Naganika

### Aliases

“Nika” – abbreviation, but use at your own risk. This is only for people she has a fondness to.
“Vasuki” – the 5 Ghost Emperors of the market street call her this. It means ‘Serpent King’.

### Role(s)

Head of the Department for Business and Development
Overseer of Market Street

## Misc.

### Interactions

Runs the Yuxue magic item shop and Market Street

### Office

Market Street

> Remember, every treasure comes with a price.
>
> Kevin Kwan, Crazy Rich Asians

> To love is to enter into the inevitability of one day not being able to protect what is most valuable to you.
>
> Mohsin Hamid, Exit West

## **Backstory**

In her teens, trained by a local shaman to become a Kulam, Naganika found a strange jar in an antique store and played with it. Strange voices could be heard from inside, telling her that they were immortal beings trapped by their enemy. The girl agreed to break them out and unknowingly released a group of devilish fiends who called themselves the Ghost Emperors. She almost lost her life when they tried to possess her but luckily, a traveling cultivator, Kashi Ananda, lent a hand in subduing these Ghost Emperors, albeit still one step too late. Half of the girl’s soul was already eaten by those pests and the only way to save her was to bind them all together, supplementing her waned half with pieces of the devils’ souls.
To keep an eye on her condition, the cultivator asked for the girl to become her disciple, learning the way to suppress the devils within her. Many years later, the cultivator named Kashi Ananda came to Xiaojiang with her friends and established the Yuxue Alliance. Then after a few more years, their group was framed and executed. Naganika, as replacement for her deceased master, became the new overseer of the market.

## **Personality**

Naganika has a calm self-confidence and a mysterious air about her; she is an excellent listener and tends to make whoever she is talking to feel validated and important. She showers them with attention as well, and is surprisingly sincere and authentic for a businesswoman. All this contributes to a magnetic personality.
She is extremely likely to develop a liking towards capable, wealthy, or powerful people. While she does not develop admiration, she will be drawn to them as allies.

#### **Flaws**

* Can be a control freak.
* Ironically, while conventionally trusted by others, she is sceptical of most people.

#### **Strengths**

* A shrewd dealmaker.
* Her reputation for honesty makes her deals even better.

## **Bonds**

* No one in particular. She maintains a professional relationship with all of them and likes them all moderately.

## **Secrets**

* A Kulam who is cursed to never be able to tell a lie.
* A secret romantic, and will actually sacrifice a lot for the one she loves.

## **Quirks and mannerisms**

* While she isn’t particularly tall or limber, there is a fluid grace to her movements.
* She is always moving slowly, never hurried.

## **Trivia**

* She is drawing power from 5 very minor beings. They give her magic, but there is something about her that enables them to work together enough to combine their powers and become strong enough to match the powers of the usual gods that give warlocks their magic. Therefore they stick around her (and with each other) to remain powerful, and she coordinates them to maintain their bond (and the strength that results from it) and running the market is something they all do together as the main bonding activity.
* All 6 of them get a thrill out of making deals with people, so business is their forte.
* They all got together from making deals as well.
* The market street is their hobby, they definitely are/can be more involved in bigger things of course.
* Naganika arranged them like the feng shui elements chart and keeps them this way by her force of personality and they are trapped in this balance of support (creation) and fighting (the destruction paths) as a way to involve her in the arrangement.