Kowran was a jamadar in the cult of the Stranglers whose ongoing feud with a rival jamadar named Iluk was explained by Narayan Singh to Lady in Dreams of Steel. He seems to have been present when Lady killed another jamadar, Moma Sharra-el, and would have become one of the "red-hand" men whom Lady permanently stained with Moma's blood.
Dreams of Steel[]
Kowran was the jamadar of the Twana band, a group of Stranglers of Shadar extraction from the populous Hatchpur State which would later become part of the Shadowlands. He joined the other Strangler jamadars, all gathering from far and wide, at the Grove of Doom in their attempt to celebrate the Festival of Lights.[1] He encountered Lady there for the first time, whom Narayan Singh seemed to be putting forward as their long-awaited messiah, the Daughter of Night.
Kowran does not have any dialogue attributed to him in the Annals but Narayan shared information about him with Lady. Narayan explained that Kowran and his band had a longstanding dispute with the Ineld band and its jamadar, Iluk, who were also from Hatchpur State but were all of Vehdna extraction. Both sides accused the other of heresy and poaching, and the feud was badly exacerbated after the Shadowmasters invaded that region some unspecified number of years back. Lady interpreted Narayan's narrative to mean that Iluk and Kowran were "underworld" figures whose "true feud was a contest of criminal gangs over territories." Recently, Iluk "stunned everyone by insisting the conflict be handed to the justice of Kina" which was not explained but evidently has fatal consequences. Kowran was expected to refuse this; his decision is not specified in the Annals.
Kowran is not mentioned again by name in the Annals after Narayan's disclosures about him, but he certainly took part in subsequent activities and witnessed specific events which those gathered jamadars were known to have been a part of. He was likely in the "parade of priests and jamadars" whom Narayan brought before Lady for formal introduction. Odds are that he was a red rumel man, or less likely he may have even been one of the two unspecified jamadars who had the rare honor of a black rumel alongside Narayan Singh and Moma Sharra-el. During this same gathering, all the jamadars were disturbed to learn that two mysterious infidels had defiled their temple, and the Festival of Lights therefore had to be postponed. (Lady ascertained later the trespassers had been her sister Soulcatcher and Croaker but she did not disclose this to the Stranglers.) Kowran was probably still present when Moma Sharra-el executed the cult's unannounced life-or-death test of Lady. All the jamadars witnessed Lady kill Moma with his own black rumel, and after Ram strung up his corpse on her instructions, she slashed his neck and used Kina's power to brand them all for life with a permanent red stain on one of their hands.[2] Kowran presumably attended the rescheduled Strangler holiday during which Lady was officially initiated and the idol of Kina seemed to come to life.[3]
After the Stranglers betrayed Lady by kidnapping her newborn daughter[4], those with the red-stained hands of Moma's blood would become targets of immense value. In the four years which followed, leading up to Bleak Seasons, the Black Company and the armies and allies of Taglios hunted the Stranglers "like vermin" and placed "huge bounties" on them, especially ones with the red hand[5], so Kowran's survival is unlikely.