Khalja is very reserved and polite, a man who often prefers to talk than fight through issues he faces. It is easy for people to assume he is shy due to his somewhat lax nature, though that is far from the case; Khalja simply respects people until they give him a reason otherwise. He will never be the one to start a fight, though he will be more than happy to finish one, especially if the health and safety of others is on the line.Still, Khalja can be very talkative when he is close to or familiar with someone, often sharing conversation and flirtation alike depending on his personal interests in them. He is not one to jump around a topic either–if he has issues with someone, he’ll say it. If he has romantic interest in someone, he’ll admit it.In this way, Khalja is a very blunt man, forward almost to the point of social awkwardness, though he hardly has any shame in the things that come out of his mouth as long as they are said with meaning. If he had a mantra to live by, ‘life is short, so enjoy it’ would be it. He’d felt the gravity of death when he lost his parents, so Khalja is hardly deterred by his mortality--if anything, he is emboldened by it to make the most of his life.
Though he calls the Kahkol tribe his home and family, Khalja wanders the steppe with regularity. He visits the Mol tribe to see his sisters at least once a season, and often finds the occasional orphan and wanderer alike to lead back to the Kahkol.Besides this, he sometimes can be found traveling outside of the steppe, and on the very rare occasion he has wandered as far as Kugane, though he makes no habit of risking a confrontation with the garlean empire within the lands of Doma.
Khalja Kahkol is the eldest child of three, having two younger sisters, twins Orbei and Ibahka.All three were born to father Khudu and mother Cota, members of the Dotharl tribe. Both were regarded as powerful warriors, especially Cota, who only accepted Khudu’s romantic advances after he managed to best her in unarmed combat--a feat that took a full year after the two originally met. It did not take very long before they were blessed with their first child--Khalja--and then the twins several years after that.In the tradition of the Dotharl, Khalja was named for Khudu’s elder brother who had fallen in combat, while Orbei and Ibahka were named for Cota’s closest friends in childhood.
When Khalja was 12 summers old and his sisters only two, his tribe fell into conflict with a neighboring group that had been threatening their land and people for several moons. Though the Dotharl won the conflict, it came at a great loss–including both Cota and Khudu. Left under the care of extended family, the loss of Khalja’s parents shook the young boy and made him question the foundation of his tribe’s beliefs, as he could not accept the death of his parents and less the possibility that they would be reborn.Whether his actions were spurred more by fear or love, Khalja bundled up both of his sisters and carried them upon his back and left his tribe in the early hours of a cloudy evening. Though he knew not where he was going, the young Xaela walked across the lands of the Azim Stepp for five days and nights, offering what few rations he had to keep his sisters fed and watered. On the dawn of the sixth morning, Khalja collapsed, half-starved and delirious, but was found by a young member of the Mol who had been tending to a small flock of sheep.The young Dotharl runaway and his sisters were tended to by the Mol, then subsequently absorbed into the tribe when it became clear they had no caregivers, and Khalja refused to tell them what tribe they were from out of shame for running away.On the year of his 15th summer, Khalja left the Mol tribe, along with his young sisters who were in their care. Despite the kindness and kinship shared with the Mol, Khalja did not feel as if he truly belonged with the tribe.
So for many years, Khalja wandered Orthard. From coast to desert, from the Azim Steppe to even the dangerous lands of imperial-held Doma, he wandered, half-hoping to find a place where he felt like he belonged, though much of his constant wanderlust came from his desire to run from the shame of leaving his blood tribe without even a goodbye.By the time he was of 20 summers, Khalja finally found it: the Kahkol. A group of refugees, orphans and wanderers alike, bound only by shared experiences rather than blood. It was not a realization that came quickly, however, as Khalja had come upon Kahkol members by pure happenstance while he was finishing a courier job taken in Kugane.Over a period of months he grew close to the tribe and its members, first as a wanderer looking for food and shelter when resources were scarce, and then as a familiar face to be greeted as family. Sometimes he would return with forgotten children, other times refugees, and sometimes still he would come across wanderers who simply wanted a tribe to call family once more.Khalja eventually took on the tribal name, wandering across the lands but always returning to the Kahkol–and often with new members in tow. He went out of his way to take in those who needed a home, to lead them back to wherever the Kahkol had settled within the steppe..But the Xaela wanderer did not forget his roots. He eventually sought out the Mol tribe on the year of his 22nd summer, wondering if his sisters would remember him, moreso if they resented him for the actions that took them away from their blood tribe.Though the fear Khalja felt in meeting his sisters again rivaled the same fear that had driven him from the Dotharl, but he still reached out to the Mol in hopes to know if his sisters were healthy and happy.Though they only vaguely remembered him, Orbei and Ibahka didn’t not hold any ill will towards their older brother. They were happy to be members of the Mol and held the name close to their hearts, though they did make their brother promise to keep in touch with them from then on–though they may not know eachother as children, Orbei and Ibahka wanted to know their brother as adults.
| Age: | 28 |
| Birthday: | 13th Sun, 3rd Astral Moon |
| Gender: | Cis Male |
| Sexuality: | Bisexual |
| Race: | Au Ra (Xaela) |
| Tribe: | Kahkol (prev. Dotharl) |
As a man who has seen more of the Othard continent than most, Khalja Kahkol likes to call himself a ‘professional wanderer’ by trade and travel. Though he is only 28 summers of age, the Xaela hasn’t truly settled down in more than a decade. He’s gained several trade skills and has even made a name for himself as something of a freelance worker due to his migratory habits.From guarding well-off merchants to gathering raw materials, delivering messages to outright spying, Khalja is a man of many talents and an equal many mysteries.