Kalim Al-Asim

Kalim Al-Asim is a second-year student and the head of Scarabia. Born into a wealthy family, he is very laid-back and generous. He grew up together with Jamil and relies on him for everything

Appearance
Kalim is very ornate, with a dark red half-turban decorated with jewels and two parrot feathers tied around short and choppy white hair. He has dark skin, decorated with white markings resembling henna on both his arms. He wears a black and gold open long vest, and a belt resembling safety tape wrapped around his torso/waist, with the long end trailing down. The belt is imprinted with the name of his dorm, along with a snake insignia. Under his vest, he wears a white tank top with a dark red halter top underneath. A dark red cloth is wrapped around his waist with a snake symbol on it as well. He wears black parachute pants with red flame designs and black sandals with a gold scarab design. He has many different articles of golden jewelry.

Personality
When first introduced, Kalim is one of the few students in NRC who is genuinely friendly and cheerful. He seems to be quite ditsy and clumsy, resulting in Jamil needing to help him do his task as Dorm Leader of Scarabia. Despite his clumsy and ditsy personality, it is stated by the residents of Scarabia that Kalim is very helpful and supportive of his fellow dorm members, making him respected in Scarabia. However, he is also notably oblivious and naïve and seems to be not very careful with his words, at one point unintentionally insulting Riddle.

Background
Kalim is the eldest son and sole heir of the Asims, a family line of well-renown merchants in Silk City. His family is noted to be a multimillionaire household that has served an important role in Silk City for generation after generation, having been one of the first families to bring progress to their city. Kalim seems to hold this in high regard, and he mentions that he wants to uphold that same legacy once he inherits the business.

Kalim has many younger siblings, and while he stopped counting them when their number surpassed 30, he takes great effort to remember all their names and faces. He also has an as of yet named father and mother who love him and his siblings dearly, even going as far as buying a car for every child and assigning each plate number with their respective birthdates.

Kalim describes his father as "someone who is always smiling" despite his busy schedule, and his father was said to have often brought him along, as a child, to his business meetings. Despite this, however, it's also implied that Kalim's father has a stricter side to him, considering how he told his son that all assassination attempts made against him are simply what being heir entails, ensuing Kalim's current attitude wherein any attempts at poison or kidnapping don't faze him anymore (even when the perpetrators were sometimes his own relatives) , as he's gotten used to it and has since then accepted his fate. He even recalls the last time he was poisoned and went comatose, which was four years prior the current timeline, with a smile on his face. Of course, this is also most likely because he's confident that he won't be poisoned to that extent ever again, since he's grown to be fairly good at identifying poisons.

On the other hand, Kalim describes his mother as someone who is kind and never gets mad at him. She used to be the only person in their family who could use magic until Kalim discovered he was a mage (after making a parrot's feather float a little while he was repeatedly imitating Jamil, who developed magic before him). The Asims' joy upon realizing they had yet another mage was immeasurable. This then spurred the opportunity for Kalim to no longer be homeschooled, and he mentions that he's grateful he can use magic because that's what allowed him to attend school alongside Jamil.

Upon growing up, Kalim naturally grew attached to Jamil, whom he perceived to be his best friend at the time. From Kalim's point of view, they shared many happy memories : all of which are put into question when viewed from Jamil's perception of how things were. Regardless of how Jamil felt about him, though, it's true that Kalim has always held Jamil dear to his heart, and numerous facets of Kalim's character are heavily dependent on Jamil's wellbeing. A notable example is how Jamil once fell into a two-week coma after taste-testing poisoned curry that was meant for Kalim, thus causing Kalim to be traumatized by the sight of his friend almost dying, and dislike curry from thereon.

