Reksar Xernas

Reksar Xernas (pronounced REK-SAR ZER-NIS), or simply The Prideking is the primary antagonist of Black Worlds: the Prideking and the Great Dying.

A formidable opponent on all accounts; he rules over the Caszlgrin Province and much of Bhora under a tyrannical kratocracy rule. He is revered as a legend and a god among many; he has seen many battles and allegedly never lost a battle he had started.

His actions, command and advancements are known to be responsible for over ten billion deaths just on Bhora alone, and even more on other planets.

Introduction
Brutal as he is cunning, Reksar is wanted in one or the other faction for just about every crime there is to commit. He is best identified by his monumental size, his signature braided hair, his twin scimitars, his onyx black armor and a ruthless attitude almost unmatched by anyone.

His most (in)famous position is the warlord and tyrant king of a once jungle/dune rich planet called Bhora. Reksar rules with an iron fist over what is mostly a slave planet, running much of the planet in a bizarre trial. The trial is meant to weed out the people unfit for a future utopian society that would be ruled by gods forged in the blood of the greater beings who damned them under the hellish sun he had envisioned many centuries ago.

Reksar has an astonishing level of knowledge about the minds of people and what it takes to get them to become desperate or obedient. Either he tricks his victims into giving them everything they have or giving into his maddening demands in other ways. It's almost second nature for him to hatch a sick plan to bring down the most sane and moral individuals, making them no less different than the "savages" and monsters they claim to purge.

Reksar is also really good at forcing people into situations they simply cannot win or gain no benefit from battling. He also has an expert level knowledge of politics of most parties and can effectively debate his points versus most intellectually sound individuals from those parties and push his own politics into at least moderate coverage.

In an combat standpoint, Reksar is among the best in the entire series for a multitude of reasons. He has the battlefield experience of countless men, he is at least moderately skilled in most combat fields, and wields very fine weapons made from legendary craft mithril. And he can overpower most opponents in battle, regardless of race or size.

Early Childhood
Reksar's family were elvish, and he was born as the Gift of the Cats was distributed among the lands, and was born as a felaain from his elf mother Raven and his father Selvian. His mother loved him and understood the changes being presented to elves far and wide and accepted Reksar for who he was, and as a son. Reksar's father on the other hand, thought Reksar was an abomination and must be destroyed for bringing humiliation to their family name. In a fit of rage, Reksar's father grasped him as an infant and threw him in a nearby river. His mother hurled herself into the raging torrent and rescued him. Reksar's father continued to try and kill him many times later and all had failed - he then resorted to abuse and torture when his mother wasn't around. Reksar's three sisters also joined in the abuse; beating him sometimes for many hours, viciously sexually assaulting him, denying him food for many days at a time and treated him like an animal.

When Reksar was about ten, he was sent to a religious school and was taught religious science and faith. Although Reksar never followed it, he merely pretended to pray and hear voices of the gods, he had already began coming up with a plan to escape or take control of his situation. But to his misfortune, the nuns and female advisers also began to sexually assault him as well.

Once Reksar hit puberty, he grew larger and stronger. His hormones in combination with the vat of anger and trauma built up suddenly exploded in a violent outrage. Reksar was able to overpower his superiors, kill some of his oppressors and flee.

Once Reksar got home, he took advantage of his power and used it to kill his father and imprison his sisters. Reksar claims to have "literally raped them to death". However, it is completely possible that was merely pure hatred and anger rolling off of his tongue, and he just butchered them as he did his father.

His mother's location and status is unknown, but it is believed that Reksar's father had chased her off.

Early Adulthood
Reksar noticed the world changing and falling apart around him from the rise of a totally new species that looked like him. He needed to survive and establish a controlled environment where he could live and prosper.

Black Worlds: Expose
Reksar made his first appearance here. He has little appearances or impact in this story, but he served and appeared as a lesser known, right-hand man or a major figure in affiliations for the Iron Queen.

The Iron Queen made a deal with Reksar, allowing her to take more resources from Bhora. In exchange, the Queen would trade Faera Goreclaw to Reksar to bring home to his stronghold as new addition to his slave collection.

Black Worlds: the Prideking
Reksar is given his first major appearance and role in this novel where he serves as a main character and main antagonist.

