Emir Hatit Abd al-Wajib
Long ago, in the time of the eighth Grand Caliph, an evil and dissolute man was appointed emir of the City of Power. He oppressed his own people and overran Zakhara's northern cities, taxing them unjustly until they rebelled. He forwarded only a pittance of the moneys he gathered to the Grand Caliph, sending instead honeyed words of loyalty and trust. At last he planned to march south and take control of Huzuz and the entire Land of Fate.
It was at this time that the mamluks in his charge, who had sworn loyalty to the Grand Caliph, rebelled against the evil emir. Though they were outnumbered by the emir's troops and his mercenary barbarians, the mamluks prevailed through discipline, and they overthrew the evil ruler. When word of the victory reached the eighth Grand Caliph, he was humbled by the valiant nature of his slave-soldiers. He asked them to chose among themselves the next emir who would rule them. They selected one of their bravest leaders, a man who ruled Qudra until his death.
A tradition was born, and so it continues today. Each of Qudra's emirs has been chosen by the generals of the city's mamluk units. Hatit, slave to duty, is the most recent of these mamluk-emirs. The term of the office is life or 20 years, whichever comes first. Hatit has ruled 13 years thus far.
A clean-shaven dwarf, Hatit wears the tattoos of his mamluk organization, the Dutiful, on his cheeks and forehead. He is a master of fortification and redoubts, a rarity in a land that boasts little in the way of siege machinery. He has spent much of his tenure examining and shoring up the walls of Qudra, looking for holes in her armor. He is particularly interested in the warfare of other lands, especially lands to the north, from which any major barbarian attack would probably come.
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