Haman (Polesia)
Haman is current ruler of the Belteshazzar. He has awakened the gift of his people and as such is virtually immortal, having lived over a thousand years and being harder to kill than most would believe possible. Because of this power and the tragedies he suffered as a young man, Haman believes himself to be the rightful god of humanity, and the only one who can save the world from itself. The frightening thing is that despite his obvious delusions, Haman is not far from his goal to dominate all of the world. His mythic gift is probably the most powerful seen since Enkil of Shahar-Khet, and his single minded pursuit of power, coupled with his nigh inexhaustible patience, make him a very dangerous adversary.
Character Abilities
Like all Belteshazzar, Haman is more powerful than typical humans, and in addition to this he has fully realized the power of his bloodline. Haman has an extremely magnetic personality, and despite his obvious manic episodes, he seems to be able to turn most into fanatic followers. His powers of speech are only matched by his aptitude for magic, another gift of his lineage, as well as an almost encyclopedic knowledge of antiquary subjects especially anything to do with history and arcane magic. He's also fairly good with a sword, and deadly in close combat. But of course that which would make most of his enemies pause is the fact that he has the resources of the island nation of Kmet-Tha at his disposal making him one of the most powerful independent dictators in Polesia.
Character History
Haman is the child of second cousins Enlil and Salome, both scions of the ancient Belteshazzar bloodline, born shortly after his people's traumatic retreat from the Lattanerans as they invaded Narem-Kumat, on the island that his people named Kmet-Tha (Black Earth from the Sea).
While his people were disheartened that a lesser race of men had defeated them they adapted as they had time and again and rebuilt their civilization, spreading across the island and securing it against any future invasion.
Haman was brought up in seclusion for most of his early years, segregated from other children of lesser blood. During these years his only companions were a few select servants and his books, which he took to like a fish to water. When he was twelve his father finally consented to allow him to socialize freely, and while Haman struggled for several years through teenage awkwardness worsened by his years of isolation, he soon learned to art of diplomacy and became quite charming by the time he was eighteen.
Of course this charm was not wasted, and Haman had several dalliances, to the horror of his bloodline obsessed father. To end these affairs once and for all Enlil promised his son to a close relative, hoping that his son simply needed to pointed in the right direction. However, Haman’s bride to be was not to his liking, a spoiled elitist whose beauty was not nearly what she imagined it to be. Haman all but ignored her when possible and spent his free time away from the court as much as possible.
It was on one of these forays that he for the first time fell in love. While wandering the through the hills near the center Kmet-Tha Haman happened upon a hot spring where he heard a woman singing. Investigating the noise, he came upon a young woman dark of hair and eye, with skin the color of the dusky earth. Haman greeted her warmly and after speaking with her for a few hours, talked her into his arms. This young woman, Jessa, would become his mistress for a number of years, and one of his most carefully guarded secrets.
But no matter how he guarded her, Enlil was a sorcerer of some renown, a prodigy whose talent rivaled the kings of Shahar-khet. Soon after he became suspicious he discovered his son’s affair and decided that more definitive action was to be taken before Haman created a scandal or a bastard of inferior blood.
Dragging both Haman and Jessa before him, Enlil made his son watch as he executed the girl by burning her alive. Naturally something deep in Haman snapped. Ancient power flowed untapped in the family blood, but few ever realized its true potential. That day Haman did, though he did not understand exactly what had happened. Something awoke in his mind and he suddenly realized that it would be easy to shirk his father’s magic and kill the guards. So he did. Little is known of the exact details but suffice to say Enlil did not survive for long as his awakened son went on a rampage killing his father and all who dared to lay hands on him for that crime.
Haman quickly consolidated his new power and brought all but a few splinter groups under his sway. These few called him a kinslayer and left the island before he was able to do the same to them. Haman let them go, and focused on making improvements to his new kingdom, abolishing many of his father’s laws and for a time was very popular with the lower classes. He took multiple lovers over the next ten years but none ever replaced Jessa and he found himself trying to fill a void and frustratingly unable to do so. As the years went on Haman began to think of Jessa almost as a goddess, making her his ideal woman that he could never have and that the world had cruelly snatched from him.
The fact of his near immortality came as something of a slowly realized surprise, Haman was older but his body did not age past his late twenties. People began to speak of the ancient power in his bloodline, and many began to worship him as a living god, associating him with music and arts, for Haman did not let his talents go idle and brought in artists and musicians and culture from across the world. Haman did not dissuade them and actually began to believe it himself, and started to turn his attention outward toward the rest of the world. Slowly but surely, a new hunger asserted itself in his mind and he looked to Antanides, which was now divided and weakening with the waning of the Lattaneran Empire. Partly from a strange sort of pity, and partly due to imperious nature of his bloodline, Haman decided that he needed to save the world from itself and bring it under his benevolent rule. In time though, this benevolent rule became a thin façade. As he started to see himself more and more as a living god, and the rightful ruler of the world, Haman’s rule became more dictatorial and soon he outlawed the worship of any god other than himself.
This was the final straw for many of his people, who rightly saw that he had gone insane. They tried to wrest power from him, and thus sparked a brutal civil war. Haman’s chief rival in all of this was a military leader named Absalom who through unknown means had awakened the power of the Belteshazzar bloodline also. Haman sensed this, and in a state that mixed jealousy with paranoia, put all of his might into destroying Absalom and his kin to extinguish any other possible rivals.
Absalom however managed to escape Haman’s clutches, along with his wife and a small army of retainers. Not much is known of the time that Absalom spent in exile, but one year later Haman’s agents discovered him with a large mercenary army with people from across the world under his banner, building fortifications on a nearby island. Haman had had enough. This time he approached the situation more directly and made sure to cut off Absalom’s escape before leading the rest of his forces personally to destroy his hated foe. The two immortals fought a titanic battle in the midst of conflict, and while Haman was grievously injured, the older immortal proved once and for all that he was more powerful and struck his rival down, though he did not kill him immediately.
Haman, ever the clever politician and still held by most on Kmet-tha to be a god, managed to turn any naysayers’ arguments aside, citing the fact that Absalom was obviously planning to invade their sacred kingdom with an army of barbarians intent on forcing foreign rule upon them. He also made a huge spectacle of the victory, to prove that when the time was right, he would in fact lead them to victory over the rest of the world and restore their ancient bloodline to its proper place as the ruler of all humanity. The culmination of the victory celebration was a great sacrifice of Absalom’s captains and then finally Absalom himself. When the rival immortal was slain, however something unexpected happened. The sacrifices that Haman occasionally orchestrated for himself were largely a showy execution, but when Absalom’s blood was spilled on the alter Haman felt a great surge of power, as though in some way he had taken the other’s power into himself. Emboldened by this, Haman set his plans into motion, sending out emissaries across the world, to prepare the way for his coming.
A scholar of world history, Haman learned from the mistakes of countless generals, and realized that while it was possible for him to simply crush the Lattaneran Empire, it served a better purpose as a scapegoat, as did the blooming Avandor Dominion in the north. For now he would simply infiltrate, spread his faith and build contacts everywhere so that when he deemed that the time was right, he could simply set these followers ablaze with the idea of revolution and then claim the spoils when the dust settled. From that time on he has been spreading his influence across the world, already his cults can be found across Antanides, venerating this undying and charismatic god of music.
