OC Spotlight: Kha // mostly sfw

Many tales portray vampires as afflicted with a curse, and capable of turning other mortals into nighttime predators by way of bite or ritual. Such is not the case in our desert world. Instead, our vampires are a species -- they are born, not made, but are technically never alive. A vampire's heart never beats, their lips never draw breath, and their eyes never close to sleep.

Yet, in some mysterious way, their bodies turn every single drop of blood into strength and tenacity, and few hunters are more stealthy. A form of echolocation allows our vampires to hone in on their prey with deadly precision, and their faces split open to reveal sharp teeth that deal the killing blow. A blink of an eye is all it takes, and the shadow that smoothly crept along the walls and ceiling is upon you faster than your eye could fathom. Fighting back is often futile, with even serious wounds to their flesh knitting back together in an instant. Your best hope would be liquid sunlight. Ordinary daylight causes them no trouble, but magical light burns them even worse than others.

A vampire’s greatest strength is the same as their foremost weakness: They can only eat blood (though every now and then, they might be able to stomach a treat made from mostly blood, like a soup dumpling filled with the stuff). Contrary to convention, however, our vampires do not value the blood of people over that of animals or plants that grow like flesh. Individual preference might play a part, but they’re not constantly fighting the urge to have a bite of a friend, and the blood in a stranger’s veins smells neither more nor less delicious than the sap of a bleeding tree.

However, a vampire has to make sure to eat regularly. Anyone can get cranky when their stomach starts to grumble, and a peckish vampire might simply be a little more aggressive and impulsive than usual. But a famished vampire will eventually lose control and attack whatever living thing they can get their claws on -- whether it's a chicken, meat plant, or person. In this state of hunger-induced frenzy they can't tell friend from foe, and no self-respecting vampire wants the blood of a loved one on their hands. (It helps to track the colour of their eyes, which drains from red to white as hunger sets in. Once their iris turns pink, you should start to worry.)

Vampires are relatively rare, and hearing horror stories of frenzied slaughter is regularly enough cause for caution or fear in those who only know them from afar. More worldly individuals treat them the same as draconic rhaajim, werewolves, and bird-of-prey thajir: with respectful recognition of their abilities, but without unwarranted or superstitious alarm. Given the carnivorous history of the Empire, vampires are not alone in having ... bloodthirsty tendencies. Ultimately, it’s up to each individual to choose how to interact with their species’ reputation.

Kha, for one, uses it to his advantage. Why prove a rumour wrong when you can gain from leaning into it? The hero of this particular tale combines the charm of a lovable douchebag with the schadenfreude of a walking nightmare. He cares infinitely for his Scoundrel community, and not at all for their enemies, so the fear he has learned to induce is an extremely useful weapon against the latter. Some might argue that Kha gives honest vampires a bad reputation. Thank the gods, then, that he never claimed to be honest.

Kha stands a head taller than most, with a lean, lanky build, and the posture of an uncrowned bastard prince. He has perfected the art of baring his fangs in an equal parts confident and unsettling grin, often more effective a threat than a row of words or sharpened blade. Many strangers and enemies know him for the shivers he sends up your spine when his red eyes linger at your neck, or worst of all -- when he doesn’t smile. And how brave would you feel when a vampiric opponent tears into your friend in the middle of a fight, drinking the life out of their veins to replenish his strength?

Among friends, on the other hand, Kha is a hopeless idiot. Sure, they all know that he’s actually sly, clever, and calculating -- but sometimes he makes it very easy to forget. Reckless shenanigans, bad jokes, and dumb pranks are his forte. In bickering matches he regularly plays the devil’s advocate, just for shits and giggles, and his favourite style of banter walks the line between extremely witty and just plain stupid. Examples of his escapades include stealing the undead librarian’s skeletal arm just for fun, scaring his friends shitless by pretending to be their sleep paralysis demon at night, and setting more gullible people up for hilariously dumb dares.

