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Rashek was the Lord Ruler, and a former Terris packman. He killed Alendi, the man believed at the time to be the Hero of Ages, and took the power at the Well of Ascension. He ruled the Final Empire, achieving immortality by combining Feruchemy and Allomancy. He created the Steel Ministry, its Inquisitors, the Kandra and the Koloss through use of Hemalurgy.

Powers & Abilities[]

The power of the Well of Ascension gave Rashek the ability to recreate the world, but only for a limited time. He used this power to move the planet closer to its Sun, so as to burn away the mists that were threatening all life on it. This had the side effect of making the planet too hot to sustain life, forcing him to create the Ashmounts to thicken the atmosphere and protect the surface. This in turn forced him to change the people to be able to breathe the newly ash-filled air and to re-engineer the planet's biology to work with the new atmosphere. He also discovered Hemalurgy at this time and used it to create the Kandra, Koloss and Inquisitors. Finally he rearranged the planet's geography to hide the Well.

He condensed some of the power from the well into the metal Lerasium, which he then ingested, becoming a Mistborn. He is the only man known to have been a full Feruchemist and a Mistborn at the same time, and doing so granted him great power. One of these powers was immortality. As Sazed speculated in the Epilogue of book one, the Lord Ruler most likely spent time regularly storing "youth" in atiumminds (Vin saw him doing this when she entered his secret room in Kredik Shaw, just before she was captured). This caused him to age significantly during the storing process. However, because he was also an Allomancer, he was able to swallow and burn his atiumminds. This burning presumably released a great amount of youth, many times the amount that was originally stored. As Sazed explained in the Epilogue of book one, this Allomantic burning of the metalminds would not work for sustained youthfulness, only for a short, magnified burst. Therefore, when the Lord Ruler burned the atiumminds, he stored most of the resulting youth in his metalmind bracers (the ones that Vin ripped away from him in the final fight of book one). This allowed him to slowly draw on the youth stored in those metalminds, thereby allowing himself to maintain whatever state of youthfulness he desired.

The Lord Ruler was able to achieve amazing effects with his powers. Kelsier describes an instance in which Rashek was burned down to little more than a skeleton but regenerated in a matter of minutes and Rashek himself claimed he has been beheaded at least once. Although this potent combination gave him incredible power, allowing him to live for a thousand years, he became utterly dependent on his metalminds, and when Vin managed to Steelpush them away from him, he aged rapidly and died within a few minutes.

Some three hundred years after his death he is remembered as the Sliver, likely refering to his claims that he was a sliver of the power of god.

History[]

Early Life[]

Rashek was born in a Terris town. His uncle was Kwaan. It was said that he hated all of Khlennium with a passion, but the culture of the Final Empire seems to have been heavily inspired by that of Khlennium, suggesting some degree of envy on Rashek's part.

Alendi's Quest[]

When Alendi was thought to be the Hero of Ages, Rashek was chosen by Kwaan, his uncle, to be one of Alendi's guides on his journey to the Well of Ascension. Rashek hated Alendi as much as the rest of Khlennium and Alendi was, to some extent, aware of this.

At some point in the quest Kwaan realized that Alendi was in fact not the Hero of Ages and feared that Alendi would kill him if he found out about Kwaan's mistake. Following this revelation, Kwaan ordered Rashek to kill Alendi at the Well of Ascension and Rashek agreed, murdering Alendi when they entered the caverns containing the well.

Ascension[]

Following the death of Alendi, Rashek used the Well of Ascension to grant himself godly powers that he use to shape Scadrial. In an effort to burn away the lethal mists that were plaguing the planet, Rashek moved the planet closer to the sun — too close in fact and he was forced to create the Ashmounts to keep Scadrial from overheating.

Forming the Final Empire[]

Following his Ascension, Rashek began to become twisted and evil by his newfound powers. He attracted thousands of followers and used his powers to brutally conquer the world. Those who opposed him were brutally suppressed and their descendants were transformed into Skaa, a slave race. His allies and their descendants were made into Nobility and were granted Allomantic powers as a reward for their support.

Rashek called his empire the "Final Empire", as he believed it would be the last nation to ever dominate Scadrial. He later became known as the Lord Ruler, a merciless tyrant.

The Imperial Years[]

Ruling the early Final Empire was rough as the Lord Ruler and his army had to frequently put down rebellions and mutinies. In one such rebellion, the Lord Ruler was staying in an inn that was burned down by an angry mob while he was still inside it. Rashek walked out of the fire, barely a skeleton and healed himself within minutes before, presumably, killing the rebels.

Seeing how impossible it was to kill the Lord Ruler, the Skaa gave up on resisting the Final Empire. To make things harder for the rebels, Rashek created the Steel Ministry to enforce his will and became more secluded in his castle at Kedrik Shaw.

As the empire grew older, the Lord Ruler became less visible in its politics and left squabbling noblemen to run the business of the Final Empire. However, this did not mean he was not in charge anymore. He still made sure his will was enforced and used the Steel Ministry to ensure his subjects were loyal to him.

Various civil wars also happened under his reign, with the nobility houses fighting for greater control within the Final Empire. The Lord Ruler, however, did not mind and viewed the house wars as ways to clear unwanted noblemen without having to lift a finger himself.

Downfall & Death[]

Over a thousand years after the Final Empire's formation, the idea of rebellion once again started to become more popular among the Skaa. Rebels lead by Yeden were able to score minor victories against the empire but not enough to weaken the empire's internal integrity.

It wasn't until Kelsier's crew began to ally themselves with Yeden's rebels that the empire started to decline. With Marsh infiltrating the Steel Ministry, many of the empire's plans were exposed to the rebels as well as Vin infiltrating the nobility. Unfortunately for the rebels however, the Lord Ruler found out the location of their army and sent the Holstep Garrison to destroy them. The garrison was successful.

After the battle, Kelsier destroyed the Pits of Hathsin and in retaliation the Lord Ruler personally oversaw the execution of hundreds of Skaa at Holstep. During the massacre, Kelsier broke through the prison carriages, allowing many to escape the executions. Tired of Kelsier's trouble, the Lord Ruler exited his carriage to confront him. During the event, two spears were rammed through the Lord Ruler's body but even that failed to stop him from killing Kelsier.

Unfortunately for Rashek, killing Kelsier made the man a martyr and it encouraged the Skaa to keep rebelling. However, due to the Lord Ruler's immense power, he was not worried and believed that the conflict would end like a normal house war. During the conflict the Steel Ministry managed to capture Sazed and Vin, furthering the Lord Ruler's resolve that he would win.

However, Vin successfully was able to confront the Lord Ruler and kill him after escaping the prison, ending his tyrannical rule.

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