Rukhsana

BIOGRAPHY

Rukhsana was born on Awal 22 years before Rhys invaded Aurea, to the royal family of the Haxamanian Empire in charge of most of the Planet Awal. She was the youngest of her family and a girl, so her parents for the most part paid her very little attention, intending to just marry her off to some noble when she came of age and get her out of their hair. For most of her early life, Rukhsana was kept in the palace, being taught things like cooking, manners, entertaining, and storytelling. While she liked these things, they weren't enough for her, and she would often sneak into the palace library to satisfy her curiosity about the world around her. She somehow figured out how to read and write on her own, learning things such as science, the history of Awal, the classics of both Awal and Aurea, and the life and teachings of Subhraj Anand. She once said to her parents as a child that she one day wanted to rule the Haxamanian Empire, but they laughed it off, both because Rukhsana was the youngest in the royal family and because they said it wasn't a woman's "place" to rule. Of her siblings, the only ones who paid her any attention were her brother Zarang and her sister Narenja, as Shapur was the designated heir and Rostam was away studying to become a priest. 

She was close with Narenja as a child, but by the time she was a teenager, Narenja had already been married to the Satrap (Governor) of Peshmerghestan at the far end of the empire, so she saw her less and less as time went on. Zarang stayed close with Rukhsana, even sneaking her out one night to teach her how to ride a horse, and at least entertaining the notion that Rukhsana could rule one day when she brought it up. However, soon after this, tragedy struck when her parents and Shapur were sailing to Peshmerghestan to both check on the province and visit Narenja, and their ship sank on the way there, killing all on board. Since the designated heir was killed, Zarang, being the oldest surviving member of the family, was crowned Shahanshah (King of Kings) of the Haxamanian Empire. Rostam, who had no actual desire to become a priest despite being sent to become one by his parents, saw his chance at the throne and started a civil war. 

Zarang was not good at leading troops in battle and was easily defeated by Rostam's forces, leading to his capture and subsequent execution (although the latter was against the orders of Rostam, who wanted to simply imprison him). When Rostam took control of the capital, Rukhsana, who he saw as a supporter of Zarang with ambitions of her own, was captured and sent to a prison called the Fortress of Oblivion in the faraway deserts of Gamalistan.

She was lonely at first in prison, but a couple months in she befriended Omar bin Aziz, a priest from Gamalistan who Rukhsana eventually learned was the head of the Zamanrahib, an ancient order of Gamali priests who watch over the entrance to the Sands of Time and prevent the wrong people from accessing them. Eventually, the two escaped the Fortress of Oblivion and appealed to the Satrap of Gamalistan for help. Rukhsana and Omar had previously reached a deal in which Omar and the Zamanrahib would support Rukhsana in rising up against her brother for the throne, and Rukhsana would return the Zamanrahib to the privileged status they had enjoyed a few centuries back. Since the Zamanrahib had strong influence in Gamalistan, the Satrap gave in and proclaimed Rukhsana Queen of Kings, directly challenging Rostam.

Both while in prison and in their travels after escaping, Omar bin Aziz mentored Rukhsana in Mind Magic, with which she had a high degree of natural talent for. By the time she had escaped from prison, she'd already mostly gotten her head around the basic abilities (telekinesis, slowing time around a chosen person or creature for a short duration - known as mind slow - , manipulating the weak minded through mind tricks, posture manipulation, short range teleportation, telepathy, and basic divination). In particular, she showed particular talent with mind slow, immobilizing five different prison guards at once immediately after teleporting herself and Omar out of their cells. Additionally, Rukhsana learned how to use her four rare innate abilities (psychometry - the ability to experience vivid visions of an object's past by touching it, immaterial storage - the ability to store any objects Rukhsana is capable of lifting in a pocket dimension accessible only to her and withdrawing them at will, mindwalking - the ability to enter another's mind and experience their thoughts or dreams with them, and phantasmagoria - the ability to create powerful hallucinations in others). She had always had signs of them as a child, but had no idea what they meant until she learned how to harness them via mind magic.

Meanwhile, Rostam was in the process of purging supporters of Zarang from the aristocracy, and this proved to be a very unpopular move with said aristocracy, leading to more and more provinces switching sides and declaring for Rukhsana. Crucial among these was Peshmerghestan, which provided Rukhsana with the best troops anywhere in the empire had to offer, as well as a chance to see her sister Narenja again. Before long, Rukhsana had an army, complete with infantry, cavalry, camels, and even war elephants imported from Bharatam, and set sail for the capital. 

