Khagan

The Khagan (Khaldun Khan) is a supervillain who opposes the Vanquishers. His primary rivals are Occultist and Osiris. He currently operates in the background as a powerful warlord within the magic criminal underworld and rules over a secret assassin brotherhood, the Yassa, from an unspecified location known as the Demon Throne.

{ played by @Occultist }

NAME: Khaldun Khan (Born Mönkhbat)
AGE: 100+
EYE COLOR: Grey
HAIR COLOR: Black
OCCUPATION: Supercriminal, Warlord
PLACE OF BIRTH: Karakorum, Mongol Empire
POWERS:

1. Dragon God's Arm - physically strengthened himself by fusing a fallen deity's severed appendage to his mortal form.
2. Immortality - granted everlasting life by the godlike power of his new arm.
3. Martial Arts Mastery - studied and perfected multiple disciplines of melee combat.

Genghis Khan, born Temüjin, oversaw the great rise of the Mongol Empire. The nomadic conqueror was etched into the history of mankind for all eternity, achieving the closest thing to godhood early mortals could possibly hope for. His words in Bokhara formed a 'code of law' for his people. Laws of self-governance, cultural decrees, religious truths, even lifestyle adherents were being debated by him and his closest confidants. This dictation was the first revelation of the Yassa, a secret doctrine that was forged not just to keep order in the largest empire in human history, but also to serve as a roadmap for that very empire's ascension.

The Yassa was believed to be overseen by Genghis Khan and his stepbrother Shikhikhutag. As the high judge of the Mongol Empire, Shikhikhutag held a powerful advisory role and relied heavily on mysticism to help guide his way. The Age of Wonder had already begun to wane and figures like Genghis Khan himself had begun usurping the deities of myth. The question Shikhikhutag sought to answer with the Yassa was what would come next. If mankind was now the masters of their own destiny, instead of the gods above, how could they ensure that destiny prove prosperous? How could they make Earth its own realm of gods?

While the Yassa decided the lives of everyone in Mongol territory, several young men who would grow to be warriors were taken from their homes over the years to be trained explicitly in its letter. Mönkhbat, a child born in the capital of Karakorum, was barely five at the time when Shikhikhutag personally saw to his enlistment. In a sacred site built in the Burkhan Khaldun, Mönkhbat learned directly from the Yassa and studied the code as a stringent way of life. It defined not only his physical toughness, but his mental and spiritual strength as well. Days and nights were spent competing with the other pupils. Failure to uphold the Yassa was swiftly punished. Death was a common occurrence. Mönkhbat was shaped by his tutelage into an unflinching pool of still water. Shikhikhutag knew it was as close to perfection as the mortal form could get.

When 'graduation' came, Mönkhbat was lined up with the other survivors of the Burkhan Khaldun as a cabal of nomadic mystics created a bridge into another world for them to cross. Shikhikhutag watched as his chosen few stepped into the realm of the Dragon King, a long-dormant god from the formative era of humanity. What followed was a massacre. The Dragon King fluidly shifted between human and dragon forms, fighting with a divine fire that could burn entire armies to cinder. The Yassa's soldiers could not penetrate the deity's unbreakable scales. One by one, Mönkhbat watched as his fellow students were torn apart and gruesomely executed. Unafraid -- and still like water -- he remained. When the Dragon King came to face him personally, the fight was cruel and brutal. It took Mönkhbat's right arm clean off his body, and yet the man showed no pain. With his left, Mönkhbat struck the Dragon King in the heart and crushed the organ in his palm. A god had been slain.

Shikhikhutag waited patiently back on Earth when the bridge was suddenly re-established. Mönkhbat, the only survivor, returned -- his missing arm replaced with that of the Dragon King's. Using the divine magic, he opened his own way home and declared victory to a humbled crowd. Shikhikhutag bowed before the embodiment of the Yassa. His success was realized. Mankind had ascended. Immediately, Mönkhbat was crowned in a secret ceremony atop the Burkhan Khaldun. No longer known by his previous name, he was now Khaldun Khan.

As the secret mystic lord of the Mongol Empire, Khaldun Khan remained in control of the Yassa and its codified instructions for centuries. His fusion with a piece of the Dragon King had freed him from the shackles of aging, allowing him to outlive Genghis Khan, Shikhikhutag, and eventually, even the Mongol Empire itself. Pieces of the Yassa were fragmented and disseminated into the various cultures that followed the fall of the great khaganate. From on and on, the Yassa would live on in new forms, but Khaldun Khan remained an eternal remnant of its origins.

After the dissolution of the Mongol Empire, Khaldun Khan left to travel the world. He witnessed much of the world progress and change, then backslide into darkness, only to watch it bloom into new life once again. It wasn't until the Industrial Revolution that he vanished from sight entirely. Having lived several hundred different lives and spread the rule of the Yassa in a variety of different ways, Khaldun Khan retreated into the shadows. Claiming a fabled location known as Chötgöriin Sentii as his new seat of power, the warlord subtly began involving himself in the burgeoning arcane criminal underworld. With magic and mysticism rapidly becoming more and more heretical in the Age of Reason, it seemed the Yassa would soon be disregarded as 'shameful fantasy' like many other traditions of yore. But for those who still believed -- those who still sought power and perfection beyond mortal means -- the Khagan would await them. They just had to make a pilgrimage to his Demon Throne.



In recent times, the Khagan has trained several individuals who sought him out. The mutant Drake found him when trying to harness his inherent abilities. The immortal mystic helped him channel his power into an entirely new style of martial arts. Additionally, Crag of Gaanv Kailash was brought before the Demon Throne and learned how to use the genetic gift of his people more effectively. The Khagan also quickly became aware of the Occultist and believed him to be the most skilled sorcerer in centuries. Tempted to reveal his existence, the Khagan decided instead to remain hidden until the mage came to seek him out instead so as to not alter the delicate balance of power.