Dumisai of Aksum

**Dumisai of Aksum** was a skilled and powerful Soninke mage, and the father of Akua Sahelian. He taught her magic from a very young age, but also managed to sneak in some playtime between lessons, behind her mother's back, with the result that he was one of very few people, possibly the only one, whom she genuinely loved. When she became governess of Liesse he joined her there, and was eventually killed by Robber and his men during Second Liesse.

### Background

Dumisai was born a powerful mage, but not in a powerful family. His liege, the High Lord of Aksum, had only a single daughter and she was already married, so he could not be used as breeding stock; thus he was a threat and would most likely have been killed. To avoid this, he fled to Wolof where Tasia Sahelian gave him protection and funding in exchange for obedience and a child. However, they were not married or even declared consorts; rather he was stowed away in a laboratory somewhere and only allowed to visit his daughter for her lessons.

When Wekesa killed the previous Warlock, Dumisai could have been a claimant for the Name but "chose obscurity over the uncertainty of struggle". This happened about forty years before the Uncivil Wars, but it is not clear how old Dumisai was at the time (Tasia would have been around twenty) nor if this was what triggered his flight to Wolof or if he was already there. (Akua seems to be of age with Masego, more or less, and so ought to have been born about 15-20 years later.)

### Appearance

Dumisai had the dark skin of all Soninke; he is described as (visibly) older and "not particularly handsome", and his face had wrinkles. Shortly before his death, both ears were cut off.

### Personality

Unusually for a high-born Praesi (but similar to Wekesa and Masego), Dumisai seemed completely disinterested in politics and power struggles, or really anything outside his research; the only exception showed is his daughter, for whom he seemed to be willing to do anything in his power. He did not care for her mother but, being under her thumb, could only allow himself to rebel against her in very small ways (such as calling Akua *Mpanzi* 'Dear one' instead of the name her mother gave her).

### Relationships

Tasia Sahelian: He had no love for the mother of his daughter and likely only stayed in her employ because leaving her would force him away from his research.

Akua Sahelian: He loved his daughter fully and cherished teaching her about magic as well as consoling her when they secretly scried with one another.

Warlock: Although both held high positions he viewed Warlock as a peer and often remarked about the brilliant discoveries of his works.

### Powers

Being mostly concerned with improvements to existing spell formulas, his research did from time to time garner "a sliver of respect" even from Wekesa, who considered it "often worth a second glance", although it was seldom ground-breaking or truly innovative.

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 https://practicalguidetoevil.wordpress.com/2016/08/31/interlude-nemeses/
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 https://practicalguidetoevil.wordpress.com/2018/02/23/chapter-68-coda/
3. ↑ https://practicalguidetoevil.wordpress.com/2018/01/17/villainous-interlude-crescendo/
4. ↑ https://practicalguidetoevil.wordpress.com/2017/12/31/prodigy/
5. ↑ https://practicalguidetoevil.wordpress.com/2018/02/07/interlude-liesse-iii/