Reksar is introduced as a laid back king groomed by maidens. A messenger passes him a scroll saying that a great black dragon incinerating the farmlands. Reksar, frustrated, takes the scroll and immediately begins to come up with a solution.

Reksar decides to visit the Riven Tribe and presents an offer they couldn't refuse: if they found and killed the dragon, Reksar would cut their taxes in half and reward them with rich farmland further inland and away from the treacherous canyons.

A flashback occurs. Reksar is presented with the books protagonists and several other random people; he is seen standing in front of an ancient tablet muttering about the maintaining of traditions. He then turns to them and looks them over, and which camps to send the worthy to and the extermination of non-felaains. Reksar's attention is taken by an elf woman, who he outright kills by throwing her straight into the ground. He picks up a young felaain woman and licks her torso until he is confronted by Kazuno Goreclaw.

Reksar sets aside the woman and battles Kazuno not long after. Reksar wins the battle by crushing Kazuno's throat with his foot, and then turns his body to Faera Goreclaw and then beheads him. Reksar picks up Kazuno's head and mocks him before showing it to a devastated Faera.

He moves the group on and entrusts his triumvirate at the time to escort Faera to Riven's tribe. Later, Reksar jumps in to save Faera from a daungwhop attack, and then he himself escorts Faera without any further threats or abuse. The flashback ends.

Next time Reksar is shown, he is in his personal room, being groomed and cleansed by his maids. He is confronted by Erza, who questions his decision to put the Riven Tribe on the mission and lowering their taxes during the mission. Reksar erupts in anger and throws Erza into the door. Later, he pays his debts to Erza and apologizes for reacting the way he did, and tells her that he appreciates Erza's service.

Reksar returns to the Riven Tribe the next day and takes Merza and Sonya back to the Golden Kingdom with him. He also murders one of his bodyguards for injuring Faera Goreclaw without permission.

Reksar returns a day later to return the two, and request Riven to kill a naked man with children to his claim. Riven cannot find himself to do it, so Faera executes the man for him. Reksar then threatens Riven's life if he were to fail a similar demand. He also states that he was quite pleased with Sonya as a bartender - drawing parallels from her to that of a robot.

Reksar's first signs of true respect are revealed a day later. He is seen kneeling before a golden statue of Herakara, calling her something close to a sister. He claims Herakara was the first to set the standards of their culture and how to abuse it for personal gain.

Wiliem, a mechanical horror appears from the shadows and claims Reksar was doing too poor a job and wasn't getting enough out of the people, and commands the Margot Jaelen to fire a laser into Bhora's surface, creating the equal of a large asteroid strike. Reksar, devastated, damns Wiliem and himself. He then weeps briefly before being met by his wife.

Reksar then travels to Grimheart's camp, and kills two of his defenders with ease. Then battles Grimheart in a fist fight and winning just as easily. He then gives the same proposition to Grimheart that he did to Riven.

The next time we see Reksar, he is bathing in a cave with his closest maids, concubines and fighters to take shelter from the dangerous heat. He angrily lectures Denebi for refusing to inform him of Erza's disappearance. Reksar commands Denebi to go and find Erza before noon of the next day or he would kill her.

Later that night, Denebi's own warriors return her to the Prideking claiming she was killing people for information as an incentive to speak up about Erza's wherabouts. Reksar is displeased, he orders Denebi to strip naked and even remove her eyepatch. Reksar's first punishment for Denebi was the amputation of her tail, and then tossed her to his bear for consumption or play. The bear simply plays with her mostly.

Reksar meets with Wiliem again to question his frustrations. Wiliem orders Reksar to kill all the tribes for their lack of loyalty and Reksar's own questionable loyalty. Reksar disagrees and attacks Wiliem when he reveals his plan to take all of the power for himself and then breaks his mechanical arm. Wiliem's circuits go haywire and electrocute him to death.

Reksar meets with Riven again at King's Town next and claims he and some of his people are "sight-seeing" and would like to introduce Riven to the other kings of Bhora.

