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Mran then decided he is going to be an explorer. He made several trips to the north, once visiting [[Yammoe]] and visiting many cities in [[Asdoh]]. He was normally accompanied by a group of about 50 guards, three cooks, his personal physician, some of his wealthy friends and several artists who were supposed to document his voyages in prose, song and painting.
Mran then decided he is going to be an explorer. He made several trips to the north, once visiting [[Yammoe]] and visiting many cities in [[Asdoh]]. He was normally accompanied by a group of about 50 guards, three cooks, his personal physician, some of his wealthy friends and several artists who were supposed to document his voyages in prose, song and painting.
However, these "voyages" were less about genuine exploration and more about partying and women. He did become a close acquaintance of several officials and local rich people in [[Estonoh]], but his reputation was superficial: he was liked as a guest who spends an inordinate amounts of money. The conclusion of his trips usually coincided with the expiration of his funds.
However, these "voyages" were less about genuine exploration and more about partying and women. He did become a close acquaintance of several officials and local rich people in [[Estonoh]], but his reputation was superficial: he was liked as a guest who spends inordinate amounts of money. The conclusion of his trips usually coincided with the expiration of his funds.
His speed barrier also tended to disrupt life in cities and so he usually spent his time outside, setting up a tent city and inviting people to his dinners that would typically last until the early hours of the morning.
== A trip to Nadd and the Long Siege ==
== A trip to Nadd and the Long Siege ==
The naddians quickly understood that Mran's barrier is what's keeping them safe and asked him to stay for a bit longer. Mosk-Sopoh coldly refused to stop the siege. While he moved some of his troops away, enough of them were left under city walls indefinitely, which resulted in the famous [[the Long Siege|Long Siege]]. Naddians then refused to let Mran leave and held him captive for the rest of his life. He died in 1901 [[FR]].
The naddians quickly understood that Mran's barrier is what's keeping them safe and asked him to stay for a bit longer. Mosk-Sopoh coldly refused to stop the siege. While he moved some of his troops away, enough of them were left under city walls indefinitely, which resulted in the famous [[the Long Siege|Long Siege]]. Naddians then refused to let Mran leave and held him captive for the rest of his life. He died in 1901 [[FR]].
Based on the documents in Gantolia and on some of Porteek's writings, Mran quickly spent his money and, not being able to leave and replenish his supplies, lost his guards and friends, who left Nadd in late 1857 [[FR]]. This finally allowed the naddians to detain him and confine him to a house that was guarded day and night. In 1887 he was moved to a fortified building near the southern wall, so as to push the toorians farther from the city, but was then moved back deeper into the city just three years later, in 1890.
== Personality ==
== Personality ==
Numerous sources from Gantolia and Asdoh paint a picture of a spoiled individual, overflowing with pomposity and self-importance.
There was a darker side to Mran as well, as he was prepared to use intimidation and violence to get what he wanted. An official complaint sent to Barmijanj in 1842 contends that Mran had an affair with a wife of a [[Oora#Oora_ranks|broga]] from Estonoh, but when the broga complained, Mran had his guards beat him and then threatened to kidnap his wife.
In another complaint, a mosse from Estonoh paid Mran to intimidate a merchant that mosse claimed owned him money. Mran's guards ended up murdering the merchant, with Mran pocketing all the money. The complaint quoted Mran as saying: "Your reward is that this swindler is dead. And the money you lost is your penalty for being a fool, since only a fool would trust someone like that guy or someone like me."
[[Porteek]] quotes a diary of an oora from Nadd:
[[Porteek]] quotes a diary of an oora from Nadd:
But when his family's messenger came for him and couldn't get him out - that's when his face, maybe for the first time in his life, began to show genuine concern. He sent a letter to his father with the messenger, asking for help and also for money, as he was largely out of funds. Weeks went by, but there was no response. I remember that day when I came to visit him in his chambers, which were getting simpler by the day, as his purse was getting thinner. And that day I saw it in his eyes, in his shoulders, I heard it in his voice. It was a man who finally realized - he is finished. He is now no more than a prisoner in a foreign land.
But when his family's messenger came for him and couldn't get him out - that's when his face, maybe for the first time in his life, began to show genuine concern. He sent a letter to his father with the messenger, asking for help and also for money, as he was largely out of funds. Weeks went by, but there was no response. I remember that day when I came to visit him in his chambers, which were getting simpler by the day, as his purse was getting thinner. And that day I saw it in his eyes, in his shoulders, I heard it in his voice. It was a man who finally realized - he is finished. He is now no more than a prisoner in a foreign land.
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Porteek himself comments on Mran in the following way:
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This combination of arrogance and grandiloquence is a perfect recipe for a pathological liar. But the surprising thing is that even when in Nadd, Mran didn't lie about who he was. I somewhat expected him to present himself as a king. Perhaps he later regretted not having done so, as threatening Nadd with an invasion from Gantolia might have pressured them into letting him go. Then again, maybe not - yet one more army under their walls perhaps wouldn't have bothered them.
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