Kalad was one of the black-hearted brothers of Mengil who showed great natural skill in the manipulation of dark magicks. Such a practice by males is outlawed by order of the Witch King, and Mengil took great delight in skinning his brother alive. He then had the skin attached to his personal standard. Such was Kalad's power that a nimbus composed of evil daemon-spirits constantly hovers around his flesh, keeping his essence alive in torment. These dark spirits form a cloak of perpetual darkness around the banner, allowing Mengil and his Manflayers to move unseen through the shadows and stealthily approach their enemies as well as making them difficult to see at a distance.