Reksar then talks to Riven about Denebi and openly acknowledges her heritage, position and mocks her for failing. Reksar even then openly proves he is aware of ideologies and dreams different than his own and says that is all irrelevant an unacceptable because of the oath Denebi swore to him. He then asks Riven if he had ever skinned a felaain before. Riven replies with no. Reksar picks up a knife and wants to show Riven how, he goes to a tied up and bound Denebi and proceeds to quickly and perfectly skin her alive. He continues even when Riven asks him to stop. When he finishes, he removes Denebi's gag and excitedly presents her to Riven. Denebi, too shocked to scream and blind from the blood in her eyes, then goes into shock and dies almost immediately after. Reksar once again, mocks and makes fun of Denebi for not being able to withstand the pain and blood loss and then feeds the corpse to his bear.

Reksar is then confronted by Riven, who has had enough with his murder and torture and expresses his true feelings for Reksar starting with the murder of his father. Reksar says Kazuno Goreclaw was problematic because of his sympathetic nature and ability to get on the good sides of people, and could have turned Reksar's own people against him and kills him for it.

Reksar then brags about raping Faera Goreclaw, claiming that she bled profusely from the acts and cried throughout every bit of it and whimpered the names of her loved ones while she slept. But Reksar then says he "knows" that despite the pain, Faera loved what Reksar was doing to her. Riven finally lashes out at Reksar, resulting in Riven being beaten into unconciousness. Faera rushes to his aid, and uses her necromancy to injure Reksar and intimidate him. Reksar, shook by the forbidden magics claims he will report the news to the kings, who will march upon the land and genocide the entire continent and flees.

Reksar returns to his kingdom in ruins, body parts, blood and internal organs everywhere. He rushes inside to find his wife, once he approaches his palace, he is stopped by a vision of the Iron Queen. She reveals to Reksar that Sonya Odindorr is the mother of the next Queen of Blood and must act fast to get her on his side to have good relations with the Queen of Blood.

The vision clears, and Urgo the Great is seen sitting on his throne with the severed heads of the other kings. Reksar attacks Urgo for betraying their trust, the oath and going against what felaains believed in. Urgo retaliates and defeats Reksar.

Reksar returns to King's Town injured, but with a hostage and calls out the kings in the area. Reksar catches the sight of Erza and goes into a bloodlust, killing the hostage and charges down the kings. Swords drawn, he is able to kill all of them and engages in battle with Grimheart. Riven jumps in and throws a sledgehammer at Reksar, stunning him just long enough to allow Grimheart to deliver a knockout strike.

Reksar awakens in shackles and tied to a metal pole. He calls Sonya over and claims he is being attacked for his beliefs. He then explains his true motives to Sonya - to build a utopian society through hardship and misery. Sonya tries to explain and defend Riven's reasoning to not abuse his people or kill them, but Reksar explains why his people respect and obey him so much. Reksar claims that Riven's people are sexually starved and will resort to anything to sleep with him, even if that means teaming up to destroy Sonya. Reksar detects Sonya's own personal distaste and frustration with them, and feeds into her assumptions. Reksar tells Sonya that she deserves the amount of respect her strength warrants and tells her to take action before it comes to that.

Sonya agrees, and offers Reksar her help. He hesitantly accepts, but commands Sonya to kill the "one who deserves to die the most". Sonya knows that means to kill Merza. Reksar requests Sonya to bring him her head as proof.

Later, Reksar is interrogated and tortured. He explains part of his motivations, and mocks his interrogators. He also tells them where the rich farmland was. Reksar explains his beliefs of the Blood Queen and why his system is designed to have women work but men murdered off. Reksar warns Faera, Riven and Grimheart of Urgo and his behaviors before telling them about his early life. Grimheart pretends to be sorry, but then proceeds to cut out Reksar's eye after knocking him out again.

Reksar breaks free of his shackles once the Caszlgrin Terror attacks King's Town with the aid of Sonya. He escapes with his weapons and armor and stands atop a broken wooden post that had pinned Riven to the ground. Reksar told Riven his plans: to heal, to regroup and strike. And threatened that once his plans had been carried out, he was going to kill Faera in front of Riven. Afterwards, Reksar disappears into the woods, leaving King's Town in utter chaos.

Sonya and Reksar both traveled for many hours that night without saying much besides hate towards each other. Sonya noticed Reksar's injury and offered to help using the medicines she had stolen from Faera. Reksar hesitantly allows her to aid him. Reksar then criticizes Sonya's mockery for Faera, claiming it is low and stupid to brag about beating a crippled person in a fist fight.

