Kai Lan

Kai Lan, commonly known as Kai Lan the Serpent, is the main antagonist of the Imperial Arena sidequest in the video game Jade Empire. He’s a sorcerous member of the criminal organization Guild and a former Arena Champion who manages the Imperial Arena in an illicit way.

He is voiced by Simon Templeman.

Background
Kai Lan the Serpent earned the championship of the Imperial Arena with his phenomenal control over magic and intense focus. When he retired from fighting, he overtook the Arena’s management through his connections with the Guild, the criminal organization that controlled the betting over the Arena fighters. The Guild were also involved with illicit activities in the Arena, and Kai Lan controlled the Arena as he saw fit. The higher authorities turned a blind eye to the Arena’s corruption partly because the Lotus Assassins, who often did business with the Guild, often searched for recruits amidst the Arena fighters.

At one point, Kai Lan approached one of the strongest Arena fighters, the Black Whirlwind, trying to recruit him as a Guild thug. Turned down, the Serpent approached Whirlwind’s younger brother, Raging Ox instead. With Kai Lan’s support, Ox fought his way to championship and secretly became the Serpent’s enforcer. This alienated the Black Whirlwind and Raging Ox from each other.

One night, the intoxicated Black Whirlwind followed Raging Ox to Kai Lan, intending to convince his younger brother to leave the Guild. Kai Lan attempted to interfere and Whirlwind attacked him in fury. Ox tried to stop his brother and was fatally wounded. Kai Lan smiled as Whirlwind stood over his brother’s body in shock. Whirlwind run away and left the Arena, believing his brother to have died.

Considering Raging Ox to be too valuable, Kai Lan used his sorcery to reanimate his corpse, turning him into an unquestioning minion in the process. Renaming him as the Ravager, the Serpent made his attack dog to wear a mask to keep his identity a secret. Explaining Raging Ox’s disappearance as retirement, Kai Lan bid the Ravager to brutally fight his way back to championship. With no one being able to challenge the inhumanly powerful champion, Kai Lan’s hold over the Arena remained unquestioned.

Dealings with the last Spirit Monk
If the last Spirit Monk chooses to join the Imperial Arena, Kai Lan exhibits interest in their progress. When the Qualifying Division is completed, Kai Lan’s trusted thug Lucky Cho informs the new fighter that the Serpent will be watching closely their future matches. During the Bronze Division, Kai Lan inserts a Toad Demon against the Spirit Monk, a first instance when demons have been used in the ring. Qui the Promoter tells the Spirit Monk that the death of the Guild’s leader, Gao the Greater (who was killed by the Spirit Monk), has opened a power vacancy which the Serpent wants to exploit.

When it’s time to face the Bronze Division champion, Crimson Khana, Kai Lan decides to make a proposition in order to get rid of Khana who openly criticizes the Serpent’s dishonorable management of the Arena. He has Lucky Cho to offer the Spirit Monk an easy victory over Khana with a slow-acting and deadly poison. The Spirit Monk can either accept the offer, resulting in Khana’s death, or they can refuse and fight Khana fairly, after which she teaches her fighting technique to the winner and leaves the Arena.

After the Spirit Monk begins the Silver Division by defeating an Elephant Demon brought in by the Serpent, Kai Lan requests a private meeting with them. Telling them of his intention to claim Gao the Greater’s place in the Guild, he intends to strike with the Spirit Monk the same kind of partnership he had with Raging Ox. The meeting is interrupted by the furious Black Whirlwind who takes the Spirit Monk to the creature pens to tell them what happened with his brother and the Serpent. They are attacked by Lucky Cho who is killed. When Kai Lan’s informed of Cho’s death, he feeds his dead enforcer to the captive cannibals. He then replaces the four fighters slated for the Spirit Monk’s next match with Guild assassins armed with poison-coated blades. This act is not approved by some of the Guild’s other members. Following the match, one of the Guild’s men sends apologies to the Spirit Monk. Qui also tells them that Kai Lan is on bad terms with the more discreet sections of the Guild due to his power play.

The final showdown
When the Spirit Monk has gained enough support in the Gold Division, they’re given a shot against the Ravager. Afraid of losing his control over the Arena, the Serpent tries to prevent the match by saying that the just newly arrived fighter is not worthy to face the Arena Champion yet. Regardless, the crowd strongly supports the Spirit Monk, forcing Kai Lan to relent. When the Ravager’s beaten, his mask falls off, revealing his true identity to everyone. The Black Whirlwind jumps into the ring and kills his possessed brother to put him out of his misery.

Refusing to lose his grip over the Arena, Kai Lan invokes the right of an ex-champion to challenge the fresh champion, a tradition not used for hundreds of years. Either the Spirit Monk fights him or the Black Whirlwind will do so on their behalf, with Kai Lan forced to accept the latter option due to his earlier act of substituting one of his men with the Toad Demon. Despite using his sorcery to summon two Horse Demons and replenish his health, Kai Lan loses both the match and his life. Following his death, the Guild transfers its operations away from the Arena, bearing no grudge over Kai Lan’s death. Considering the open policy practiced by the Serpent and Gao the Greater as well their affairs with the Lotus Assassins too troublesome, the Guild decides to return to their more discreet ways.

Personality
Kai Lan the Serpent is a cold, imperious and manipulative opportunist who has cultivated a love/hate relationship with the crowd of the Imperial Arena. He has corrupted the Arena for his own profit, abusing and using the rules to his own advantage. Though he speaks in a refined manner, he truly has little to no honor. Upon learning that the last Spirit Monk killed his rival Gao the Greater, the Serpent offers his reluctance to turn them in to the Lotus Assassins as full repayment. He considers the word "cheat" to be a pedestrian term and prefers to consider himself as a creative engineer who spreads entertainment to the people. When the Ravager’s true identity is discovered, the Serpent tells the Black Whirlwind that he should be thanking him for saving him from the charges of fratricide. He isn’t much liked in the Guild either due to his less discreet policy.

Kai Lan speaks to everyone with an air of superiority and has little regard for his henchmen. When Raging Ox died while protecting Kai Lan from the Black Whirlwind, the Serpent smiled at Whirlwind’s horror over his brother’s death. Regarding Raging Ox too valuable to be allowed to die, Kai Lan resurrected him as the unquestioning brute known as the Ravager. When another reliable enforcer of Kai Lan, Lucky Cho is killed, the Serpent feeds his body to captured cannibals on the principal of using the available resources and sends Guild assassins to combat Cho’s killer.

Powers and abilities
Kai Lan the Serpent is a powerful sorcerer who’s rumored to have learned his dark arts from the Lotus Assassins. After Raging Ox was killed, the Serpent revived him as the Ravager, the unquestioning and relentless fighter growing in power with every victory. He has invented a technique called "Scales of the Serpent" which increases health by seven points and intimidation by one point.

Kai Lan fights with a sword, the Viper martial style and the Ice Shard magic style. When he first loses more than half of his health, he uses pyrokinetic magic similar the Dire Flame style to summon two Horse Demons to fight for him. Until they’re killed, he’s protected by a flaming cover from which he emerges in full health.

Trivia

 * Since finishing the entire Imperial Arena sidequest is optional, the player may never fight against Kai Lan.