Hanan Talibah

Hanan Talibah, "the Caliph", was the first woman that became the Caliph.

Youth
Hanan born in the 9th century and she lost her mother in an accident very young. Her father was an aide to the Merchant King of the Houses of Dahab, which meant he spent around nine months a year away from their home at Medinat al-Salaam. She was raised by servants, and grew fearful of death and loneliness.

Orphane
On the eve of her fifteenth birthday, she rummaged through her father's belongings, recently returned from the Senpet Empire, looking for her gift. Instead, she discovered a copy of the Senpet Book of the Dead. Shortly after, her father was murdered in the Residential Quarter of his city. Because she had no other relatives, the Merchant King took charge of his aide's estate, "adopted" Hanan, and auctioned all of her belongings.

Book of the Dead
She soon had reasons to hate the Merchant King, who treated her as his property and was open about his intention to sell her as a wife, as he had done with Hanan's mother. She secretly learnt the Senpet language from a servant and studied the Book, that she had somehow managed to keep hidden. The Book taught her about the Senpet's cosmology, and many secrets. It also had secondary effects over her: her magical ability increased, and her inner fears became full grown obsessions. Finally, from teaching found in the Book, she created a new magical technique - the Ceremony of the Hidden Heart - that allowed her to make herself immortal, and her enemies into undead thralls: the Khadi. The Merchant King was her first victim.

Seizing the power
Her magical power increased and she soon become the most powerful sahir in the city. Somehow, she manipulated the Prince into killing his father, the Sultan. A new Sultan was appointed, on her recommendation, and she became the Caliph, the de facto ruler of Medinat al-Salaam. From that moment on, she governed the city with an iron fist, with her Khadi patrolling the streets. Always fearful of anybody challenging her, she forbade any practitioners of magic into the city, and had shut down or ever burnt to the ground all the libraries.

Story told
Hanan Talibah's story was recorded by one of the Scribe in the book the Genesis of a Tyrant.