The two then capture Bertha and Erza who had stumbled upon them by accident. Reksar demands further shows of loyalty from Sonya and asks her to kill Erza. Sonya declines, saying that it's not right for her to kill Erza when it was Reksar she had betrayed.

The two then show some signs of light bonding, a few light pranks and minor annoyances to each other, as well as services. Reksar then attempts to kill Erza by tying her to a post and setting it over a fire, but it fails with Erza suffering only minor injuries. Reksar allows Erza to live because of luck and claims the spirits told him that Erza is not supposed to die yet. Reksar sets Erza aside, and then proceeds to rape Bertha.

A month later, during the fallout of Erozand's awakening, Sonya and Reksar encounter Riven's group. Reksar runs up to the group and holds a sword to the throat of Bertha and demands that Riven and Grimheart both give themselves up if Bertha was to live. Grimheart requests a battle instead, Urgo too, steps up and asks for a fight.

Urgo and Reksar both engage in battle, with Grimheart and Riven jumping in to help anyways. With the distraction of Grimheart and Riven, Urgo almost executes Reksar, but Sonya saves him by ripping Urgo's metal skeleton off his back. Reksar lunges, throwing Grimheart and Riven aside and then "executes" Urgo. Reksar then resumes to beat on Grimheart and Riven with ease even with the aid of Oslman.

Reksar calls for a retreat once Sonya captured Faera trying to aid Riven and Grimheart. They both fled back into the woods but without Bertha. Oslman follows and catches Reksar, who turns around and beats Oslman into near unconsciousness. With Faera captured, Reksar then proceeds to kill Oslman by stringing him up with vine and holding him over an open fire despite Sonya's strong feelings for the dog.

Reksar rubs Faera's nose in the fact that he was right, and Sonya proceeds to whip Faera with a jungle vine. Randomly, Reksar then decides to try and kill her right then and there. He throws a boulder at Faera, but misses and accidentally frees her. Sonya runs Faera through a tree, stabbing a huge piece of wood through her leg and throws her down the hill and into a cold stream. Reksar follows Faera and rips her arm clean off and leaves her to bleed in the cold stream.

A few hours later, Reksar is seen watching the stars for the final time before a shroud of ash and clouds covers the sky completely. He tells Sonya about the stars and planets and why they are always of value to Bhornian people. Reksar tells Sonya that one day perhaps, he would take her to Skar'Salem.

Erza is seen, dying from infection that manifested in her scarred face. She mutters something but no sentences are made. Reksar comes to make fun of Erza, and Sonya joins in. Sonya asks how to become a true Bhornian, and Reksar tells her what she needs to do. Reksar tells Sonya she is not quite there yet, but it was a work in progress.

Reksar demands Sonya lay next to him that night to stay warm, but Sonya takes Reksar's request as a sexual one. Sonya then lectures Reksar for not giving her proper respect for taking care of his wounds and not even mentioning Reksar's rape of Bertha, who then says that he will make sure Sonya is seen no differently than any other felaain.

The next time Reksar is shown, Sonya is clutching him quite closely as they approach an airport. Sonya asks about marriage, and to Reksar's own uncertainty admits he might not. Reksar and Sonya then get aboard a flying machine and travel to Skarveld to regroup and take shelter.

Fighting Style:
Reksar is a very tough opponent in battle. Combining his sheer brute strength with a pair of swift, mithril scimitars, he is difficult to even approach. Often times, he is seen using his weapons to out-maneuver his opponents and overpower them completely with rapid, hard strikes.

He doesn't fight fair either. If there is an opportunity to strike at weak spots, he will do it. He will also throw dirt in the eyes of his opponents and hinder their senses through other means. He often looks to strike in places to incapacitate if he is able to, and prolong his enemy's death through torture just to watch them descend emotions and feel pain and terror.

Reksar likes to execute his enemy's in creative fashion. Instead of simply decapitating them, he might skin them alive and wait for them to bleed out. Or pull out internal organs and wait for them to die that way. Or, in the case of the frost elves, bite their heads off and tear their leader in half.

It also should be noted, that he practically dares assassin and rogue type enemies to try and fight him for their "cowardice".

