Ram was a secret member of the outlawed Stranglers cult and a key ally of Lady during Dreams of Steel. Despite his size and great strength, Ram was among the lowest-ranked of his cult, and carried the corresponding saffron- or yellow-colored rumel.
Ram was 23 years old by the time of Dreams of Steel, during which Lady described him as "tall and massive and hairy [... with] a head like a ball of kinky wire with eyes peering out,"[1] a description which seemed to match many other Shadar men. His young wife had recently died during a stillbirth.[2] An urban denizen of Taglios proper, he was employed as a carter[3]; he was unfamiliar with the country surrounding Taglios and had never left the city until he enlisted in the Liberator's legions just prior to the Battle of Ghoja Ford.[4] Despite his closeness with and loyalty to the Strangler jamadar Narayan Singh, Ram was not part of Narayan's Changlor band, which was from the Shadowlands south of Taglios and the Main.
Dreams of Steel[]
After the Black Company's defeat at the Battle of Dejagore, Lady encountered Ram and Narayan Singh. Both men witnessed her use a Golden Hammer spell to strike down one of the Shadowlanders that spotted her.[5] Soon afterward they introduced her to Sindhu and other Stranglers.
Without her permission, he adjusted the helmet of her Lifetaker armor to more closely resemble Kina, the Strangler goddess.[6]
Ram continued as Lady's personal bodyguard and became more deeply attached to her during the time of the Siege of Dejagore. Ram and Abda were assigned by Narayan as bodyguards for Lady when she was in Taglios. There, at the Taglian olive grove and mineral baths, Ram and Abda assisted Lady in foiling Chandra Chan Tal's assassination plot against her.[7]
In Lady's later operations against Shadowspinner's men, Ram wore a frightening costume armor built by her to resemble the Widowmaker suit she had previously crafted for Croaker.[8] At some point, Ram handcrafted a cradle for her unborn child.[9] He grew increasingly anxious as he was aware of his comrades' hidden plans for the baby. After the birth, he opposed his own cult when they tried to abduct Lady's newborn daughter. Despite being only a yellow rumel man (an apprentice) he fought ferociously, killing 4 four of his fellow cultists before Narayan took his life and kidnapped the baby.[10]
Murgen would later state that "Blade was another case like Ram and Swan," suggesting that they all were influenced by Lady's love me enchantment.[11]