The Malihag

The Malihag is a title that is passed down through the Sisterhood of Na'waka. It represents the Supreme head of the Sisterhood and the current bearer of the Malihag curse.

## The Malihag Curse

After its creation at the hands of the first Malihag, this curse is among one of the most powerful as it is a concentrated force of ancient magic that ravaged lands thousands of years prior.

As long as someone bears The Malihag Curse; the curses it’s a concoction of will remain contained.

The effects the curse have on a person are mostly cosmetic however also feature some magical inheritance: these include…

* Gray skin that clumps like clay.
* Loss of right eye and dislodging of the left. How the right eye is lost is inconsistent.
* Appearance of weak human physic, may struggle walking.
* Despite appearances, remarkably durable and doesn’t need to eat or drink.
* Strong Psychic powers settle in quickly
* Basic personality traits carried over, known to include a fondness for Nawaka, the Sisterhood and the colour indigo.
* Understanding of personal magical techniques and Seer abilities.
* Ignorance of their own name.
* Death after exactly 10 years of being cursed.
* Body decaying and turning into a shrunken head like ornament upon death.

### Shrunken Heads

One of the many tricks the Malihag can pull when her knowledge and seering abilities fail her she can remove her left eye and place it in the head of a former Malihag, this will animate the shrunken head allowing it to speak while the body of the current one stands stiff and lifeless until the conversation has ended.

She can then retrieve her eye and be animated again, the current Malihag will have no memory of the exchange and isn't able to converse with the heads without a mediator present.

## The First Malihag

From the Indonesian word, Melihat; meaning to see. The role of the Malihag is passed down the female lore keepers of Na’waka.

Hundreds of Generations ago during the initial voyaging of the Na’wakan people a terrible curse ravaged the lands of Na’waka brought in from foreign lands, the island was dying and the people prayed day and night for salvation.

Just when the Islanders were on their last legs, the great founding Chief Dhrama’s second daughter prayed unintentionally using her latent sorceress abilities and absorbed the plague from the land, at first joyous the chief's face turned to horror to see what had become of his daughter, once his beautiful young girl had been changed into a gray skinned hunched hag as she turned herself into a vessel to contain the curses.

She ran from her family down the perfect white beaches as her skin began to rot and clump, her tears began to feel like cascades of water against the back of her eyes as they came loose and rolled from her eye sockets, she was able to catch one before it fell into the sand the second eye however rolled away and was taken by the tide. Afraid she ran and found a cave where she could keep to herself.

After a few years of hiding away the first Malihag began to realise a latent ability to make herself comfortable around her, psychic magic came naturally along with inherent reading of others feelings. With meditation she could project her mind across vast landscapes and observe foreign affairs; she used these to warn her brother whom was now Chief of an incoming raid leading to no lives lost for the Na’wakens, The Malihag had shown it’s worth and would be consulted as she became a wise old woman.

After 9 years of service the first Malihag was awoken by a terrible premonition, her death would come at that years end and all the terrible plagues that she contained so very long ago will be unleashed unless she found another vessel, by this point however a cult had formed of the islanders of educated women who painted beautiful pictures, healed the sick and mapped stars.

When her prophecy was heard by devotees it wasn’t long before a volunteer to take on the curses was found: a ritual was mocked up mostly on instinct where the weak and weary first Malihag rested on a stone slab holding the hand of her willing volunteer, the old body rotted away leaving only a dried up head a fraction of the size it once was.

Then from the hand, to the arm, through the torso the curse spread to the new woman, again her skin turned gray and clumped and the eyes became insecure, the one on the right completely disintegrating.

This nameless woman became the second Malihag.

## The Hundred Sixty-Third Malihag

In the year 2087, the Hundred Sixty-Third Malihag lives in the cave of illusions on Na'waka, she helped Quentin Galcourt by consulting twelfth Malihag for information about The Anthozoa King.

She represents 1630ish years since the curses creation.