Nobody is more tired of Kha’s bullshit than his elven husband Rahim, and nobody encourages him more than his best bro Byeong-ho -- who is arguably an even bigger idiot, albeit of the more cheerful sort. It often seems like the only responsible member of their Squad™ is Sekani, with his pretty resting bitchface and serious demeanour.

Professionally speaking, Kha and Byeong-ho are both thieves, while Rahim and Sekani work with gathering intel and analysing secrets that their enemies failed to keep. Jobs range from stealing valuables and undermining rivalling criminals, to acquiring documents that could compromise corrupt officials and other missions where a rogue’s talent would come in handy.

Kha was essentially born for it. Vampires are stealth hunters who are naturally able to scale any wall, move quiet as mist, and strike with decisive accuracy. On top of that, he’s strategic enough to draft cunning plans, patient enough to execute them well, and reckless enough to improvise when they go awry. He knows how to manipulate an enemy in any way necessary, and how to lead his fellow Scoundrels through thick and thin. It doesn’t hurt that he was trained by Renza, the Prince of Thieves -- whom Kha eventually succeeds.

Renza’s generation saw a lot of discord within the Scoundrels, with Jin’s father trying to usurp more power than he ever deserved; the Princess of Shadows making an ill-fated deal with the ghost of an ancient king; and the insane priest Hymns trying to “purify” mortals by infecting them with the light disease. Despite going through these trials of turmoil, suffering, and loss of life, the Scoundrels knit back together and rebuild. Once the older Royals eventually retire, handing over their life’s work to their children and successors, the organisation is resting on a solid and united foundation.

Kha, Rahim, Byeong-ho, and Sekani are all part of this new generation. The same goes for Okoro, Thulani, Koma, Tarikuto, Naoki, and many other characters you might have seen in recent sketchdumps and OC spotlight polls.

They face new quests, new challenges, and new villains, but their efforts eventually usher in a golden era for the Scoundrels. As the new Prince of Thieves, Kha turns his focus on regaining control of the slums of the Capital, long since lost to local gangs. Even though they’re career criminals, the Scoundrels keep a code of honour and arguably care more for the lost and unfortunate than the flawed Imperial system. The urban gangs, on the other hand, run the streets in the name of greed and cruelty. Countless people suffer at their hands, but Kha and the others vow to take the City back.

When they’re not busy fighting dirty for their own brand of justice, this generation is a collection of gremlins that share a very limited number of brain cells.

Kha, as already mentioned, is no exception. Nor is Rahim. Somewhere in the elf’s lineage there’s a few sphinxes, granting him the inherited ability to see through people’s lies and nonsense -- but it doesn’t keep him from being just barely smarter than the rest. Out of the meme options Kha is too much energy while Rahim is no energy, and if you didn’t know better you might think that the pair are frenemies rather than lovers. They bicker like an old married couple and Rahim is more likely to look at Kha’s shit-eating grin with a scrunchy-faced scowl than anything resembling affection. PDAs aren’t their thing, either -- with the exception of Rahim habitually using Kha’s lap as a chair. In fact both of them will often taunt Byeong-ho and Sekani for being disgustingly adorable in public.

… that said, proof of affection regularly bleeds through (pun intended). Even though he’s usually wrapped in scarves and warm clothes, Rahim’s kink for getting bit in the bedroom is a barely kept secret. All it takes is a slip of fabric and the bite marks on his neck would be plain for all to see, especially since it doesn’t bother him. Kha, of course, is all too happy to oblige.

He spoils Rahim in other ways, too. The elf is a little nerd who sometimes forgets to eat and habitually nibbles on junk food rather than something more nutritious. Kha -- who can’t even eat normal food -- learns to cook a few dishes solely for Rahim’s sake. One time, this unexpected skill even lands him the winning spot of an impromptu cooking competition judged by the resident foodies. His prize is to return as a guest judge and making the next batch of contestants cook blood-based foods he can actually taste.

