Soban

Soban
Rice	150
Water	400
Hitpoints	--
Yin	1
Melee	Blunt
Missile/Ranged	None
Strengths	Fire
Weaknesses	Blunt, Magic
Passive	None

While my colleagues waste their time studying death, I have taught the very stones to live.

— Soban

Soban is a Zen Master of the Lotus Clan.

Overview

Like all the highest-level Lotus warlocks, Soban's researches have taken him on a unique path. His work blends clockwork and high wizardry to produce alchemical feats like his tireless servants, the golems. He is called "Lord" as a courtesy for his accomplishments but he holds no political sway, having always kept out of power struggles of the Lotus elite.

Soban isn't like the other Lotus Clan warlocks. While he studied the forbidden black magic that seems to consume all the members of that clan, he eventually shunned it, preferring instead to focus on his studies of the earth sciences. Like the other Lotus heroes, Soban is old, and he himself remembers a time when the clan hadn't yet discovered the forbidden arts. At that time, Soban was a tinkerer, and he spent a lot of his time fashioning lifeless materials like metal and stone into toys and lifelike objects.

When his colleagues began practicing the arcane magic that's now so prevalent in the Lotus society, Soban took his work one step further--he started to create life out of lifeless rocks. He ultimately unlocked the secret of golem creation. Behind his back, Soban's colleagues deride him as a mere tinkerer or mechanic, but his powers are genuine. The Wolf Clan's Shale Lord is a result of one of his experiments gone wrong.

In battle, Soban carries a claw engine, another one of his creations. This three-pronged weapon is attached to his forearm and gives him an improved striking ability.

Battle Gear

	Create Golem	Stamina: 99%
With a wave of his staff, Lord Soban can call a Golem from the ground, a tireless peasant laborer made of dirt and rock.

Trivia

• Soban is an oddity among the Lotus; for one, he has shunned the corruptive magics of his colleagues, focusing on his own studies. Secondly, he is not inherently cruel or malicious like most of his colleagues. While it's true that he is hardly benevolent, his only concern is his research and his creations. Soban actually worked to relieve the Wolf clan of their imprisonment in the mines, but that in itself was born out of a desire for more industrious workers (like his golems) rather than any good will towards the Wolf.
• Soban can be recruited by Kenji in the original Battle Realms campaign, should Kenji follow the path of the Dragon Clan and assult the correct region. Soban will be seen arguing with his colleague, Koril, about his creations; Koril wants Soban to detonate his golems on a mountainside in an effort to kill Kenji and his army as they scale the mountain. However, Soban refuses to waste his golems in such a callous manner, and when Koril says that Soban must follow his orders (because he is Zymeth's second-in-command) Soban finally snaps; he rejects the entire Lotus Clan and offers his services to the Serpent instead (which has been remade into the Dragon Clan at that point in time). As long as the player can keep Soban alive until the end of the mission, he will be available from that point on in all future missions, being recruitable from the Keep.

Gallery

Soban Concept Art

Quotes (Move)

• "Fine!"
• "I'm going!"
• Yes, yes!"

Quotes (Attack)

• "Whackity-whack!"
• "Bashin' time! BASHIN' TIME!"
• "Bam! Bam! BAM!!!!"
• "I'll pop 'em!"
• "We'll crush them!"
• "Stompity-Stomp!"