Anna Kashina is a fellow former author from Drollerie Press, and I’m pleased to feature her as the second of two posts for my doubleheader Boosting the Signal premiere day! Her newly fantasy novel, Blades of the Old Empire, has just been released by Angry Robot and is her first novel with a major SF/F publisher–and here, she gives us a look at her antagonist Nimos.

I am Nimos, a member of the Kaddim Brotherhood. I am gifted with mind magic, which enables me to bend people to my will, pry into their thoughts, and affect their judgment. I taught other Kaddim Brothers the basics of this magic, but no one else is as good as I am.

In the days of the old Shandorian Empire, our brotherhood rose to power and was able to place our leader, the Reincarnate, on the imperial throne. However, our timing had been unfortunate and a group of renegades was able to overthrow us, leading to the bloodshed that is now referred to as the Holy Wars. The empire fell, and our brotherhood was forced to retreat into shadows, gathering enough power to rise again.

And now, our time has come. Once again, we stand strong, and we are in a great position to restore the glory of the Old Empire out of the scattered kingdoms that formed in its place. The Kaddim are formidable warriors, wielding rare and exotic weapons–orbens–that no one is able to resist. The only warriors to match us are the Majat, but they, like everyone else in the kingdoms, are susceptible to our mind powers. Through the anti-magic laws that our brotherhood helped to put into place during the empire days, everyone with a magic gift had been carefully weeded, leaving us with virtually no opposition to our plans.

And then, a problem arose. Prince Kythar, the heir to the throne of Tallan Dar, had somehow escaped the magic control laws. His inborn gift grants him control of the elements and a unique ability to focus, rendering him immune to the Kaddim magic. Worse, as we became aware of the problem and gathered efforts to capture the prince, he was able to pass his immunity to his Diamond Majat bodyguard, Kara. As long as she is by his side, we cannot possibly defeat him.

Kythar’s magic is rare, and fortunately he has no idea yet how to use it to its full power. Time is of essence. We must take care of the prince before he figures it out. But to do that, we first must take care of his bodyguard Kara, and this is a task no Kaddim warriors are able to accomplish. Her weapon skill makes her nearly undefeatable.

Fortunately, I have a plan. If we cannot take care of Kara, all we need to do is pitch her against her Majat Guild, and they will have no problem finishing the job.

A lot of mind control work went into carrying out this plan. And now it is all in motion and nothing could probably stop us.

Mwahahahahaaaaaaa…

Genre: Fantasy

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