Mran Gantorn

Mran Gantorn
The Bird Killer
Superhero warrior
Powers	speed barrier
Personal details
Born	1813 FR
Died	1901 FR

Mran Gantorn was a Gantolian superhero warrior and socialite who in 1856 FR visited the Kingdom of Nadd and unwittingly saved it from the invasion of Mosk-Sopoh Dolysoh. As a result, Gantorn was first asked to prolong his stay, and later kept as a captive in Nadd as the only way to preserve the sovereignty of the kingdom.

Abilities

See: Speed barrier

Mran developed what is known as a speed barrier, a superhero warrior ability that a number of other Gantolian superhero warriors also had. It involved having a barrier around the superhero warrior that prevented fast traveling objects from penetrating it. One had to move very slowly in order to be able to move through it. The barrier would expand with the age of its bearer, eventually spanning many kilometers.

Early life

Mran was born into a wealthy Gantorn family. His father, Bontorn Gantorn, owned several houses in Barmijanj, the largest city in Gantolia at the time.

Mran's abilities were discovered when he was a teenager. As normal in these cases, the radius of the speed barrier grew with Mran's age. His older brother was Linnit Gantorn, who became an influential politician in the same city. Mran served as his bodyguard until the age of 22 when the edges of the speed barrier moved too far away to be useful to protect a small group.

As an explorer

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 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. It is at this time that he became known as the Bird Killer, because birds would accidentally hit his barrier and some would be killed on impact. In fact, finding a row of bird corpses was one of the methods to locate the edge of Mran's barrier. In Nadd people independently came up with the same nickname, angering Mran considerably.

A trip to Nadd and the Long Siege

Eventually, Mran decided to undertake a more ambitious trip, this time to the famous Laeooy Coast. His journey began in 1855 FR and he reached the Kingdom of Nadd in he beginning of April of 1856. His arrival was a notable event, since visitors from Gantolia were rare.

As he was staying in Nadd, Mosk-Sopoh Dolysoh's army attacked the western walls of the city. Mran's speed barrier prevented the attack, stopping projectiles in mid air. Realizing that this might be due to a superhero warrior within the city, Mosk-Sopoh commenced with the siege.

Mosk-Sopoh's was considerable, but as he couldn't really encircle Nadd due to the geography of the place, he simply stationed his troops under city walls.

The naddians quickly understood that Mran's barrier is what's keeping them safe and asked him to stay 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 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

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 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:

Cool, relaxed, with an air of superiority about him, our guest exhibited the kind of curiosity typical of wealthy powerful people: palaces and gold and statues hardly entertained him, but if he sighted a rat or an unusual flower, he would get excited like a child.

His demeanor was changing gradually. It seemed that he was unused to adversity and the realization of what was unfolding took time to register with him. When he was told he couldn't leave, he complied, but didn't seem to take the situation seriously. I even remember a smirk on his face: it was all a game to him.

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.

Porteek himself comments on Mran in the following way:

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.