Relationships
Reksar and Faera have a terrible relationship. However, Reksar loves Faera for the sole purpose that she fits his favored sex slave criteria and her natural stubborn personality that refuses her to break. It is assumed that Reksar still longs for that same experience he had with Faera. They both knew of each other before hand - in fact, Faera Goreclaw alludes to a mission to kill the Prideking, but was cancelled due to his proposed location at the time being obscure.
 * Faera Goreclaw

The Prideking fetishizes the female assassin archetypes - seeing them as an example of a woman who doesn't need a man to help them accomplish their own goals, being self-sufficient and successful completely on their own - it lays a seed of arrogance that must be challenged by Reksar's own arrogance. Seeing them as independents - which the Prideking deems admirable, and the only sorts worthy of bearing his children. These two share a bad relationship. Reksar since the beginning of their relationship has sensed a bit of morality from Riven and has sought to not only kill it, but rip it's organs out and throw it everywhere. Reksar has ensured Riven witnessed the live skinning of women, the murder of his own bodyguards, constantly threatening him with injury or death, bragging about raping Faera and murdering his father. All with the intent of proving morality as Riven sees it is little more than a tool. They don't interact much, but it is fair to assume they share a mildly bad relationship given that Reksar is her slavemaster. Reksar and Erza share a conflicted and shattered relationship. Reksar genuinely loved Erza at heart but he made fun of her often. Calling her a "skull-faced monster that nobody will ever love". It is mentioned that Erza willingly allowed ironjaw beetles eat off half of her face as an offering for her life and training. Azoria doesn't appear much in the books, but it is assumed that she and Reksar share a good relationship. This comes from the fact that Azoria has emotionally supported Reksar and they both reserved a place in their hearts and souls for each other when they were separated. Reksar and Denebi have a bad relationship. Reksar is constantly fed up with Denebi's shortcomings and mocks her and kills her by cutting her tail off, skinning her alive, burning her and then feeding her corpse to his bear. However, Denebi, like many of the female captains, was likely abducted from youth and put through harsh trials to test their loyalty to him. Reksar and Urgo share a fair relationship for most of the first book. Both serving as kings of Bhora, they both have mutual respect for each other and their capabilities. But Urgo mysteriously decides to kill all the kings and attack Reksar's compound out of an act of nihilism and disregard or hatred for life. Reksar and the Iron Queen have a bad relationship.
 * Riven Goreclaw
 * Arcol
 * Erza
 * Azoria
 * Denebi
 * Urgo
 * The Iron Queen

Reksar's frustrations with the Queen stem from the fact that she will simply not allow him to invade planets, take home women, children and stolen goods to fuel his fairly oppressive society without something in return. They came to terms eventually because both had something they wanted from each other. The Queen wanted Bhora's exceptionally strong steel and plentiful wood, and Reksar wanted to pillage and rape and fight. The Queen allowed Reksar to invade planets in a specific region of the galaxy and would "gift" him by sending him specific people she deemed as troublesome, such as Faera Goreclaw. Reksar was thankful for Faera, but ultimately hates the Queen because she essentially was disgusted by his rule over his people.

Regardless of any interactions, Reksar likely would have hated the Iron Queen simply because of the fact she owned more land and resources than he did. These two share an awkward relationship. Reksar initially hates Sonya entirely, only allowing her to live as a means of extra production and her loyalty was fair. However, Reksar manipulates her into turning against her mate and his people to help him with the promise of the proper respect she deserves. Reksar wanted Sonya for the sole purpose of having the future and unborn Queen of Blood in his possession, but he learns that in order to earn his victory, he must make sacrifices. He accepts Sonya for her loyalty and capabilities among other things, and the two discuss marriage at the end of the Prideking novel.
 * Sonya Odindorr IV

Personality
Reksar is generally bad-tempered, vicious, deceptive, arrogant and cruel. Many years of trauma, countless wars, confrontations and failures have progressively beaten him down, and he continues to spiral out of control. He is often described as constantly looking down upon people in a condescending fashion, glaring into their fragile forms with the thought of crushing those individuals for any reason he deems necessary or bending and twisting them to his will. He has been known to kill people for petty slights such as coughing or even for how they smelled.

He is almost always prepared and even intentionally looking to fight other men especially if they are big and power hungry. Reksar has adopted the tribal mentality of the "alpha male", where he is more than willing to prove he is the strongest and entitled to the most beautiful of women, room to exercise his power and treasures the world has to offer.

