Kuldeep of Shangare

## Kuldeep

### Aliases

Padishah-Emperor of the Kingdoms of Shangare and Aglazdere, Protector of the Cosmos, Most Mighty, Conqueror of Emperors, Lord of Auspicious Conjunction, King of Kings, Honorable Prince, Shadow of God, Domain of Paradise

## We can only find our own meaning in our own time...

*“Myths may not satisfy the demands of rationality or science, but they contain profound wisdom - provided one believes they do and is willing to find out what they communicate. Yet myths cannot be translated as they did in their ancient soul. We can only find our own meaning in our own time."*

-Kuldeep of Shangare

## History

A relic of the Demon Wars, Kuldeep was a powerful Rakshasa in service of Xiloxi Drutreu and a pawn of O'Rangus. He was not present at the battle of Ragnarok, escaping destruction, yet neither was he part of the reserve force that swore service to Sharra. He escaped to Shangare, hiding from a world that wanted him dead. Through guile and gifts, he ingratiated himself in the royal court at Shangare, eventually emerging after the War of the Philosopher-Kings, taking advantage of the chaos to unite the kingdom under his banner.

This was one story, in any case. Other accounts said that the old Rajahs of Shangare had hunted the Rakshasa to near extinction, and that one cowered amongst the ranks of the thugees; the religious criminal cults. It was a particularly degenerate sect that took him in, and that he was found by the Aglazderian assassin Yoram Crescens, who gave him a shard of a broken key that enabled him to ascend to become a Greater Rakshasa. These accounts purport that Manas Rao was a member of that band.

During his conquest of Aglazdere, Kuldeep emerged in person to fight against the armies of Solomon Sheepwyrm in the sky ship graveyard, commanding his troops from his perch atop a howdah. It was the first time almost anyone in Agalzdere had met him, and they were terrified that their foe was seemingly invulnerable to both blades, bullets, and sorcery. The tide of the battle was only turned when Shams al-Din Samara hurled his demon-slaying spear at him, toppling him from his elephant and pinning him to the hull of a sky ship. Kuldeep fled and his army scattered, after which the affronted monarch rarely left his trap-filled fortress.

## Personality

Acquisitive. Kuldeep is fundamentally consumed by greed for all things, and hatred of anything that does not utterly belong to him. He sees his nation and his people as his property, and will never be satisfied with what he has. Despite this, Kuldeep cares for his followers as someone determined to preserve their possessions might, and is capable of generosity and magnanimity. He recognizes the threat that the Great Old Ones pose, and takes it seriously, although his motives for opposing them are rooted in arrogance and hubris, not altruism.

Kuldeep has two great weaknesses. Firstly, he will never refuse a gift. Secondly, once he has something, he will fight to never give it up.

This is not to say that he is anything but shrewd, let alone gullible. But his personality is constructed the way it is.

## Magic

Within his domain of Shangare, Kuldeep's magic is potent indeed. He is a master of illusion and mind control, bending lesser creatures to his will and conjuring great horrors. Shangare itself is clouded by a sweet, sickly mist which renders its inhabitants susceptible to enchantment, as well as psychedelic lights and patterns that entrance their viewers. The Emperor is served by mysterious spirits which take the shape of burning monkeys, which spread havoc at his command. Those who do not swear themselves heart and mind to the Emperor are haunted by nightmares which sap them off life until they collapse and eventually die of exhaustion. Traps are commonplace in Shangare, rendered more potent by the Emperor's ability to cloak them from prying eyes.

## War of the Philosopher-Kings

When the thugees were sent to war, Kuldeep accompanied them as one of their captains.

## After the War

As the War of the Philosopher-Kings drew to a close, Kuldeep was well aware that the Great Old Ones would come, and that their origin would lie in Atlantis. Having been a part of Xiloxi Drutreu's army, he knew much about them. He would take advantage of the chaos to conquer the neighboring nation of Aglazdere, which other monarchs saw as a worthless ruin. Kuldeep knew better, and put time and resources into rebuilding the nation, earning him the loyalty of many of its former power players, including the Black Rose, and former Grand Vizier Annakiya. With the latter's help, he was able to uncover many alchemical secrets, put the Philosopher's Stone into play, and reopen the Laboratory of Varas. Kuldeep would go on to conquer a vast swathe of the Final Empire, bringing him into conflict with Ragnarok and the Deep Ones of Atlantis. King Bolgar was determined to hold on to the Thunderdome, which Kuldeep saw as the final piece to his ascent to power. The Deep Ones too saw the throne as the linchpin to their conquest of the mainland, initiating a three-way war. For the most part, Kuldeep maintained an uneasy truce with Bolgar, who he remembered and feared from the Demon Wars. Yet when Bolgar died, Kuldeep would not be so generous to his successor, turning his full force against the dome's defenders - a risky gambit that might just throw the war to the Deep Ones.

## The Great Awakening

With a reconstituted Aglazdere and the Final Empire, the departure of Annakiya and Toranna, and the loss of the Philosopher's Stone, Shangare collapsed. Kuldeep mysteriously disappeared, and the remaining territory was declared a protectorate of both Aglazdere and the Final Empire. Padishah Shams and Emperor Marnard signed a treaty in which they agreed to jointly administer this new protectorate, and keep it as a buffer between their own nations - which historically had been at war.