlessly jumping straight back home. After further experimentation, he also discovered that he can take sizable objects and even other people alongside him, although at a noticeable loss of energy to himself.

### ***Skills & Expertise***

**Hyperpolyglot:** Tolui has an almost natural linguistic talent, and can understand and communicate in more than fourteen languages. Aside from his native Mongolian, he is fluent in English, Japanese, Mandarin and Cantonese Chinese, Spanish, and German. He is also roughly familiar with Korean, French, Italian, Hindi, Russian, Malay, and Farsi--most of these with varying degrees of fluency. Coupled with his Metahuman abilities and position at the very top of the Imperial court, Tolui serves as the Yuan's most trusted dignitary, embarking on diplomatic missions himself and standing in the Empress' stead as her representative in the Dynastic Council.

## Trivia

* The name 'Khereid' is in reference to his ancestral heritage. Tolui and his family can loosely trace their ancestry through a cadet branch back to the Keraites (often spelled as Khereid in modern Mongolian), one of the five dominant Turco-Mongol "clans" that inhabited the central Asian steppes during the 12th century. Its last leader, Toghrul (also known as Ong Khan), was the blood brother of not only Genghis Khan himself, but even his father before him. He lived for many years until his clan too was subjugated and absorbed into the Mongol domain. After the fact, much of the late Ong Khan's family would marry into that of the Borjigins. One of his nieces, Sorghaghtani Beki--wedded to Genghis' son Tolui (and his own namesake)--would later become the mother of Möngke, Kublai, Hulegu, and Ariq Böke - all of whom would go on to lead the Mongol Empire or one of its successor states.