Kharshai

Kharshai is a neutral Mahjarrat who has been lost for years. He does not know he is Kharshai, however. As of an update on Feburary 18, 2013 it is revaled that Kharshai is actually Koschei the Deathless.

History
According to the second set of Zemouregal's notes, Kharshai was a fairly neutral Mahjarrat throughout his life. Said to be of average power and temperament, Kharshai survived by going with the majority during the periodic Ritual of Rejuvination in The North, near Ghorrock. Although Kharshai managed to avoid being sacrificed through this method, it left him with no close allies and what Zemouregal deemed a potentially dangerous situation in future rituals. At some point, Kharshai seemingly disappeared, leaving the rest of his race unable to locate him.

Azzanadra, a Zarosian Mahjarrat imprisoned during the late God Wars mentioned in an issue of Postbag from the Hedge that, when he escaped the Jaldraocht pyramid during Desert Treasure, he was unable to detect Kharshai. In the words of Azzanadra: "Kharshai may yet live, I can sense no trace of his death upon this world, but nor can I sense his pulse; perhaps his neutrality has earnt him a prison such as mine was."



Identity Miniquest
Kharshai's identity is revealed with a miniquest that one can do after having completed the quest Blood Runs Deep, and having a Balmung in possession. The miniquest begins once the player speaks to Thorvald the Warrior at the helmet shop at Rellekka about Koschei. According to him, something is wrong with Koschei and he needs help and asks the player to go down the stairs to check what's going on. Koschei will state that a blossoming tree has been strangely intriguing him requests the adventurer to chop it down with their Balmung due to the unusual strength of the tree's trunk and says that it is located nearby the way used to access the Seers' Village. After the tree has been cut down, a chest with no key hole will be revealed in the middle of the trunk and the player will present the object to Koschei, strangely unlocking it in the process. Inside the chest, a toy ship with mysterious marking will be found. After showing it to Koschei, he will tell the player to use it on the waters of Rellekka's well. After using the toy ship on the well in Rellekka, the adventurer will use the toy ship on a bucket of water filled from the well and a compartment inside the toy will open in the process, revealing a white jewel. After returning it to Koschei, he will state that he doesn't have any ideas about what to do and will ask the adventurer to modify the jewel. The adventurer will have three options: Attempt to cut the jewel (no requirements), check for curses (requires level 90 Prayer) and attempt to crush the jewel (requires level 90 strength). Which ever one chosen will show a cutscene of Koschei turning into Kharshai, however, different information will be given.

Cutscene
A cutscene will happen, where Koschei discovers his identity and soon after that Enakhra and Akthanakos will arrive supposedly to check if it was truly him, however according to him, they were trying to gain his support. In this cutscene, it will be revealed that Kharshai is not Zamorakian and is not Zarosian, instead, he tries to maintain peace between the Mahjarrat and has shown to be very wise.

Green jewel memory
He reveals that he knows why he is still powerful after so many centuries in the form of Koschei. According to him, sealing his memory was the key to preserve the power he possessed, since he didn't know the power he had, he didn't use it. He also mentions that this information will interest all the Mahjarrat and he suspects they are already working on a way to locate anyone else that may try to use this method in the future.

Red jewel memory
In the memory given by the crush-attempt option (changes the colour of the jewel to red), it is revealed that Koschei is Kharshai and that he is the creator of the Balmung, which is said by him to be made of bane ore and that he was working on a spell to enhance it, heading to the Fremennik isles to obtain Dagannoth blood when his memory was gone.

Blue jewel memory
In the memory provided by the cut-attempt option (changes colour of the jewel to blue), it is revealed that Koschei is Kharshai and that he was the one that actually cleaned his memories. According to him, he did that to conceal himself from the other Mahjarrat and that simply shapeshifting wouldn't protect him from the Mahjarrat's innate ability to sense eachother. The player can go through all the options whenever they wish to, the only thing affected is colour of the gem on his forehead and the colour of the Balmung possessed by the player.

Trivia

 * Due to similarities in spelling, there was once some speculation amongst players that Kharshai was an original, non-humanized name of Khazard, although Khazard was never portrayed as a smart Mahjarrat and it was doubted that he could have concealed his existence from Azzanadra. When The Curse of Arrav quest was released, Zemouregal's notes listed Khazard and Kharshai separately, indicating that the two are separate. This was later confirmed when Kharshai was revealed to be Koschei the deathless.