Murikeer:

Full Name: Murikeer Khunnas, also known as Findahl of Sathmore, son of Justin Windseeker
Species: Theriomorph (skunk) and Immortal

Allegiances: Kyia & Metamor Empire
Religion: Undeclared; probably Universalist or Agnostic
Social Status: 6 (no regular salary, but a vast accumulated fortune)

Age: ~1320 as of 1999 CR
Eyes: Dark Brown
Fur: Black w/ white stripes, in typical striped skunk pattern
Height: 170 cm (5'7")

Physical Notes: Appears to be middle-aged, perhaps late 30s or early 40s. Still has a lithe, fit body, though it is showing some of the signs of age. He is a little more animalistic in appearance than many theriomorphs.

Behavioral Notes: Usually masquerades as "Findahl", his birth name, when out in public. Polite, gently humorous, but often infuriatingly mysterious in his language and demeanor. Has a hard time keeping up with modern trends, and will usually use speech and mannerisms that are decades (or centuries) out of date. When he first awakens from a Sleeping (see below), all of his physical urges are intensely magnified, and he will go to great lengths to satisfy them (though he will not harm anyone who does not threaten him with harm).

Supernatural Abilities: Psycho-spiritually linked to Nasoj, with long periods of magical stasis alternating with times of activity when the wizard's spirit is active. Magical talents equivalent to high master wizard, including remarkable skill at mental and physical healing.

Murikeer is one of the most important of the Immortals, and essential to the ongoing struggle against the dark wizard Nasoj. Due to a confrontation between Muri and Nasoj in the distant past, the two mages became psychically bound to one another; each seems to carry a part of the other's essence, his soul, within himself. This link has given Muri and his allies in Metamor their greatest and most terrible gift.

Muri is aware of the existence and activity of Nasoj in a way that no one else can fully understand. Indeed, many of the Immortals do not even truly believe it. Certainly, they acknowledge, Muri has become mystically bound to something dark and powerful; but many of them suspect that Muri's strange and difficult life has left him somewhat mad, and they do not put much stock in his assertions that Nasoj actually lives in any meaningful sense. Too many of them witnessed Nasoj's body being dug out of the rubble of his Citadel to believe that the old wizard still has any power. Still, for all his seemingly paranoid mutterings about Nasoj's return, they cannot ignore him entirely, for he is a kind of barometer for the activity level of the forces of chaos and evil.

Unlike the other Immortals, Murikeer continues to age whenever he is awake; however, he has spent most of the past centuries in a kind of magical stasis, a Sleeping that lasts for decades or more at a time. When he awakens, it is always shortly preceded or followed some great move by the forces of darkness; he then stays awake until the threat has been defeated, helping in whatever way he can, before slipping off into the next Sleeping. Though no one but Muri fully understands it, these cycles are tied to the cycles of activity by the spirit of Nasoj; when the dark wizard's ghost is awake, active, and exerting his force of will on the outside world, Muri is also active. When Nasoj's plans are foiled and he sinks back into the quiet of his prison to rest, brood, and plan anew, Muri grows sluggish and soon dips back into Sleep. Attendants hand-picked by Kyia herself keep watch over Muri in his sarcophagus, hidden deep within the Citadel, so that he will not come to harm while he sleeps.

The net result of this odd life cycle is that the other Immortals view Muri's awakening as a portent of doom. Even if Nasoj's ghost isn't real, Muri's appearance certainly means that hard times are ahead, and they resent the trouble that comes with him. Many of them feel guilty about this, since he was a friend to so many of them in their ancient youth, but there are few Immortals today who are glad of his company.

Kyia, Merai, and Elvmere have taken particular notice of Muri's cycles, and believe what he says about being tied to the spirit of Nasoj. It fits with the Last Prophecy of Zhypar Habakkuk, which mentions a "Dark One" whose body died but whose spirit will live to trouble the world again. Zhypar's prophecy also tells of two individuals who will play a role in the final conflict with the Dark One: the Key, who will serve as a vessel for the power of those who defeated the Dark One before; and the Vessel, who comes from the same bloodline as the Key but will be corrupted to serve as a host for the Dark One's resurrection. These three do what they can, while Muri sleeps, to keep track of the fulfillment of this prophecy, so that when he awakens he can devote his full attentions to his work.

That work consists, primarily, in finding, meeting, and testing individuals that Elvmere has identified as candidates to become the Key. Murikeer is, after all, the only living person to confront Nasoj directly and live, and he knows how his enemy thinks and acts better than anyone else in the world today. Muri's testing of each candidate proceeds for a long time without the pupil ever being told that s/he is possibly the Key; often, the candidate does not even realize s/he is being tested at all. If the candidate fails the test, Muri breaks off contact, and they never see each other again -- though Muri and the other Immortals, especially Elvmere, may continue to monitor the activities of individuals whom they think particularly likely to become the Vessel. If the candidate passes the initial tests, however, Muri will begin training him or her to awaken the powers of the Key in his/her blood, preparing his young pupil for the inevitable confrontation with the servants of Nasoj (who will invariably try to capture or kill any individual that they identify as a potential Key/Vessel). Muri has had half a dozen such pupils throughout the last three centuries; all have met violent deaths, but not before they helped to ensure that Nasoj's rise to power was foiled, sending him back into sleep within his mystical prison.

In the main story arc, Murikeer will focus on Elvmere's latest and most promising candidate, MCPD Detective Kathryn Kitaen. Muri will take on the role of the wise and enfuriatingly mysterious old man who comes in to Kate's life to teach her about a power she didn't know she had. He is the Stick to her Daredevil, the Obi-Wan Kenobi to her Luke Skywalker, and the growth of their relationship from suspicion and mistrust to loyalty and devotion will be a thread running throughout the storyline of MK2K.

One behavioral peculiarity of Muri's is worth noting. When he awakes from a Sleeping, all of the body's physical urges and desires reassert themselves in full force. His immediate response is to become ravenously hungry and thirsty, and the Citadel attendants provide for these needs while they retrieve his personal effects from storage. Muri then leaves the Citadel to attend to his last driving need, the need for sexual companionship. Any of a thousand licensed Sensualists would be more than willing to attend to him, of course, but Muri has developed a different habit: he goes out in search of an unlicensed, illegal prostitute, a good soul that has been broken by abuse, drug addiction, or other factors of a hard life.

After engaging in extremely intense, exhausting sexual activity over a period of several hours, Muri then uses his supernatural talents to heal the woman as best he can -- cleansing disease, removing physical and psychological addictions, and conducting countless small alterations to mind and body to ease her pain. Finally, he provides her with enough money to buy her freedom from whatever masters may have a hold on her and start a new life elsewhere -- perhaps entering a Sensualist college, perhaps not, depending on her own wishes. In any case, Muri's power is great enough that he has nothing to fear from any illness they may carry, and these women always find that their lot has improved by meeting him. He does not reveal himself to them as Murikeer, the Sleeping Mage, however; in these times, he is only Findahl, a humble journeyman in search of a little companionship. It is telling that Muri saves his childhood name, his true name, for use with these broken angels whom he helps to heal; perhaps, with them, he finds a kinship that he can never know with the other Immortals.

More notes on Murikeer's history -- particularly as it relates to his fellow skunk and Immortal, Kayla -- can be found in the notes on Rickkter.