Maziter Kir
Maziter Kir is the current Minister of the Interior of the Second Konabian Empire. Behind his back, he's often called "the Spider", partly a reference to his eight arms, but also partly because of the numerous figurative webs he's constantly spinning. Kir's full influence is hard to gauge, because so much of his power is tied up in political favors and hidden resources. Some political analysts think Maziter Kir may be the second most powerful person in the Empire, second only to the Emperor himself. A few believe that the Emperor may be the second most powerful person in the Empire...
Description
Maziter Kir is a gaunt, almost cadaverous-looking man with a long face with jutting cheekbones and neatly combed grey-blond hair. He has six cybernetic arms grafted to his side, and he can use them as deftly and as adroitly as his real arms. The artificial arms are well designed to look like real arms, as well, and it's hard to tell by looking at them which arms are artificial and which are cybernetic, except by taking note of exactly where they join up to his torso. Generally, at least some of Kir's arms are constantly in motion, though doing different things. Aided by an artificial enhancement to his brain, Kir is adept at multitasking, and can be using one arm to hold a saucer upon which is a teacup from which he sips with another arm, while yet another is holding a pastry from which he occasionally takes a bite, another is drawing up a battle plan, another two are poised over a control panel, another is petting a cat, and the last one is scratching an itch on his neck.
Kir generally dresses in long, flowing robes, grey or black in color, embroidered (often in white, silver, or black thread) with arcane symbols and characters in obscure alphabets. He seldom bothers with much jewelry, though on formal occasions he does wear a ring with a large red spherical jewel set in it, which is widely suspected of having infused properties of some kind. One of the things Kir is most noted for is his resonant bass voice, which carries easily across a room and is instantly recognizable.
History
Despite his current prestige and power, Maziter Kir comes from relatively lowly origins. He passed his early youth on the backwater planet of Yolane, scion of a large farming family. His intelligence and ambition were clear from his childhood, however, and his academic performance caught the attention of his school officials. When he showed the results of his own extracurricular studies, as well—to wit, that he had gathered some friends together to form a small corporation of sorts that produced and sold simple goods made from local flora—these officials agreed to allow him to take, at a much earlier age than was usually the case, a university placement test. Kir did well enough on the test to obtain, with the help of recommendations from his local scholastic officials and other influential people he had impressed, admission into Telvai University at the almost unprecedented age of thirteen.
From there, Kir's ascent to power was rapid and seemingly inevitable. His performance at the university did nothing to discredit the glowing recommendations that had gotten him in there, and he was elected to the student body presidency. He also started, while still in the university, on his political ambitions, interning for local politicians who later supported him when, after his graduation, he embarked on a political career of his own. Beginning as a diplomat to the often hostile world of Reszenca, Kir worked his way rapidly up the ranks to become the secretary of Malthom Poar, the Empire's Minister of Trade. It soon became clear that Poar's subsequent success owed a great deal to his competent and talented secretary, enough so that when an opening arose in the ministry through the disappearance of the former Minister of the Interior, Canden Vell, the Emperor tapped Kir to fill the position.
The biggest, and perhaps only significant, black spot on Kir's early career in the ministry was his predecessor's disappearance. Many people believed—and some still do—that Kir was responsible for the event, removing Vell from the scene in order to open up a spot for his own advancement. Despite thorough searching, no real evidence has ever been found to implicate Kir in Vell's disappearance, however, and there are some logical holes with the idea. It was by no means guaranteed that Kir would be given the position, after all; why risk so much for a vague hope of being named the replacement? For that matter, if Kir was clever enough to do away with a minister of the empire without leaving any evidence, why wouldn't he have done so in a way to suggest suicide or throw suspicion on another party, rather than leaving the disappearance a mystery that would be bound to attract so much attention? In any case, while Vell's fate remains unknown, no serious scholars now believe that Kir had anything to do with it, though there are many conspiracy theorists who hold to the belief.