On her way through the Hyrcanian Mountains, Rukhsana attempted to march through the lands of the various West Hyrcanian tribes, citing her royal family's descent from the Shahanzai Tribe centered around the small city of Mingora as proof they would welcome her as a liberator. However, she was given a hostile reception by the many West Hyrcanian tribes, who teamed up to harry her army relentlessly as it moved through the mountains. At first she tried various tactics to fend them off, but as she lost more and more soldiers, it became clear that Rukhsana would have to either come to some sort of agreement with these tribes or her army would mutiny. She sent out peace offerings to every tribe, and only heard back from one: the Shahanzai. The Shahanzai's response was that in exchange for Rukhsana leaving West Hyrcania, disbanding her army, and recognizing Rostam as the rightful Shahanshah, they would spare her life. Enraged by the grave insult, her army changed its mind and agreed to keep marching through the mountains to Mingora. 

Despite losing many soldiers along the way to Shahanzai raids, Rukhsana was able to block all the gates and bridges into the city and begin a siege. However, as the days dragged on, her army was having problems feeding itself due to Shahanzai raiders ambushing foraging parties and the resistant local populace refusing to hand over food, sometimes even at spearpoint. Eventually, an offer from Akhtar Akhund, leader of the Students of Anand (the radical and incredibly misogynistic and homophobic Anandist priesthood that had been influencing the Shahanshahs for generations and the de facto leader of both the Shahanzai Tribe and West Hyrcanian tribes in general) was sent to Rukhsana, in which the two would duel 1v1. If Rukhsana won, the Shahanzais would stand down. If he won, Rukhsana would have to not only accept the original offer but also become his slave. Disgusted by the offer, but confident in her magical abilities and her army too short on food to continue the siege much longer, Rukhsana talked it over with Omar bin Aziz. While Omar bin Aziz knew of Akhtar Akhund's magical abilities, he underestimated his power, and gave Rukhsana the go-ahead to the duel. Rukhsana sent a messenger into Mingora to let Akhtar know of her acceptance. 

That night, Rukhsana had a dream of the Simurgh flying somewhere around the Hyrcanian Mountains. The Simurgh was a magical bird with the body of a peahen and the head of a wolf, and together with the Spirit of the Eldest Myrrh, the Simurgh was the spirit that embodied the essence of Awal, having a long history with Awal's royal family that Rukhsana had read about in her time sneaking books in the palace library.  Long ago, the creature had given a single feather to Rostam I (Rukhsana's brother's namesake), who would go on to become the first Shahanshah of the Haxamanian Empire. The feather was passed down through millennia, attached to the pommel of the Shamshir-e-Shahan, the sword of the Haxamanian royal family, symbolizing their connection to the Planet Awal. During the Haxamanian Empire's peak years, the Simurgh was written to have even lived in the palace and served as a steed for the Shahanshahs, but as time went on and they grew corrupt and their power waned, the influence of the Simrugh waned. The creature flew off into the Hyrcanian Mountains never to be seen again, and the feathers on the sword began to wilt. By Rukhsana's youth, they were little more than a hair-like wisp, and with Rostam's instigation of a civil war, the last feather had dried out completely and fell off the sword. 

The next morning, the two met in front of the city's gates on a bridge and the duel began. Rukhsana appeared to have an upper hand at first, but once Akhtar got serious, she lost her footing to his relentless Storm Magic attacks and was eventually beaten to within an inch of her life. When Rukhsana was about to be captured and enslaved by Akhtar, Omar stepped in and rescued her, and her army, encamped on the opposite side of the bridge, was forced to form up rapidly to prepare to cover a retreat. Shahanzai archers along the wall bombarded them, and a Shahanzai force charged out of the city walls to attack the rearguard. Rukhsana's force was able to retreat, but suffered heavy casualties in what was known as the Day of Lost Eyes.

Despite feeling crushed and terrified of Shahanzai retribution from her defeat, Rukhsana refused to disband her army or acknowledge Rostam as Shahanshah. Despite having barely half the force she started with, she chose to continue the campaign, although with a new approach: chipping away at the West Hyrcanians by pulling away the smaller, poorer tribes before going for the stronger, more powerful ones like the Shahanzai rather than the previous strategy of decapitating them by pulling away the strongest tribe. With what was left of her army, Rukhsana marched northeast towards Parwan, the home of the Kohzai Tribe, citing a "feeling in her gut". Forced to march through the territory of the Shahanzai-allied Lodizais to get there, Rukhsana's forces were constantly harried by small bands of Lodizai warriors, and were chased out of the Lodizai city of Zaymazid after attempting to rest and resupply there. They had more luck in their brief march through the lands of the neutral Surkhzais, finally being able to recuperate in the small city of Kunduz and even picking up a small number of Surkhzai volunteers. Forced to avoid most of the mountain passes to Kohzai territory due to them being in Lodizai land, Rukhsana used a perilous route through Salang Valley, a gap in the Hyrcanian Mountains over 9,000 feet above sea level in most places and over 12,000 in its highest spot, Zindagi Pass, named for taking the lives of many travelers that cross it. Many in Rukhsana's force died of frostbite, hypothermia, or complications of prolonged altitude sickness in the snowy valley, but Rukhsana persevered and survived to emerge in Kohzai land on the other side.

