King Kaloo is a nearly immortal creature who leads a society of mutants in the ruins beneath Lion City. Standing at nearly twenty-feet tall, he has long and spindly limbs and a pale complexion. Possessing seemingly limitless regenerative abilities, neither age nor mortal wounds seem to put him down for good.
He possesses bountiful knowledge of both
Source, which he refers to as the "Old Machine" and the extinct races of the system, either because he has spent so much time exploring their ruins or because he has lived long enough to have actually met them. That being said, King Kaloo's tenuous grip on reality and tendency to speak in loopy riddles make him ill-suited to helping scholars unlock the mysteries of the system--even assuming they managed to get in his good graces.
Surface Relations
King Kaloo's life-long mission is to prevent surface dwellers from extracting nectar from
Source. He attaches a nigh religious significance to the mysterious super-fuel, but whether that significance is divine or malevolent in nature is not entirely clear. Nevertheless, King Kaloo prohibits his subjects from using nectar or the artifacts it powers and generally orders his soldiers to attack any outsiders who try to do the same.
Strangely, King Kaloo had a somewhat cordial relationship with
Nasser Graham, who during his later rule would travel beneath Lion City to visit an observatory located deep beneath
Source. That didn't stop the mutant monarch from attacking his son, Prince
Lucas, during his Corsair Exam.
Lucas took Kaloo's head off, earning him a compass and the adoration of many whom Kaloo's forces had harried while trying to harvest nectar.
Of Corsairs and Coups
By the time the Party took their own Corsair exam, King Kaloo had regenerated and reassumed control of his people. However, in his absence, his second in command,
Grokus, had conspired against him. Having grown comfortable with his leadership position in Kaloo's absence and frustrated with his Kaloo's strictures on the use of nectar, he struck a deal with the
White Lion Armada to be supplied with nectar-powered weapons in exchange for agreeing not to attack their affiliate merchants with the Kestrel Brothers Shipping Company, who provided a service of delivering nectar to far away cities.
During the exam, Kaloo captured several nobles who had travelled beneath
Source to collect nectar and set forth an ultimatum that he would kill a hostage for every mutant that died within his territory in the exam. The Corsairs broke the ultimatum, which resulted in
Simon and
Wukong's capture.
Simon tried to convince King Kaloo to establish diplomatic relations with the surface, but the king found that the surfacers were too greedy and aggressive to deal with. He pardoned them for the mutant deaths they caused but ordered their feet be removed for trespassing on mutant territory.
Grokus saw the execution as a chance to win a powerful ally and intervned to prevent the corporal punishment. He explained a plan to assasinate King Kaloo using mechs and a mutagenic poison provided at the largesse of the
White Lion Armada. The Party pretended to go along with the plan, but
Simon subdued Kaloo long enough to repeat his offer to establish diplomatic relations with the surface, this time using much more forceful terms.
Simon explained that
Grokus was on his way to kill King Kaloo, but the party had a ship that could help him in the battle if he cooperated and stopped attacking the surface dwellers. The King agreed to the terms and the party made preparations to suppress the rebellion that their own actions had set off.gave Kaloo forewarning of the invasion and turned on
Grokus to defend the King.
Founding Mutant Town
After fending off the coup and earning the Party their compasses, Kaloo established a settlement in the Koan Imperial City called Mutant Town, which boasted an embassy as well as a few shops like a library and mutagen clinic. With peaceful relations, for the first time in many years, everyday citizens could travel to some of
Source's lower levels without fear of mutant attack.
King Kaloo also met
Professor Halle during this time, and the two became fast friends as he seemed to share a similar wavelength of madness as the renowned scholar on the Progenitors.
Professor Halle even seemed to possess some insight on Kaloo's origins, referring to him as a "Weaver" and remarking his surprise that any were still around.
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