Kalim enrolled at Night Raven College two months after Jamil, as he was originally not supposed to go at all. He mentions that he just suddenly received his letter while he was at home one day, but how and why he was enrolled hasn't been clearly explained, and it's heavily implied that Crowley took a bribe in order to let Kalim enroll. He also became Scarabia Housewarden not necessarily because he lived up to the Scarabian spirit of keen mindedness, but because the previous Housewarden was a member of a branch family of the Asims. Kalim doesn't know about any of these below-the-table arrangements, however.

Still, when all is said and done, Kalim is a good Housewarden although he requires Jamil's help to be a capable one. He is kind and understanding to his dorm members, making him well-liked in Scarabia despite his apparent clumsiness. Additionally, while Jamil by far possesses most of the esteemed Scarabian traits (keen mindedness, careful forethought, etc.), Kalim also possesses a Scarabian trait that rarely ever gets credit from his peers: resourcefulness. This is shown by how quick-witted he is at thinking up creative solutions for unexpected problems, such as when his dorm members lost the rainbow-colored parrots they needed for a parade and Kalim instead used white birds he borrowed from Silver as a substitute, making them appear as "rainbow-colored" by taking advantage of his Signature Spell's effect when used alongside sunlight. Crowley even remarks that, when used in that manner, his Signature Spell seemed as if it caused a mirage.

Skills and Magic

 * Resourcefulness: Kalim is quick-witted, and can easily think up creative solutions to unprecedented problems. One of the most notable executions of this talent is when he substituted missing rainbow-feathered parrots with white birds made to look "rainbow-like" using Oasis Maker and sunlight. He seems to excel the most when it comes to coming up with plans on-the-spot, making him a dash different from other Scarabians who are used to planning beforehand.


 * Emotional Intelligence: Kalim is incredibly empathic, especially compared to the other students. This isn't quite apparent in the beginning chapters—only ever being subtly hinted by how kindly he treats his dorm members and the Prefect—but this talent goes full-blown after Episode 4, once subsequent character development had begun to shape him. The most iconic example of this is when he empathizes with Deuce's plight in Episode 5 and gives him reliable (plus blunt) advice, something that Rook compliments him for.


 * Persuasiveness: Despite often being passed off as ditzy and carefree, Kalim is shown to be adept at convincing others to believe one thing over another. This is displayed especially when the Scarabia dorm members couldn't understand why he let Jamil remain as vice housewarden —Kalim convinces them to give him and Jamil a little more time to figure things out, under the justification that all of them have been helped by Jamil in the past, and that the holiday incident was something both he and Jamil were at fault for. If it had been anyone else but Kalim who said that, the Scarabia members wouldn't be that easily swayed.
 * Mental Integrity: Someone who survived numerous assassination attempts and kidnappings is bound to be this, especially one who is as positive and as kind as Kalim. This mental integrity, as well as his innate humanity, is what allowed him to counter Jade's Signature Spell when it was used on him during Octavinelle's investigation, as he valued his promise to Jamil so much that he didn't yield to such powerful magic. It is heavily implied that the only reason why Jamil managed to manipulate him was because he was the sole person Kalim believed would never betray him.

Signature Spell
Kalim's signature spell is called "Oasis Maker" (, Oashisu Meikā; lit. "Unwithered blessing"). It can summon a large amount of water with only a small amount of magic and effort on his part. Crowley also mentions that, when used in a certain way, it seems as if it could cause a mirage.

Trivia

 * Kalim is based on the Sultan from Aladdin.
 * Kalim stuffed crackers into Grim’s mouth just like the Sultan did to Jafar’s parrot Iago in the movie.
 * Kalim hates curry because Jamil was put into a two-week coma in the past after taste-testing Kalim's curry that someone had poisoned.
 * Historically, Kalim's favorite food has been used in attempts to counteract poisons and drug overdosage in places like India and Africa.
 * Kalim is one of three students (along with Rook and Silver) to use light magic for his non-element magic.
 * According to Kalim, he and his mother are the only magic users in the Asim family.
 * Yana wants the movement of his earrings to be included in drawings of him.