Relations
Although Kir has many siblings and a large extended family, he has little contact with them. That isn't to say he ignores them entirely; he sends his close family members enough money to allow them to live very comfortably indeed. He rarely visits any of his relatives, however, and though they occasionally visit him, it is seldom for long; his relationship to his family can best be characterized as cordial but somewhat distant.
Kir associates with an eclectic circle of friends, surrounding himself with scientists, writers, tycoons, and musicians. His parties, while not terribly frequent, are legendary for the power and diversity of their attendees. It's debatable how much he actually trusts these friends, however, and certainly few, if any, of them he confides in with the details of his plans. Still, if Kir wants to know almost anything, or requires the completion of almost any sort of obscure task, he's likely to know someone who can help him with what he needs, or at least to know someone who knows someone who can.
There has been much speculation about Kir's romantic entanglements, but no firm evidence exists that he even has any interest in that regard. It could be, as many suppose, that he's simply too busy with his political ambitions to spare any time for personal affection. The once most persistent rumors, about his involvement with the Ccymalian princess Tsane Aalan, have recently been fairly firmly debunked, when it came to light that Kir's association with the princess was, in fact, in the interests of arranging trysts between her and a third party. (Kir's motivation in performing this function remains mysterious, but then, so does so much else about him.) Since then, a college associate has come forward with the claim that Kir is homosexual; a few other acquaintances have corroborated this statement, but Kir himself has rather pointedly neither confirmed nor denied it. Even if it's true, that still doesn't answer the question of whether Kir has any current inamoratos, though, of course, there is no shortage of rumors.
Inevitably for someone in such a position of power, Kir has his share of enemies. Some of these enemies are political, rivals who resent his being granted the position in the ministry that they feel they deserved. Others are professional, officers of rival companies to those with which Kir is involved. One of the most important of the former category is Ephya Qos, who as a powerful proconsul made no secret of the fact she coveted a career in the ministry, and was affronted when Kir was appointed to the position that she felt she had perfectly groomed herself for. Even though she did later attain a position in the ministry, as the Minister of Finance, she remains bitter that the younger Kir got there first. In the latter category is Wolon Ta Xel, president of Myriad Gases, who knows that Kir is on the board of Aetherax, his biggest competitor, and detests him for it. Kir also is occasionally beset by conspiracy theorists who believe that he is responsible for Vell's disappearance or for any of a host of other disasters, though they're rarely powerful enough to cause him much trouble.
Personality and goals
Kir is unfailingly polite and sympathetic; in social interactions, he's never without a friendly smile, while in meetings and otherwise engaged in the more impersonal aspects of the business of his office he's solemn and serious. He seldom if ever becomes angry, or at least if he does he hides it very well. He is magnanimous to his peers and his subordinates, presenting them with abundant gifts of obscure objects he picks up in his travels and transactions that seem perfectly suited for the recipient. Nevertheless, many people are uncomfortable around him, feeling that there's some hidden side of him he's not showing, and worrying what exactly that hidden side might be.
At any given time, Maziter Kir has any number of plans going. He is known to have a significant—perhaps controlling—business interest in at least twenty different major companies, and there may very well be more with which he's contrived to hide his connection. (He is careful not to favor those businesses he's involved with, though, so as not to be accused of conflicts of interest.) But that only scratches the surface of his activities; at any given moment, he seems to be at the center of dozens of different schemes and scenarios taking place all over the Empire, some of which seem to be at cross purposes to others. It could be that some of these apparently contradictory plots are only smokescreens to distract attention from his real plans, but if so it's not at all clear which ones are the smokescreens—which, of course, is presumably the point. The ultimate purpose behind Kir's plans seems unguessable; certainly none of them have anything overtly to do with overthrowing the Empire or with subverting the goals of any of Kir's fellow ministers, and most of them, like the aforementioned arrangements with the princess of Ccymalas, seem to be personal matters with no clear benefit to Kir at all. If asked directly about his reasons for interfering in some such matter, Kir will generally only say that he's working to serve justice, or to help the cause of love, or some such platitude. It may be that that's really all there is to it, but on the other hand Kir does seem to be consistently increasing in wealth and power, so he's clearly doing something right.