The Prester of Urga is a towering Templar who rules the sanctuary city of Urga in a clearing of the dark Gobi forest and keeps a door to hell. He says “Prester” was only a stage of his life, not his name.
| Type | Character |
| World | Invisible Cities |
| Spanish entry | El Preste de Urga |
Description
Almost two meters tall; white mantle with a golden gleam on the forehead, mail, a mace. The emissaries’ detectors mark him evil, and he explains why: he is the first and farthest crusader, who lost his head defending the faith by killing Muslims and pagans (“I am paying for the pagans I have killed”). He is a living echo of Prester John, the Christian king of the post-Poitiers Antiterra. He calls himself the only Khan of his khanate (“there is only one Khan, and it is I”), but not the Great Khan, who took everything from him (“took the head off the empire”) and drove him back to this corner. He could unbaptize Felipe, the giant.
The door
- Urga stands on a center of dark power, a door to hell descending to Baator. The forest became an oasis so humans could come to guard it; his church is its stopper.
- The door cannot cross the enclosure or descend into the city, but can be opened from outside without his permission.
- His wife was a Buddhist; the giant Buddha across the cliff is the complementary pole of his cross.
- He proposes closing the door from inside.
- As guide he gives the emissaries his treasure: a scepter-cup with a large agate set in it that serves as stopper, and a lantern. Parting with it turns his hair silver and makes it fall out in clumps, and his skin pales (“I no longer deserve it”).
Appearances
Invisible Cities, T1: the Gobi desert side trek (gates of Urga, cathedral, door to hell).