His attitude towards men is either immediately bad, or fair. Reksar thinks most men are stupid and can only be truly refined if put in life or death situations where their skills would emerge. He rarely gives them a chance to prove their worth prior to and are often killed right away to avoid confrontation that is unnecessary. Reksar eyeballs men who are naturally talented at something, be it fighting or even way with the people and sends them to a tribe as a king. Reksar tends to murder jack of all trades and more talkative and loud men immediately as they tend to lack true, standout skill of any value.

His treatment towards women is vastly different. Reksar generally forbids himself from killing women on first meet, but he usually sends them to work places, tribes, or combat. He doesn't kill them often, but he is more than happy to have them work for 20 hours a day and still on the verge of starving to death. However, he is most fond of female warriors over male warriors. Reksar finds women to be more intelligent and competent than men in battle and also in training. He believes women are faster than the men, while the men are physically more powerful than women. Reksar believes women are more loyal as well for a multitude of reasons, either by bribery, manipulation of emotions or even sense of reward for their work.

Also, Reksar uses women of various social class and status for his sexual desires regardless of consent. Regardless of alliance.

Reksar has openly admitted his lack of care of old people, sick or some children. He believes they are carrion to be picked at by anyone strong enough to take advantage of them.

Despite his bad attitude, he is one to experience happiness and sadness to quite extreme levels. He has shed tears and shown moderate levels of genuine happiness several times throughout the series. He is a committed family man and for the most part an excellent father with his priorities in the right place in regards to them.

It should also be noted that Reksar seems to suffer from some form of PTSD that may sway his moods even further.

Despite his general attitude, he is fairly pleased with the progress of his society.

Appearance
Reksar looks like a fierce white tiger with black stripes and a matching, ragged lion's mane that is mostly white. His actual hair is matching to his mane and is also ragged and curly - often done in a signature eight braid done by his closest concubines and ended with the nose rings of great ogre kings who died before him in combat. He has fiery orange eyes and onyx black skin underneath his fur.

Like all male trueborn felaains, Reksar has a slightly hunched back and somewhat smaller lower half. He has an almost perfect carbon copy of a tiger's head with a mouth on first glance is identitcal to a cat's. He has defined, pointed canines but large, crushing molars. Each of his arms are very well built and muscular, each of his hands were large enough to grasp even a large trueborn female around her waist and throw her around with ease. Despite his legs appearing small, they are extremely powerful and can easily support his weight and the ability to run as fast as a galloping horse. He also has a long, powerful tail that can sweep any human off their feet.

Reksar has few attires, but he is most often seen wearing his black muscle plate armor and leather trousers. A heavy metal with supports to the bottom of his hauberk help keep them from slipping. Strapped to his sides, the leather scabbards for his mithril scimitars.

Powers
Reksar is among the most physically powerful and capable characters in all of Black Worlds. He has demonstrated monstrous levels of strength like effortlessly overpowering a gron'jaar dragon with ease and then knocking her out in a single blow. He is legendary for killing a "dragon-like monstrosity with half it's frame buried in the caldera of a volcano" with boulders and for ripping even large dragons out the sky with his bare hands. Reksar does not fear crocodiles or any of their ancestors as he can overpower them, too. Also, considering he has killed over 10 billion people on Bhora alone, he has more strength in his arms than even entire countries worth of people. Reksar has demonstrated enormous durability on numerous occasions. It is implied that his beard alone can catch arrows and some forms of bullets without them ever reaching his skin (this does not include frost elf arrows, which are designed to harm even the most powerful of felaains). He has survived blows that would kill the strongest men a million times over and even managed to survive being cut nearly in half, then ran back to his wife before finally collapsing into unconsiousness. Reksar naturally has higher agility, speed and stamina than any human as a felaain, but even more so than most felaains. It is believed that Reksar's stamina is limitless and his agility is proven to be quite good for someone his size. Reksar's natural abilities surpass that of any other member of his kind. He can easily see insects in detail from miles away, he can smell people from even further and he can hear the heartbeats of children even deep underground.
 * Super Strength
 * Enhanced Durability
 * Superhuman Stats
 * Enhanced Senses

Trivia
Reksar shares some appearance similarities to Rengar from League of Legends.