Name: Kahr-ret-Taris
Race: Human
Colors:
Home Plane: Arbagoth
Status: Public (but I call dibs on his next story)

Physical Description Kahr-ret-Taris is an impressive physical specimen. He stands at about six and a half foot tall, with a thick but extremely muscular frame that speaks to a life as a warrior. His skin tone is described as that of rich mahogany wood, and his hair is jet-black, thick and long. He typically goes clean-shaven, to the point of shaving twice a day, and will usually have all of his body hair removed regularly, leaving only his hair, eyebrows and eyelashes. His face is extremely expressive, and given that he is prone to emotional outbursts, his expressions change often. Kahr-ret-Taris is a vain man, and is proud of his body, and so he often wears very little clothing, covering only his thighs and privates. Normally, he will only cover his upper body if the weather demands it.

Personality
Kahr-ret-Taris is generally a good man, but he is self-centered and arrogant, symptoms of having been born the son of a Pharaoh and having ascended to what he and others had believed was godhood. Although Kahr cares deeply for the safety and the happiness of his people, it is always his own concerns he sees to first, even though he rarely if ever realizes it. In fact, he often justifies his own more selfish actions as benefiting his people, even when that connection is thin or non-existent. Kahr was born into a world fiercely infused with green mana, and is a strong believer in the natural order. However, as a Pharaoh’s son and god-king, Kahr-ret-Taris views himself as the top of that natural order. The sacrifice of his underlings, while appreciated, is also expected, in his eyes. Kahr is also a very emotional man, given to sudden and aggressive bouts of anger, sorrow, love, or whatever else he might be feeling at the time.

History
On the plane of Arbagoth, the kingdom of Skavlakur is ruled by a dynasty of pharaohs assumed to be divine. The first Pharaoh was Luhk-ret-Taris, Kahr’s direct ancestor and progenitor of the ret-Taris Dynasty. The ret-Taris family ruled Skavlakur for nearly 2000 years until it was overthrown by the insurgent ret-Syrris family. In the revolt, Kahr’s father, the Pharaoh Ruhk-ret-Taris, was murdered while Kahr was forced to watch. This action ignited Kahr’s spark, and as the ret-Syrris assassins attempted to murder him, as well, Kahr planeswalked away.

Kahr-ret-Taris had no idea what had happened to him. He knew nothing about planeswalkers or the other planes of existence, and so, finding himself on the demon-ruled plane of Helkavin, Kahr-ret-Taris became convinced that he had been killed, and was in the afterlife. Kahr’s spark ignited before the Mending, making him an oldwalker, but Kahr merely assumed his great powers were his right as a Pharaoh, a god-king. He warred with the Greater Demons of Helkavin, and established himself as a god-king of the humans who had been ruled by those demons. Eventually, with his afterlife kingdom won and the demons scattered, Kahr-ret-Taris decided to try to return to the land of the living.

Without truly knowing what he was doing, Kahr-ret-Taris planeswalked back to Arbagoth and the kingdom of Skavlakur. Unfortunately, his return coincided almost perfectly with the Mending, and when he arrived at his home plane, Kahr found himself far weaker than he had been. The ret-Syrris guards wounded Kahr until he was forced to retreat, and instinctively, he ‘walked back to Helkavin. The few remaining Greater Demons sensed his weakness immediately, and trapped him in a demonic Bloodrock, where he would suffer forever.

Powers
Kahr-ret-Taris is an accomplished warrior and mage. He uses a combination of black, red and green mana spells, and is equally adept at all three, though the angrier he gets in battle, the more he starts to favor red. Kahr-ret-Taris also has access to the words of the Demonbane, a magic spell that can instantly kill even the most powerful of demons, though whether the Demonbane works outside of Helkavin where it was found is still unknown. Finally, as heir to the ret-Taris Dynasty, he also possesses a powerful magic of the ancient Pharaohs, a spell known as the Pyre of the Devout. The Devout are an order of clerics wholly dedicated to the divinity of the Pharaoh, and, if a Devout willingly offers his or her life to the Pharaoh, the Pyre can consume them completely, and rejuvenate the youth of the Pharaoh. Using this power, Kahr’s ancestors were able to rule for centuries. Kahr’s own father had ruled for nearly two hundred years when he was assassinated.