In a similar vein (pun intended), many of his friends have adopted the habit of keeping blood packets on them, just in case Kha needs a snack. Byeong-ho has even volunteered his own neck, should there ever be a dire emergency -- but Andherans are walking waste bins whose hardy constitution allows them to eat more or less anything, and apparently it affects the taste of their blood. Kha reveals he’d rather drink sewer water than feed off an Andheran, and Byeong-ho is deeply insulted. I thought you were bae … turns out you’re just fam.

Being a vampire among living, breathing people has always meant that Kha experienced the world a bit differently from his friends and family. His parents -- Na’im and Qaragan -- discovered as much immediately upon adopting him. Like many other Scoundrels, Kha was orphaned at an early age. They found him curled up in a barrel, too little to understand and communicate much of what had happened. All they could piece together was that someone very good had hid away to protect him from someone very bad, but lost their own life in the process.

Learning how to care for a vampiric child entailed some trial and error. After a tiny Kha got hungry enough to tear an unfortunate chicken apart, Na’im and Qaragan realised exactly how crucial it is to keep him fed. Unlike other new parents they couldn’t count on catching a break while their toddler takes a nap, because Kha didn’t sleep. Nor did it help their nerves to see him scramble up the walls, sit on the ceiling, or scurry along the rafters.

But what they lacked in experience, they made up for with love -- and for the first few years of his life, Kha needed lots of it. He was a very shy and withdrawn kid, with the equally demure Rahim as his only friend. Everything changed once the outgoing and fearless Byeong-ho started dragging them along on adventures (with Sekani doing his best to keep them out of too much trouble) and the more fun Kha had, the more he grew in confidence. With time, his timid nature gave way to that of a bold and mischievous rascal. Once Renza recognised his skill for thievery he became the Prince’s student, further boosting his self-esteem.

By the time of his late teens, Kha had long since turned into the sly and cocky bastard we know and love. But it wasn’t all fun and games. He and Rahim -- “only friends” at the time -- went through a trial of fire when a training mission mishap left them lost in a caved-in underground ruin. It was a labyrinth where not even Kha’s ability to scale the wall helped them find a way out, and their supplies had been left behind -- including Kha’s blood packets.

As they wandered about in search of an exit, hunger began to set in. Hours went by and the colour gradually drained out of Kha’s red eyes, his movements becoming snappy and his thoughts taking a turn for the aggressive. He hadn’t frenzied often, but enough times to know that before long he would turn on Rahim, too ravenous for the blood in his veins to see his companion as more than food.

In the end he begged Rahim to leave, to get as far away as he could and find someplace to hide before it would be too late. Instead, the elf insisted that Kha should bite him. He would only need a little blood to buy some more time, right? It’s okay. I’ll be fine.

The next day, Kha finally stumbled into the rescue party, with a pale and listless Rahim in his arms. A makeshift bandage around his arm bore witness to what must have happened, but with rest and care Rahim soon recovered. Kha felt like shit about what happened, but Rahim had no regrets. He’d do it again, if he had to.

As you can imagine, absolutely no-one was surprised when Kha and Rahim became a couple. Not that it happened overnight. Developing a crush on your best friend tends to entail a tricky dilemma, and neither of them had known if and how to act on their feelings. At first, Kha went into fierce denial and was a hopeless flirt in every other direction instead, which understandably left Rahim discouraged and grumpy. Thankfully, what could have ended in heartbreak eventually led to mutual confessions and first kisses.

There never was anyone else for either of them. In their mid-twenties, Kha and Rahim get married ... and Byeong-ho proposes to Sekani at their wedding, but that’s an entirely different story.

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aaa! remember the qaragan spotlight of september 2019, which briefly mentions that he and na’im adopts a small vampire? finally, here’s kha in all his glory! if you have any questions about him, feel free to comment below. also, i’ve posted a few sketchdumps of him and Rahim, which you can see here, here, and here -- but note that i’ve recently updated Kha’s design a bit, as seen on the drawing above.

// art + kha + sekani + qaragan © me; rahim + byeong-ho + na’im + renza © kubi.