Skathan
| Skathan | |
|---|---|
| Abilities | Ageless; other unspecified abilities[1] |
| Titles | Emperor of the Dynasty |
| Residence | Iiaria |
| Ethnicity | Darksider |
| Homeworld | Taldain |
| Universe | Cosmere |
Skathan is the emperor of the Dynasty on the Darkside of Taldain.[2]
Appearance and Personality
Like most Darksiders, he has dark skin and dark brown hair.[1] He has long hair and a goatee.[1] He appears to be in his mid-twenties.[1]
He is seen wearing a royal blue duster coat over a long red shirt, white pants, and a gold sash, with a teal cape trimmed in gold. He also wears gloves, tall boots and a wide-brimmed hat. He carries an ornate sword, dagger, and pistol.[1]
Attributes and Abilities
“I have seen him do things impossible of any normal man. ”
—Baon, on Skathan[1]
Baon tells Khriss that Skathan does not appear to age, and is said to have been alive for hundreds of years.[1] He also implies that Skathan has other magical abilities.[1] Although the Darkside does have some unknown manifestations of Investiture,[3] the source and nature of Skathan's powers is not known.
History
According to Baon and Khriss, Skathan resided in the Darkside nation of Iiaria.[1]
“The Dynasty is very proficient at keeping new technology from spreading through its provinces. Skathan, the current monarch of the Dynasty, knows how dangerous a little knowledge can be.”
It is not known how Skathan came to power, but by the time of the crisis in the Diem it was implied that he had held autocratic control over the Dynasty for nearly a century, and perhaps much longer. Khriss noted that Skathan suppressed the spread of new technology (such as pistols) among Darkside nations, successfully doing so for decades at a time.[4] Darksiders that lived in Kezare on the Dayside created an ethnic enclave in the city, but this was not common knowledge because Skathan did not want people to know that there was traffic between the continents.[2]
Some residents of the Dynasty actively worked to unseat Skathan. Loaten was his former Chief Minister of Diplomacy, and was rumored to have made an attempt on Skathan's life, although his motives were unclear.[2] He was considered a traitor after somehow escaping execution, and Baon nearly shot him on sight.[2] Gevalden came to Dayside looking for a weapon to use against Skathan to bring stability to his "troubled" homeland,[5] which Khriss believed to be the sand masters.[2] After Gevalden's mysterious disappearance, Khriss traveled to Dayside to seek out the sand masters; she also performed scientific experiments on white sand and sandling carapace in the hopes of independently discovering a weapon that Skathan was not familiar with.[6] Loaten told Khriss that the Dynasty was likely aware of her "secret" mission because it kept close tabs on anyone perceived to be an enemy;[2] Baon was indeed sent to Dayside by the Dynasty to watch Khriss.[2]
Despite Skathan's suppression of technology, the Dynasty had some of the most advanced technology in the cosmere during his rule.[7] Skathan maintained a "civilized" society with a royal court.[8] [2] Individuals from Elis had titles such as prince and duchess, indicating that some nations within the Dynasty were allowed to maintain their own caste structures.[8]
Notes
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i White Sand Volume 2 chapter 5#
- ↑ a b c d e f g h White Sand Volume 1 chapter 5#
- ↑ Arcanum Unbounded Chicago signing
— Arcanum - 2016-12-06# - ↑ a b White Sand Volume 1 chapter 4#
- ↑ White Sand Volume 2 prologue#
- ↑ White Sand Volume 1 chapter 6#
- ↑ Idaho Falls signing
— Arcanum - 2018-12-29# - ↑ a b White Sand Volume 1 chapter 3#