Kholai is a charismatic preacher for its own interpretation of the Enkindler religion. Its followers call it the "Enkindled One", believing it to be their only true prophet. Kholai and its followers booked passage into the Andromeda Initiative vessel Keelah Si'yah, where it serves as a member of Sleepwalker Team Yellow-9.
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“By the homeworld I hope to find one day.” — Spoilers for Mass Effect Andromeda: Annihilation follow. |
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Mass Effect Andromeda: Annihilation[]
Kholai's Day of Extinguishment philosophy has been described to be "like alcohol": laughable at first, then irrevocably depressing. It has been espoused nonstop on Hephaestus Station prior to the ark's launch in 2186, and even aboard the ship Kholai keeps on droning to fellow Sleepwalkers whenever there's opportunity. The preacher had a lot in common with Gaffno Yap, a volus political agitator with similarly inflammatory views, resulting in a friendship where the hanar is considered to be Yap's only other friend aside from family.
Back on Hephaestus Kholai was involved in a spirited debate on whether a topiary should be installed in Keelah Si'yah's Radial. It was a ridiculous and pointless expenditure according to the priest, since only the Sleepwalkers would get to enjoy the view and the plants would most likely die before the first Sleepwalker cycle. Despite its views, the flower arrangement was made and its flowers flourished in the intervening centuries during the voyage.
While other Sleepwalkers revived for status reports and revelry during the halfway point of the journey, Kholai ministered to a group of hanar near the food dispensers in the mess hall, gesticulating with its tentacles rather animatedly. During Yellow-9's shifts in the following years Kholai managed to convert teammate Jalosk Dal'Virra into a follower while their other teammate Soval Raxios attempted to change the hanar's worldview to no effect. Still, they were amiable enough that Kholai, Soval, and their elcor teammate Threnno sang together before returning to cryosleep.
Unfortunately, 567 years after launch Kholai is one of the first three discovered victims of something killing passengers in cryostasis. Scabbed with frozen blisters where its arms joined its body, Kholai's corpse is autopsied by the doctor Yorrik to determine what happened. Once Yorrik learns what he could the body is subject to mortuary rites by Blue-7 apothecary Ysses, one of Kholai's followers, before airlocking it separately from "nonbelievers".
Kholai preached that only pure hanar would see the Day of Extinguishment to completion and reap its rewards. In the aftermath of a mass revival of passengers on the ship, one of the maddened infected cultists proclaim that Kholai was wrong: the Fortinbras Plague claims hanar and non-hanar alike, "together as one" in death.
Trivia[]
- Author Cat Valente based hanar names on English ones with the first syllable lopped off. "Kholai" is derived from Nicholai.[1]