Kanshin was the son of a master ditchdigger in the Haighlei kingdom of Kmbata. In an attempt to escape the rigid caste system with its inherited professions, Kanshin ran away to Khimbata. He realized that though he could not rise higher in society than a ditchdigger, he could always go lower. He began by apprenticing to Jacony, an aged beggar. When he discovered Jacony was considering having one of Kanshin's limbs cut off to draw in more alms, he ran away again.
Lakshe, a procurer, wanted him to become a child prostitute, but Kanshin believed that to be a losing proposition. Instead, Kanshin settled on Poldarn, one of the oldest thieves in the city. Learning everything the master-thief could teach him, Kanshin eventually rose to the top of his profession, a very wealthy thief. He owned a home in the heart of the Dakola District, Khimbata's poor quarter, that appeared to be a wreck on the outside, but was a grand palace inside.
Much of Kanshin's success was due to his partner, a renegade mage called Noyoki. He first net Noyoki just after the Cataclysm and its resulting Mage Storms. The two worked very well together, as Noyoki could occasionally transport Kanshin into sealed rooms with his Fetching Gift. Kanshin kept the jewels and artifacts he stole, giving any papers and documents to Noyoki to use as he saw fit.
Everything changed when Noyoki brought Hadanelith home. The madman was the key to Noyoki dreams of revenge on the royal court and his own ascension to the Lion Throne. Kanshin and Noyoki put Hadanelith in with selected victims for him to torture and kill, then left evidence linking Skandranon or Amberdrake to the murders.
Eventually, the group was caught. Kechara shrieked in Kanshin's mind, knocking him out. He was turned over to the Haighlei priest-mages. His sentence was to have his mind peeled away layer by layer, thus giving up all his secrets, but leaving only an empty shell behind. That shell would live out the rest of its days housed with the shells of Noyoki and Hadanelith in a public place, to serve as examples of the ultimate penalty for their reign of terror.
In the series[]
Kanshin appears in the following work:
- The White Gryphon, Mage Wars, volume 2