After arriving in the lands of the more peaceful Kohzais, Rukhsana was informed by their Khan that the Simurgh indeed still existed, and that if it saw that she forged a new Shamshir-e-Shahan, it may deem her worthy of ruling the Haxamanian Empire, and if not, it would simply eat her. After helping her gather a few ingredients (one of which required her to venture into the nest of a roc bird that very nearly killed her), the Kohzais helped Rukhsana forge a new Shamshir-e-Shahan, and led her to the peak of Kohe Shakhawr, the highest mountain on the entire planet, to meet the Simurgh. As the spirit studied her, Rukhsana's nerves got the better of her, and she accidentally dropped the sword into a deep ravine. Just when Rukhsana thought the Simurgh had judged her as unworthy and was about to eat her, the beast dove into the ravine, fished the sword out with its talons, and presented it to Rukhsana, with a new batch of feathers attached to the pommel. This won Rukhsana the allegiance of the Kohzais, the first of the many West Hyrcanian tribes she'd need the support of. Additionally, the Simurgh itself joined her on her quest, often shrinking down to the size of a puppy to ride on her shoulder. Upon seeing the Simurgh, the Kohzai Khan, Bakhtawara Kohzai, threw her support behind Rukhsana.

With the added support of the Kohzais, Rukhsana led her force southwest through the Hyrcanian Mountains to Mingora, issuing another challenge to Akhtar Akhund. He accepted, although this time, he demanded to be allowed to use his army from the beginning, as Rukhsana's force had gotten involved last time to save her life. Rukhsana agreed provided that her and her force would be provided with safe passage through Lodizai land to reach him, which Akhtar Akhund agreed to. The march back towards Mingora was far less arduous than the trip to the Kohzai lands as a result, with Rukhsana's force taking a peaceful route through Nuristan Pass and along the warm and rainy Sabz Coast. 

Upon returning to Mingora, Rukhsana once again found it fortified and imposing, but upon closer inspection realized it had been left empty. Its streets were devoid of civilians and its gates were wide open. Seizing this strange opportunity, Rukhsana's army rushed into the city to occupy it, only to find Akhtar Akhund's army streaming out of its hiding places in the nearby wooded hills to surround the city, trapping her army in it. Rukhsana also quickly discovered that Mingora had been intentionally stripped by Akhtar Akhund of all stored food, and they did not have long before starvation would set in. Additionally, Rukhsana knew that she could not duel Akhtar Akhund in the city or its immediate surroundings again, as the three rivers that converge at Mingora bolster his Storm Magic. 

While many in her army began seriously questioning her leadership for falling for such an obvious trap, Rukhsana met privately with Omar bin Aziz, Bakhtawara Kohzai, and Shahzar Ashkani, the leader of her army's band of Surkhzai volunteers to discuss strategy. A traditional sortie in any direction was ruled out due to the steep terrain and bridges forming bottlenecks at every possible exit from the city. Instead, they devised a genius strategy to take a small group out of the city at night via rafts on the Shir River, disembark downstream of Akhtar Akhund's force, and ambush him. Simultaneously, the rest of Rukhsana's army would launch sorties from all of the city's gates, tying up the rest of the besiegers. 

However, when this plan was put into motion, Akhtar Akhund had foreseen this and positioned himself outside the eastern side of the city, while leaving his distinctive gold leaf-plated tent on the southern side, causing Rukhsana's force to erroneously land there. Despite this, the force Rukhsana led out of the city on rafts was entirely cavalry, allowing them to roll up the force they encountered while it was tied up defending against the sortie and continue east to a bridge further up the Shir River that Akhtar Akhund did not think was necessary to guard. From here, Rukhsana's force crashed into Akhtar Akhund's rear. As Akhtar Akhund's force disintegrated between Rukhsana and the sortie, Rukhsana began to duel him atop the hill he was encamped on, a considerable distance from the Shir River or any of its tributary streams, giving Rukhsana an advantage she did not enjoy during her first fight with him. While Akhtar Akhund could still use air-based Storm attacks and his weapons, removing water from the equation greatly hampered his abilities, allowing Rukhsana to painstakingly gain the upper hand. However, Akhtar Akhund knocked her off her balance when she least expected it with a gust of air and tried to attack the Simurgh, greatly angering the beast. The Simurgh then grew to its full size, picked Akhtar Akhund up in its talons, flew hundreds of feet into the air, and dropped him to his death in the Shir River as the sun rose.