Sexuality
Kahr-ret-Taris is gay. He is respectful of other sexualities, but because of his inherent vanity and self-absorption, he tends to assume every man he meets is also gay and is attracted to him. He finds it a little jarring in those instances where he’s wrong.

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I love that Kahr-ret-Taris (I keep mentally spelling it "tetris" incidentally) assumes every guy he meets is gay-until-proven-otherwise. That's kind of a hilarious inversion, actually.

The only problem I foresee is that we're not sure how quickly the Mending power loss happened for Oldwalkers. We seem to have some evidence that it happened gradually--we know the loss of shape shifting happened gradually at least--but it's such a tenuous area of canon that I honestly wouldn't be surprised if it never got defined, and I'm ok with its use here despite the potential conflicts later.

The only other potential objection is that it's not clear where his story should go, but since you're requesting a hold on him till you can write his second story I'm assuming you have a good sense of what to do with him.

I love that Arbagoth is slowly getting expanded just through the random mentions in various stories.

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My only dislike his he hits some of the same notes as a pet character of mine (Matal the god child). But since I don't think that character ever entered the M:EM cannon I can't hold that against this guy.

I wish for more definition than just what colors of magic he uses, but as an oldwalker his talent pool would be deeper than most.

We might want to look at making gay characters that aren't male. Just an observation.

And finally do you figure this guy as a hero or villian?

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Personally, I see him as a hero, and he certainly sees himself that way. He's self-centered, but not to a fault. He just has a few centuries of believing himself to be a god to work through.

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Ok never mind then...

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Demons, intrigue, and a prideful God-child... color me intrigued.

This is partially to bump this thread but mostly to remind myself to read it soon. I promise to get around to it, okay?

I'm not feeling him. There are aspects that I do like, but I don't feel he's different enough from portrayals of other Pharaohs in fiction.

What would you need for him to stand out?

Also, @Helio, aren't you Shamsiel? I uh... don't think you can vote yet, can you?

I don't know, really. The gay thing is a cool change, but probably won't come up enough to make the difference. Him being a battle-mage might be played up a bit more.

I feel it may be kind of stupid to vote on this guy before The Fallen Pharaoh which he stars in, but I've read the story and that thread should be my next stop, so here goes.

As a character in the pool of M:EM 'walkers, I think he does stand out enough and overall pretty good.
As a character in the sea of fantasy characters, I have to agree with Yxoque in that he doesn't really feel very special.

Honestly, I like the backstory of him thinking himself dead once he ascended, but there's something missing... I think that angle might just be executed better with different aspects.

Actually, that's just it: this feels kind of bare. There doesn't seem like there's enough character aspects to create a full person. What is he? Gay and shirtless, a pharaoh and all that encompasses (which is to say, rather bland when we're talking about Magic), and an oldwaker who thought he had died. That's about it. Oh, and there's something about Arbagoth in there.

So, I'm going to have to say no for now. I'm sure there's more to him that's locked up in your head right now, but since they haven't been transferred to words, I can't say I endorse him.

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EBWOP:

I'm pretty sure you're right. The Anthologies weren't considered an "automatic in", though if you'd like Heliosphoros, you can... what's the word? Appeal? for full M:EMbership.

So the vote actually stands as this:

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I think "being similar to other pharaohs in fiction" is not reason enough to dismiss this character. After all, tropes exist for a reason, and as long as there is variation within the tropes, I don't have a problem with them. Also, the fact that he can magically consume his followers to regain his youth is a pretty cool thing. All in all, I like him, and I liked his story, so I'm a "Yea" on this.

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I really don't know what's bothering me about him. Sometimes I think he's too much of a jerk, other times I think he's not enough of a jerk...

I feel like he's not complex enough, but I can't put into words why. I don't even know if that's what I actually think. I'll need more time.

Seems to me that being simultaneously too much of a jerk and not enough of a jerk is pretty complex...

Yeah, I can't put my finger on it.

Part of the reason I voted Nay is less to do with the whole "typical pharaoh" thing and more to do with that "that seems to be 70% of his character". Like I said, there's like, three things we really know about the guy: Arbagoth, Gay, and Pharaoh.

This work has been ACCEPTED. Voting for this work is closed.

I'll add it to the Archives later.