In the 50th year of the Second Age, the ambitious Khein Dynasty expanded its reach across the Dormond Sea, forging the first trade route to the distant Emya Isle. At the forefront of this endeavor was a young merchant prodigy named Alikhan, not yet thirty years old, whose sharp mind and silver tongue impressed even the God King himself. His success in establishing lucrative trade — and slave markets — among the tribes of Emya earned him the epithet Lover of Coins, a title that would shadow him for eternity.
Summoned to the capital Kheinopolis, Alikhan was set to master the higher arts of commerce, politics, and dominion. Over the following decades, he became the chief architect of the Dynasty’s economic empire, opening channels to the mighty and reclusive Nagan Empire. His cunning in negotiation, mastery of finance, and unshakable will earned him both respect and fear among nobles and merchants alike.
Alikhan proved that wealth could be as mighty as any army. His coffers built fleets, raised fortresses, and armed legions. His network of spies and merchants gathered vital intelligence across the known world, while his mercenary companies fought where official armies could not tread. By the 80th year of the Second Age, Alikhan’s efforts had transformed the Khein Dynasty from a rising kingdom into a true imperial power, its influence felt across continents.
The God King, recognizing his unmatched contributions, summoned him to the Eternal Court. Before all the priests, princes, and envoys of distant lands, Alikhan was crowned the Fourth Prince of the Khein Dynasty. As part of his ascension, he undertook the Rite of Gilded Flesh — a sacred, perilous ritual that bound his soul to the Dynasty for all time. Bathed in molten gold and rare alchemical elixirs, Alikhan emerged immortal, his skin bearing the faint, shifting shimmer of gold running beneath his veins.
From then on, he was known formally as Prince Alikhan Khein, Gilded Road of the Dynasty, Lover of Coins, Immortal Merchant. Statues of his likeness were raised at every major port, and his face stamped onto the Dynasty’s golden dinars. His court became a marvel of the world: a palace filled with rare treasures, exotic creatures, and guests from every corner of the known lands. Lavish feasts, clandestine deals, and whispered alliances flourished under his golden rule.
Yet not all praised Alikhan's rise. Dark rumors spread in hushed tones: that the Immortal Merchant had trafficked not just in coin, but in forbidden pacts — that souls, not gold, had purchased his eternal youth. Still, no evidence ever surfaced, and few dared challenge a Prince who served under the living God King himself.
Now, centuries later, Alikhan still walks among the living, a golden shadow over the world’s trade routes. Wherever wealth is hoarded, wherever fortunes rise or fall, the Lover of Coins is never far away — forever binding the fate of the Khein Dynasty to the treasures of the earth.