Chief Maalik Asad, the Lion of the Haradrim

Character Name: Chief Maalik Asad, often known as the Lion of the Haradrim.

Name Meaning: Owns, possesses.

Age: 43.

Date of Birth: January 1st.

Race: Man

Residence: Near Harad, in a palace of his own where he reigns as Chief.

Profession: Chief of his people, mighty warlord.

Appearance: Maalik is tall, standing roughly at 6’4” tall, with a solid, rigid build that speaks of his strength. He has thick black hair as a crown that spills over his shoulders, and a thick beard so that none can mistake him for a woman. He has darker skin, eyes like obsidian, and wolfish, lion-like glint to his eye that is as ravenous as it is dangerous.

Personality: Maalik is a man who rules with an iron fist, and his brutal, fierce determination defines him. He does not shy away from shows of strength or blood, and the man has not given quarter to anyone who challenges him. All of this, though, and he still has moments of relative softness. He thinks he has known love, for his Masheudha was a jewel even among his varied women. Still, he was not wholly devoted to even her, for while he spent far more time with her than his own wife, or any others of the Harem, he has a full wing of women who are there to serve him whenever he wishes.

Maalik is a strategist; he knows keeping his people fed in a wasteland will take great strength and power, and as such he makes himself a nuisance for the surrounding Chieftains and Gondor. It is merely an added bonus that these exploits bring him great glory.

Lately, Maalik has begun to see the world in a darker way, and those who cross his path realize the frown of the chief has grown as long as his temper as shortened.



Parents:
Through his father's line, Maalik is descended of Herumor, the Black Numenorean who took to the southern wastes.

Chief Husam Asad, father, deceased.
Thana Asad, mother. 59.

Sibling(s):

Omran Asad, brother, deceased. Killed by Maalik.
Nima Asad, sister. 40.

Spouse: 
By arrangement and proper contract, his wife is considered to be: Rashida Asad, 42.

However, any who know Maalik know that he keeps a fair-sized harem awaiting him in the wings, and in recent years has favored Amira Ikraam, a daughter of a general, to the company of all others. 

Children: Maalik has sired many, though only a few are recognized as to be his officially. The ones recorded as true veins of his line are:

Of he and Rashida Asad:
Kamal Asad, son, 26.
Hamid Asad, son, 23.
Sana Asad, daughter, 19.

Of he and Amira Ikraam:
Bahadur Asad, 10.
Hala Asad, 5.

History:

Maalik was the second son born to his parents, for Husam desired to make sure the strongest seed sat upon the throne after his bones returned to the desert. It had been as it was for Husam and his own brother. Kinslaying was long practiced in the Asad line; if you wished for the throne, you took it. By any means necessary, whether it was meant for you or not.

Husam had slain his younger brother, ensuring his own line would ascend, and when Husam was slain in battle with Gondorian forces, Maalik at just seventeen, removed his elder brother from consideration in a bloody display of power in front of the court gathered in the main hall. All were pleased by this, for Omran was known to be the weaker of the two.

The moment he accepted the mantle of Chief, Maalik felt as if he found his calling. A wife was given him by his father’s closest friend, Rashida, a pretty face a year his minor. She was no stranger to the ways of Husam’s court, and Maalik was contented enough in the choice. His first acts as ruler were to release his father’s harem and to begin work securing an heir. While Rashida carried his firstborn son, Maalik finished acquiring the women he desired to live in the harem’s wing. It was, to all, the sign of a very good and profitable rule coming to their people.

In the first raid he needed to defend against, Maalik took up arms with the soldiers of his city. Another tribe had heard of Husam’s passing, and thought it a fortuitous time to seek and take his land, and secure the peoples’ resources for themselves. They were not counting on Maalik being far better a tactician than his father, or indeed a better fighter.

Not stopping for armor, Maalik took up blade against the intruders and less than half managed to make a full retreat. Maalik was undeterred, and gathered his own men to counter. While the opposing Chief’s throne was guarded by lion and man alike, Maalik was able to overcome both with naught but his two scimitars and make show of beheading the chief. “None shall forget that I am the true Lion of the Haradrim!” He had declared from the bloody seat of his opponent.

And so it was Maalik earned his title, and with every year he continued to live and define what such power a Lion of the Haradrim should have. Few challenged him, for those who did lost their lives.

Rashida bore him two more children. A second son came, as Maalik desired. Now he, too, was set to have his strongest son follow him to greatness. This was the last child he intended to have by his wife, for indeed Rashida was hardly to the chief’s liking. The woman, though, refused to be denied forever in favor of his harem, and through sly machinations managed to get Maalik to gift her a daughter as well.

War was the heartbeat of his people, and Maalik spent much time out and working to acquire the resources needed to keep his people wealthy and fed. He grew to be friends with one of his father’s favored generals, a man by the name of Saif who soon earned the title of Ikraam, for indeed he was honored by the Lion himself.

When Saif finally took a bride and started a family, many wondered if perhaps the girl—naught but two years older than Maalik’s firstborn, would earn the role of wife to the future chief of their people. However, when she turned fifteen, Maalik took Amira for his own, for he had never seen a woman he wished to have more, and he set her as a jewel in his crown.

It did not take long for him to feel utterly entranced. He gave her the name Masheudha, his enchantress, for Amira was grace and power, beauty and wit, and he could not be bothered to think of anyone else. Rashida, a jealous woman, began to gripe and harp, though Maalik did not care for what she thought or wished. Amira accompanied him to all dinners, all appearances for the public, and became a beacon that many knew better than their Chief’s true wife.

When Amira bore him a son, the man was thrilled, and took the son to have him recorded as part of the true line of Asad, and named the boy himself as he had done with his other true children. This one, he hoped, would prove to be the strongest of his sons, for Bahadur had strength in him that his other sons did not possess when he was born.

Following that, the Dark Lord began to press the Haradrim for an alliance. Maalik, naturally, was inclined to learn much of what the Dark Lord offered, though Amira, his ever constant confidant and advisor warned that perhaps the offer of grandeur was not so easily understood.

“What does he stand to gain by the union of our people?” She asked him many times when he sat in thought. Always he resisted the alliance, though many chiefs around began to dissolve their quarrels and join forces. Amira made him feel as if he made the right choice by holding off, though often he wondered if he was.

Amira bore him a daughter, Hala, and for a time he felt content.

Yet, he could not ignore the promise of glory forever. The next time the emissaries came to his halls to speak of the promises of Sauron, to declare the topple of Gondor, and to ask for the Lion’s aid in such history, Maalik declared allegiance.

Things have changed about the palace now, and the man has grown more irritable and thirsty for glory, power, and war. Perhaps he has realized the Lion now shares the throne he bought with blood.